OLPC to sell to public | The Coffeehouse

GoddersUK
I CAN has cheezburger and you CAN'T has stop me!

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Lots of people have wanted this but at £200 (one for you, one for them) I'm not sure it represents good value for money. If they do a similar thing when it reaches the inteded $100 (£50) mark (so £100 for two in UK) it will be worth considering.

evildictaitor
if( !succeed( try() ) ) { while(true) try(); }

For $400 it's not as good as you'd get from Dell or someone else, but you have to remember you are actually paying $200 as a compulsory donation to the project. The laptop you're getting is worth $200 and they're being upfront about it.

Either way, most kids in the developed world would prefer a laptop that didn't have to run custom software on a reduced power machine suitable for solar-power in remote places and looks ugly to the extent or "detering theft via social stigma".

I fail to see why anyone in the developed world would want one, except for the price tag, and if you're doing it out of concern for those in the developing economies just donate the $200 and be done with it.

Lloyd_Humph
If Blackberrys are addictive cellphones, Channel9 is the ultimate addictive website.

This is what puzzled me... Why do people in 3rd world countries need laptops? Shouldn't we give them food and support? Money for water, y'know, the _important_ stuff?

"dying of thirst... but windows is here... goodie..."

GoddersUK
I CAN has cheezburger and you CAN'T has stop me!

Lloyd_Humph wrote:
"dying of thirst... but windows is here... goodie..."

Linux actualy. [6]

Bas
It finds lightbulbs.

I can see some sense in using computers for the education of todays' children, so that at least they won't live in the dark ages completely oblivious to computers in the future when they're adults in twenty years or so.

But I can't help but wonder if there are more basic, and greater, educational needs.

Why anyone in the first world would want an OLPC apart from the novelty factor is beyond me.

W3bbo
The Master of Baiters

Lloyd_Humph wrote:
This is what puzzled me... Why do people in 3rd world countries need laptops? Shouldn't we give them food and support? Money for water, y'know, the _important_ stuff?

"dying of thirst... but windows is here... goodie..."

The OLPC isn't aimed at those people. It's targeting people already with the essentials, but who want to focus on self-improvment, not survival.

Stuff like the favelas/shanty-towns in South America, or the townships in SA. Not totally impoverished people, but not those who can afford computers as we know them today.

The key to the theory behind them is information. By giving these people information on how to improve their lives, we make everyone better off. The Wind-Up radio was created to help inform people about HIV/AIDS, for example, the OLPC is meant to take things further: telling people how to grow crops better, or how manage their businesses and affairs effectivly, or empowering them with political influence.

Lloyd_Humph
If Blackberrys are addictive cellphones, Channel9 is the ultimate addictive website.

One Laptop Per Child

What's a child going to do with a laptop in a developing country?

Methinks this may just be named for the sympathy vote. It's misleading though.

DCMonkey
Monkey see, monkey do, monkey will destroy you!

Lloyd_Humph wrote:

One Laptop Per Child

What's a child going to do with a laptop in a developing country?

Methinks this may just be named for the sympathy vote. It's misleading though.

Learn about the world. Maybe we need to get you one too.

Lloyd_Humph
If Blackberrys are addictive cellphones, Channel9 is the ultimate addictive website.

DCMonkey wrote:

Lloyd_Humph wrote:
One Laptop Per Child

What's a child going to do with a laptop in a developing country?

Methinks this may just be named for the sympathy vote. It's misleading though.

Learn about the world. Maybe we need to get you one too.

sure. they could learn about the world, I just think there are more important things that come before that. These people have the basics, I think the money spent on these laptops can and should be spent on people who don't even have that; the basics.

DCMonkey
Monkey see, monkey do, monkey will destroy you!

Lloyd_Humph wrote:

sure. they could learn about the world, I just think there are more important things that come before that. These people have the basics, I think the money spent on these laptops can and should be spent on people who don't even have that; the basics.

Why can't be spent on both?

Give a child a fish and you have fed him for one day. Give him a laptop and he can Google how to fish and feed himself for a lifetime, or something like that.

mVPstar
I'm white because I smelt an onion.

Lloyd_Humph wrote:

sure. they could learn about the world, I just think there are more important things that come before that. These people have the basics, I think the money spent on these laptops can and should be spent on people who don't even have that; the basics.

Technology is a symbol of power. Give them access to technology and you're essentially leveling the playing field.

W3bbo
The Master of Baiters

Lloyd_Humph wrote:

DCMonkey wrote:

Lloyd_Humph wrote:
One Laptop Per Child

What's a child going to do with a laptop in a developing country?

Methinks this may just be named for the sympathy vote. It's misleading though.

Learn about the world. Maybe we need to get you one too.

sure. they could learn about the world, I just think there are more important things that come before that. These people have the basics, I think the money spent on these laptops can and should be spent on people who don't even have that; the basics.

That argument doesn't fly.

There are people who need help and assistance at every rung of the social-status ladder.

At the top we've got overpaid celebrities with drug and lifestyle issues.
Below that we've got middle class kids in school with ADHD or Autism.
Then we've got those living below the poverty line in a first-world nation.
Then people who are living, but with a vast amount of room for improvement.
Then those living wretched lives in absolute poverty.

According to the sentiment of your argument, practically all resources should be spent on the bottom rung. Whereas I propose assisting all people with problems, otherwise you run into this quote from the Simpsons:

"...That's the problem with being middle-class. Anybody who really cares will abandon you for those who need it more."

(Mr. Bergstrom's parting remarks to Lisa Simpson, The Simpsons episode ``Lisa's Substitute''Bergstrom is Lisa's dynamic and caring substitute teacher who leaves Springfield at the end of the episode to teach inner city kids in Capital City.)

evildictaitor
if( !succeed( try() ) ) { while(true) try(); }

GoddersUK wrote:

Lloyd_Humph wrote:"dying of thirst... but windows is here... goodie..."

Linux actualy.

Well, a small subset of it - the processor on them things is terrible.

evildictaitor
if( !succeed( try() ) ) { while(true) try(); }

DCMonkey wrote:

Give a child a fish and you have fed him for one day. Give him a laptop and he can Google how to fish and feed himself for a lifetime, or something like that.

Give a man fire and he'll be warm for a day. Set a man on fire and he'll be warm for the rest of his life.

evildictaitor
if( !succeed( try() ) ) { while(true) try(); }

W3bbo wrote:

At the top we've got overpaid celebrities with drug and lifestyle issues.
Below that we've got middle class kids in school with ADHD or Autism.
Then we've got those living below the poverty line in a first-world nation.
Then people who are living, but with a vast amount of room for improvement.
Then those living wretched lives in absolute poverty.

How is autism a middle-class problem, except perhaps that middle class parents have the ability to get a diagnosis, wheras a poor single mother's kids will just be labelled as "naughty" or as a "lout"?