Re: FW: [DDN] Simputer
Alfred Bork wrote: I agree, Raymond. The potential dangers of widespread open source software (including operating systems) are great. Alfred Bork I'd like to see what material there is that supports this statement. There is much evidence that indicates otherwise. Perhaps you could share your knowledge on this subject with the group so that we could better discuss it? -- Taran Rampersad [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.linuxgazette.com http://www.a42.com http://www.knowprose.com http://www.easylum.net Criticize by creating. Michelangelo ___ DIGITALDIVIDE mailing list DIGITALDIVIDE@mailman.edc.org http://mailman.edc.org/mailman/listinfo/digitaldivide To unsubscribe, send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word UNSUBSCRIBE in the body of the message.
RE: FW: [DDN] Simputer
I agree, Raymond. The potential dangers of widespread open source software (including operating systems) are great. Alfred Bork -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Raymond -Info Sent: Tuesday, March 29, 2005 3:27 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]; 'The Digital Divide Network discussion group' Subject: RE: FW: [DDN] Simputer I actually like the idea of a simple low cost computer to assist with bridging the digital divide, with an emphasis on ASSIST. But I do have a problem with the idea of Open Source operating system; maybe someone can clarify this for me. If Microsoft has such a problem with people hacking into the loopholes of their closed source code, what type of malicious viruses will we begin seeing if an Open Source Operating system such as Linux becomes the dominant OS? Raymond Waynick ___ DIGITALDIVIDE mailing list DIGITALDIVIDE@mailman.edc.org http://mailman.edc.org/mailman/listinfo/digitaldivide To unsubscribe, send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word UNSUBSCRIBE in the body of the message.
RE: FW: [DDN] Simputer
Alfred wrote: I agree, Raymond. The potential dangers of widespread open source software (including operating systems) are great. Raymond wrote: If Microsoft has such a problem with people hacking into the loopholes of their closed source code, what type of malicious viruses will we begin seeing if an Open Source Operating system such as Linux becomes the dominant OS? I'm still confused by this POV. We KNOW how insecure Windows is and we've SEEN how quickly the open source community addresses issues with open source software,. We've also seen MS delay, not admit there are issues, produce insufficient fixes or fixes that break other aspects of the OS. We've also seen MS only allow those who have sprung for XP to have access to security fixes. For example, the popup blocker in SP2, and other security measures have not been made available to Win 2K or 98 users. The upcoming MSIE 7 will only be available to XP SP2 users. Meanwhile, MS's donation programs through TechSoup only provides Win2K and 98. So much for closed source for-profit OSs. It would appear that MS doesn't think that nonprofits and others who have to make use of donation programs deserve the higher security provided with XP SP2. Nice guys. Nobody supporting the yikes! I'm scared of open source software! argument has offered one iota of proof that their scenario will come to pass. As I stated yesterday, we already KNOW how akin to swiss cheese Windows is. How could any OS provide less security? This is a Chicken-Little approach to open source if I've ever seen one. Furthermore, Raymond's logic is incorrect. OSs, open source or otherwise are not inherently secure or insecure. Windows was DESIGNED that way so that there could be lots of communications between boxes across the LAN or WAN without human interference. It was part of the plan before security became such an issue. If MS has big problems patching their security holes it might say something about the competence of the organization, but it says nothing about the ability of the open source community to fix security holes in Linux or other open source software. Please offer proof of why it would be worse than what we are already experiencing. I'm not accusing anyone of being shills for MS, but it would be nice to understand why this point of view is so strongly held given the lack of any solid reasoning behind it. Jon gave anecdotal evidence about the time differential between the way corporations do fixes and patches and the way the open source community does. I'd be interested in hearing about how/why anyone believes an open source world would be such a Wes Craven flick! Jesse Sinaiko Chicago, Il ___ DIGITALDIVIDE mailing list DIGITALDIVIDE@mailman.edc.org http://mailman.edc.org/mailman/listinfo/digitaldivide To unsubscribe, send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word UNSUBSCRIBE in the body of the message.
Re: FW: [DDN] Simputer
Jesse, I will add still more anecdotal evidence to this discussion: Apache is the most used webserver in the world. It is a Free and Open Source package, and sits at the gateway to most server systems. If Free and Open Source is by its very nature hackable, why haven't more disasters occurred due to the use of Apache? Why don't more people use close-source proprietary servers? BIND is probably the most used nameserver in the world. It too is Open Source. Surely smart crackers could look at the code and find exploits. SENDMAIL probably carries more email long-distance than any other mail transport. Eric Allman wrote it about twenty years ago, and it has been Open Source the entire time. Just because a piece of code is Open Source does not mean that it is more or less vulnerable to attack. But it can be patched a lot faster, particularly across multiple hardware architectures from multiple hardware vendors, across multiple versions, once an exploit is known. Regards, md -- Jon maddog Hall Executive Director Linux International(R) email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] 80 Amherst St. Voice: +1.603.672.4557 Amherst, N.H. 03031-3032 U.S.A. WWW: http://www.li.org Board Member: Uniforum Association, USENIX Association (R)Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds in several countries. (R)Linux International is a registered trademark in the USA used pursuant to a license from Linux Mark Institute, authorized licensor of Linus Torvalds, owner of the Linux trademark on a worldwide basis (R)UNIX is a registered trademark of The Open Group in the USA and other countries. ___ DIGITALDIVIDE mailing list DIGITALDIVIDE@mailman.edc.org http://mailman.edc.org/mailman/listinfo/digitaldivide To unsubscribe, send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word UNSUBSCRIBE in the body of the message.
RE: FW: [DDN] Simputer
I actually like the idea of a simple low cost computer to assist with bridging the digital divide, with an emphasis on ASSIST. But I do have a problem with the idea of Open Source operating system; maybe someone can clarify this for me. If Microsoft has such a problem with people hacking into the loopholes of their closed source code, what type of malicious viruses will we begin seeing if an Open Source Operating system such as Linux becomes the dominant OS? Raymond Waynick ___ DIGITALDIVIDE mailing list DIGITALDIVIDE@mailman.edc.org http://mailman.edc.org/mailman/listinfo/digitaldivide To unsubscribe, send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word UNSUBSCRIBE in the body of the message.
Fw: [DDN] Simputer
Friends: Here is a message (on simputers) I received from Ms Laina Raveendran Greene, an ICT4D consultant working out of California and Singapore. In fact Laina must have met Dr Swami Manohar, one of the founders of the simputer project, as both of them were there at the PANASIA review meeting of IDRC held a few years ago at Vientiane. Can Swami Manohar please get in touch with laina? Thanks and best wishes. Arun Thanks for copying me on this note Prof Arun. I am so happy to see that the Simputer is finally making the light of day. I was truly hoping for its success when it was first announced many years back. By the way, I am told that the content development side that they support is IML. Is there any chance we can talk to them and make connection with say, Macromedia? If they want to grow into mainstream market they will need to adopt a mainstream technology like Flash or Java SDK or Both. This will allow for development of new and exciting visual content e.g for elearning. Do you have connections to talk to them about this? Just a thought shared from the GetIT team in Singapore. Best Regards, Laina ___ DIGITALDIVIDE mailing list DIGITALDIVIDE@mailman.edc.org http://mailman.edc.org/mailman/listinfo/digitaldivide To unsubscribe, send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word UNSUBSCRIBE in the body of the message.
RE: FW: [DDN] Simputer
Raymond wrote: If Microsoft has such a problem with people hacking into the loopholes of their closed source code, what type of malicious viruses will we begin seeing if an Open Source Operating system such as Linux becomes the dominant OS? I think we will see quick, decisive responses to hacks and vulnerabilities, as opposed to MS's lies, delays, and obstructions. Anyhow, in some parts of the world Linux is on its way to being the dominant OS. Brazil hasn't chosen Linux for its government's computers only because they don't want to send millions of dollars to Bill Gates; it's because they know they can deal with the problems that are bound to arise. Open source in and of itself doesn't make a system more vulnerable, but it does have an open and large community of programmers all over the world to fix it FAST when it breaks or when some crook finds an open back door. I'M somewhat confused about why you are worried about open source issues when the OS with problems is made by MS. Under the scenario you describe there is no point in using anything other than Windows because of potential problems. We already know what Windows is. Linux couldn't be any worse under any circumstances. Jesse Sinaiko ___ DIGITALDIVIDE mailing list DIGITALDIVIDE@mailman.edc.org http://mailman.edc.org/mailman/listinfo/digitaldivide To unsubscribe, send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word UNSUBSCRIBE in the body of the message.
RE: FW: [DDN] Simputer
I think we also need to keep in mind that most of the viruses are meant to attack M'soft based systems...that's why the Mac users have a ball! Anu PhD Candidate School of Information Studies 4-206 Center for Science Technology Syracuse University Syracuse New York 13244-4100 Ph: +1 (315) 443 4905 -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Jesse Sinaiko Sent: Wednesday, March 30, 2005 10:22 AM To: 'The Digital Divide Network discussion group' Subject: RE: FW: [DDN] Simputer Raymond wrote: If Microsoft has such a problem with people hacking into the loopholes of their closed source code, what type of malicious viruses will we begin seeing if an Open Source Operating system such as Linux becomes the dominant OS? I think we will see quick, decisive responses to hacks and vulnerabilities, as opposed to MS's lies, delays, and obstructions. Anyhow, in some parts of the world Linux is on its way to being the dominant OS. Brazil hasn't chosen Linux for its government's computers only because they don't want to send millions of dollars to Bill Gates; it's because they know they can deal with the problems that are bound to arise. Open source in and of itself doesn't make a system more vulnerable, but it does have an open and large community of programmers all over the world to fix it FAST when it breaks or when some crook finds an open back door. I'M somewhat confused about why you are worried about open source issues when the OS with problems is made by MS. Under the scenario you describe there is no point in using anything other than Windows because of potential problems. We already know what Windows is. Linux couldn't be any worse under any circumstances. Jesse Sinaiko ___ DIGITALDIVIDE mailing list DIGITALDIVIDE@mailman.edc.org http://mailman.edc.org/mailman/listinfo/digitaldivide To unsubscribe, send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word UNSUBSCRIBE in the body of the message. ___ DIGITALDIVIDE mailing list DIGITALDIVIDE@mailman.edc.org http://mailman.edc.org/mailman/listinfo/digitaldivide To unsubscribe, send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word UNSUBSCRIBE in the body of the message.
Re: FW: [DDN] Simputer
I image there will be a host of malicious viruses... but this seems to me as an advantage and just the opposite happening as you imply Here's an example... PHP Nuke (an open source CMS) could be the most popular Web Portal Software. Developed by Francisco Burzi in 2003 its number of users/adopters have grown logarithmically. Since it is open source the threats to Nuke are tremendous. However with a community of like minded programmers all facing the same issues, once a threat is identified, fixes and patches come almost immediately. Unlike the closed door Microsoft practice. New versions are constantly being released. With the open source/public license also lending developers to create new resources, ad-ons and modules the Nuke community and functionality has also grown at a tremendous rate. I see it as an opportunity rather than a threat Tim Gemelli www.eNonProfits.org - Original Message - From: Raymond -Info [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]; 'The Digital Divide Network discussion group' [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Tuesday, March 29, 2005 6:27 PM Subject: RE: FW: [DDN] Simputer I actually like the idea of a simple low cost computer to assist with bridging the digital divide, with an emphasis on ASSIST. But I do have a problem with the idea of Open Source operating system; maybe someone can clarify this for me. If Microsoft has such a problem with people hacking into the loopholes of their closed source code, what type of malicious viruses will we begin seeing if an Open Source Operating system such as Linux becomes the dominant OS? Raymond Waynick ___ DIGITALDIVIDE mailing list DIGITALDIVIDE@mailman.edc.org http://mailman.edc.org/mailman/listinfo/digitaldivide To unsubscribe, send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word UNSUBSCRIBE in the body of the message. ___ DIGITALDIVIDE mailing list DIGITALDIVIDE@mailman.edc.org http://mailman.edc.org/mailman/listinfo/digitaldivide To unsubscribe, send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word UNSUBSCRIBE in the body of the message.
FW: [DDN] Simputer
There are half a dozen projects for producing cheap computers, including ones at MIT and Carnegie Mellon, most more interesting than the simputer. But none of them is based on any analysis of educational needs. I propose that we should delay such design until we have a sizable body of well evaluated learning material. Alfred Bork ___ DIGITALDIVIDE mailing list DIGITALDIVIDE@mailman.edc.org http://mailman.edc.org/mailman/listinfo/digitaldivide To unsubscribe, send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word UNSUBSCRIBE in the body of the message.
Re: FW: [DDN] Simputer
One other interesting factor in the use of the Simputer, is the access to a source, to use the computer. There are some unusual ones and often that discussion is lacking. There have been various ways posted of using alternate energy sources. This comes from actually working in places where I have seen a lot of computers chained down to desktops with no source of electricity , and with some concern about when or where this source will be found. There are some great solutions. In discussing the use of the simputer, and other technologies, I too would assume that some education is necessary, though I know about the hole in the wall, experiments. One of the errors in the US educational system has been the lack of involvement to help teachers make transformational use of new technologies of all kind. This is a frequent error. Sincerely Bonnie Bracey [EMAIL PROTECTED] ___ DIGITALDIVIDE mailing list DIGITALDIVIDE@mailman.edc.org http://mailman.edc.org/mailman/listinfo/digitaldivide To unsubscribe, send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word UNSUBSCRIBE in the body of the message.
Re: How *not* to close the digital divide (was Re: FW: [DDN] Simputer)
In a message dated 3/29/05 11:33:13 AM, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: Even if we have lived in the developing world all our lives we would not know the answers for the developing world as a whole. The developing world is a very large place, with very different problems in each area. Even within a single country the differences in problems faced by the average person can be massive. good answer Thanks for the feedback Bonnie Bracey bbracey at aol com ___ DIGITALDIVIDE mailing list DIGITALDIVIDE@mailman.edc.org http://mailman.edc.org/mailman/listinfo/digitaldivide To unsubscribe, send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word UNSUBSCRIBE in the body of the message.
Re: FW: [DDN] Simputer
Jon, We appreciate the link very much, and most of us would love to try out a Simputer in the field, believe me. It is actually clear from its features that a great deal of thought and prototyping took place, and many of us remember its gradual evolution. We on the list just like to get into larger issues, as if the Simputer weren't a large enough topic in itself. Sandy -- Sandra Sutton Andrews, PhD [EMAIL PROTECTED] Digital Media and Instructional Technologies Arizona State University On Tue, 29 Mar 2005 15:28:08 -0500, Jon maddog Hall [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Sir, [EMAIL PROTECTED] said: There are half a dozen projects for producing cheap computers, including ones at MIT and Carnegie Mellon, most more interesting than the simputer. But none of them is based on any analysis of educational needs. I propose that we should delay such design until we have a sizable body of well evaluated learning material. As I stated in my first letter, I have been tracking the Simputer project for over three years, but what I did not say is that the project has been going on for an even longer time. The Simputer may not meet all of the needs for every group, but it has had a considerable design past by a series of responsible people, including a stage where the initial design was prototyped, a fair number of prototypes were made, distributed and used by the target audience, and the changes to the design reflected from real world needs. I do not find this often in the design of systems. The other thing that is interesting about the design is that it is open from both the software and the hardware, with the hardware design licensable from the group that designed it. The Simputer is here today and orderable. If people feel that it meets their needs, they can order it. I was only making them aware of this milestone. Regards, maddog -- Jon maddog Hall Executive Director Linux International(R) email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] 80 Amherst St. Voice: +1.603.672.4557 Amherst, N.H. 03031-3032 U.S.A. WWW: http://www.li.org Board Member: Uniforum Association, USENIX Association (R)Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds in several countries. (R)Linux International is a registered trademark in the USA used pursuant to a license from Linux Mark Institute, authorized licensor of Linus Torvalds, owner of the Linux trademark on a worldwide basis (R)UNIX is a registered trademark of The Open Group in the USA and other countries. ___ DIGITALDIVIDE mailing list DIGITALDIVIDE@mailman.edc.org http://mailman.edc.org/mailman/listinfo/digitaldivide To unsubscribe, send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word UNSUBSCRIBE in the body of the message. ___ DIGITALDIVIDE mailing list DIGITALDIVIDE@mailman.edc.org http://mailman.edc.org/mailman/listinfo/digitaldivide To unsubscribe, send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word UNSUBSCRIBE in the body of the message.
Re: FW: [DDN] Simputer
In a message dated 3/29/05 3:31:49 PM, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: And I also personally think it would be best if there were always an educational technologist involved, someone who could ensure, not that the research is done before development, but rather that the development takes education into account and builds in possibilities for using new technology in educational ways. I would definitely love to have an educational discount on one of these. Think what it would mean to a small group of underserved people to be asked to FIND the educational uses. Sandy I have been lucky to be involved in several knowledgenetworks, one of them being CILT.org and the other at NCSA. But it is different when you are not a Phd, and you are talking to those who have Phd.s and there is a vast difference in the understanding of the classroom when people only look from afar and from places where what is called school is very different from. Those who are not in the culture of the classroom, cannot really always create for that group because they don't understand the politics, time, community aspects, and or the permission that is not there for many. The SITE conference is also small enough, as are some of the others that you know who the people are and can connect with them. For many people across the digital divide that is a problem. No one validates their thoughts, understands their issues and or problems. No one understands and the solutions that people pick are picked without their involvement understanding, or input. And sometimes those in the group pull my coattails, because there is a lot to learn from them. If we talk about the differences between communities they may understand that gulf of misunderstanding. There is a digital apartheid of place it is sometimes subtle and sometimes not.I remember the kids who went to visit in a suburb of Chicago and who cried on the way home, because the difference was so huge in what we call school. Someone on the list told me that kids should not have an individual computer. Well, I worked in a lab where 30 kids came in and usually maybe 12 of the computers were working so I knew how to do peer tutoring, but the time was a terrible problem. Sharing is good, but all teachers don't have behavior modifications that are inclusive of the use of technology. I had to share. What I could not create was time. What I could not do was change the culture of the teachers working with them. Some punished them by keeping them away from the computer, some teachers wanted to control what I was doing. It was a good lesson for me to learn. The interface between me, at that time working as a computer lab person, and me as a regular teacher was different. Most of the men I worked with in the NIIAC thought for sure that there would never be this problem of training teachers to use technology, or should I say having teachers learn the use of technology, because to them if the purchase was made, the employee would participate. Like I said, they had no classroom experience. in 1999 ( old history) Only one in five teachers told a national survey that they felt well prepared to work in a modern classroom. Only about 20 percent said they were confident in using modern technology or in working with students from diverse backgrounds, with limited proficiency in English or with disabilities. PT3.org was born. But it was never universal. There are still people with computers who have had only just in time training , if that. Bonnie Bracey [EMAIL PROTECTED] com ___ DIGITALDIVIDE mailing list DIGITALDIVIDE@mailman.edc.org http://mailman.edc.org/mailman/listinfo/digitaldivide To unsubscribe, send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word UNSUBSCRIBE in the body of the message.
Re: FW: [DDN] Simputer
Educational technologists do hope that there is research on educational needs before we introduce new technologies into education, but that is because we don't want to be wasting time on flashy new items that may not have much of a purpose yet. But in my digital divide work I sense an ongoing interaction: people who have no access to technology (who are not sitting in nicely furnished schoolrooms) are hungry to learn and will make best use of what is available, until that moment when they are ready for the most professional equipment; and then the new challenge arises of how to get that equipment. If that equipment becomes available to them, then we can worry about wasting time on the latest bells and whistles. And even games (ten years after it was predicted) are now being shown to have educational value. There is a muse of technology just as much as in poetry, and synchronicities abound. The creative person isn't going to stop creating just because we'd like more control. That would stifle creativity. In the accessibility portion of the digital divide we have a similar difficulty. Many people are now aware of the the need for accessibility to those with disabilities; but as soon as we work out ways to accomplish it, there are new technologies sprouting out of the woodwork, and they aren't necessarily accessible. We can deal with the accessibility issue best by working on policies of always having people with disabilities involved in creating new technologies (because when it gets right down to the actual work, this creation is a team effort.) And I also personally think it would be best if there were always an educational technologist involved, someone who could ensure, not that the research is done before development, but rather that the development takes education into account and builds in possibilities for using new technology in educational ways. I would definitely love to have an educational discount on one of these. Think what it would mean to a small group of underserved people to be asked to FIND the educational uses. Sandy Andrews -- Sandra Sutton Andrews, PhD [EMAIL PROTECTED] Digital Media and Instructional Technologies Arizona State University On Mon, 28 Mar 2005 18:23:38 -0800, Alfred Bork [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: There are half a dozen projects for producing cheap computers, including ones at MIT and Carnegie Mellon, most more interesting than the simputer. But none of them is based on any analysis of educational needs. I propose that we should delay such design until we have a sizable body of well evaluated learning material. Alfred Bork ___ DIGITALDIVIDE mailing list DIGITALDIVIDE@mailman.edc.org http://mailman.edc.org/mailman/listinfo/digitaldivide To unsubscribe, send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word UNSUBSCRIBE in the body of the message. ___ DIGITALDIVIDE mailing list DIGITALDIVIDE@mailman.edc.org http://mailman.edc.org/mailman/listinfo/digitaldivide To unsubscribe, send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word UNSUBSCRIBE in the body of the message.
Re: FW: [DDN] Simputer
Hello All, This is the link Taran sent on Simputer http://amidasimputer.com/khatha/ If we look at the needs of the 'pressumed' (I am guessing) target audience in India, this piece of equipment is design with them in mind. At least some of the target audience. Furthermore it is both landline and wireless. If Reliance is giving a good per minute price, I think it is not bad at all. Cindy [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: One other interesting factor in the use of the Simputer, is the access to a source, to use the computer. There are some unusual ones and often that discussion is lacking. There have been various ways posted of using alternate energy sources. This comes from actually working in places where I have seen a lot of computers chained down to desktops with no source of electricity , and with some concern about when or where this source will be found. There are some great solutions. In discussing the use of the simputer, and other technologies, I too would assume that some education is necessary, though I know about the hole in the wall, experiments. One of the errors in the US educational system has been the lack of involvement to help teachers make transformational use of new technologies of all kind. This is a frequent error. Sincerely Bonnie Bracey [EMAIL PROTECTED] ___ DIGITALDIVIDE mailing list DIGITALDIVIDE@mailman.edc.org http://mailman.edc.org/mailman/listinfo/digitaldivide To unsubscribe, send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word UNSUBSCRIBE in the body of the message. ___ DIGITALDIVIDE mailing list DIGITALDIVIDE@mailman.edc.org http://mailman.edc.org/mailman/listinfo/digitaldivide To unsubscribe, send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word UNSUBSCRIBE in the body of the message.
[DDN] Simputer
Hi, A project that I have been tracking for over three years has finally made it to market in a big way. That is India's Simputer project (www.simputer.org) The Simputer is a design for a low-cost, PDA-like computer that could be shared among users. Why do I say PDA-like? While most PDAs can really be used by only one person, the Simputer has two USB ports as well as a smart card interface and a 4-pin serial interface. It can handle wireless USB attachments, and comes in both a lower-cost monochrome screen and a higher-cost color screen. It uses a low-power, but high speed StrongARM processor, and the operating system is Linux. You could also hook on lots of other peripherals to the USB ports (one is master/slave and one is master), such as disks and other networking devices. The system was designed for use not only by English speaking people, but people who write in Hindu or Kannada. It also has an application that allows you to capture handwriting, so you can just write in any language. For the illiterate, there is also a text-to-speech for Hindi and Kannada, to allow illiterate people to use the Simputer. Illiterate people are often not stupid, they just can not read. And for them to communicate back, the Simputer has a built-in microphone and speaker. Most interesting is that the Simputer was designed as a project by universities and people who wanted to do good things, so the hardware design is readily available, and the Linux OS is pure GPL, with no hidden stuff. Finally, the vision for this PDA-like device was that it would be shared among the people of a village or area, with each villager having their own flash memory data stick to hold their own data, and just borrowing the PDA when they needed to use it. You can see the finished product at: http://www.amidasimputer.com/ and it was announced only two days ago. The current costs (300 USD for the monochrome and 480 USD for the color version) is a bit expensive if you think of it as a PDA, but two items: o it is based on a manufacturing run of 50,000 units, and could come down considerably in higher volumes o this is not really a PDA, but a complete computer system, and its costs could be shared Take a look at it, and let me know what you think. I congratulate the team that designed, built, and brought this to market. maddog -- Jon maddog Hall Executive Director Linux International(R) email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] 80 Amherst St. Voice: +1.603.672.4557 Amherst, N.H. 03031-3032 U.S.A. WWW: http://www.li.org Board Member: Uniforum Association, USENIX Association (R)Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds in several countries. (R)Linux International is a registered trademark in the USA used pursuant to a license from Linux Mark Institute, authorized licensor of Linus Torvalds, owner of the Linux trademark on a worldwide basis (R)UNIX is a registered trademark of The Open Group in the USA and other countries. ___ DIGITALDIVIDE mailing list DIGITALDIVIDE@mailman.edc.org http://mailman.edc.org/mailman/listinfo/digitaldivide To unsubscribe, send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word UNSUBSCRIBE in the body of the message.
