A few notes in this, spawned mainly by Errol Hewitt's comments. Satish Jha wrote:
>Chris, > >Most developing countries blow away a multiple of that amount in corrupt >practices.. In most developing countries that kind of money is stashed away >in the bedrooms of a few chieftains.. Is that the issue? > > In the developed world, it could be said to be found in the hands of lobbyists for multinational corporations which the governments conveniently claim they have no control over on one hand (when it means foreign diplomacy) and which they tax just the same, not to mention contributions... That said, I suppose people around the world get the governments that they deserve. I wonder if you would agree with that? >The issue as I see is: > >Can we lower the cost of computing to a level where we can extend its >frontiers.. let many more to benefit from it.. how to do it.. > >Simputer has sold less than 10,000 in 5 years and most of its is pushed on >to the government.. > > Aha! It *is* a product, then! I thought so. >ordinary people do not buy it, cannot buy it.. and if it >were that good in reality as it sounds on power point presentation, won;t >the world have lapped it up by now.. there are cheaper, better, more >convenient options available or must be available to the people for them not >to try simputer.. If there is one idea that is embraced with passion without >facts backing it up, it is simputer.. a catchy name, a great idea, a good >prototype but NOT product enought to be in the hands of its own target >customers.. > > >We may choose to be frivolous.. How would you like to be judged.. That is >the basic question.. > > I think supporting a $100 million laptop is frivolous when, as an example, a government could support something which it's own engineers developed and refine it. I would think that if Negroponte's laptop has 1 million or more units bought by the government in India, as an example, that the signal being sent to Indian engineers is to move to the United States and work for Negroponte instead of expecting support from their own government. If, however, the Indian government made the same minimum order of laptops (5 million) as the Negropontish laptop, we might be amazed at how much the price decreased. Would the Indian Government prefer to pay foreign engineers to do nothing new but integrate something that Koffi Annan can break during a demonstration, or something that their own engineers built? That's quite sad. It may be the reality, but it's quite sad. In a global economy, the checks and balances are different from that of the Cold War economy, and people who haven't shifted gears are maligning progress. The dynamics supposedly changed the same day that the Wall came down in 1989, but the indicators were shifting for that to happen way before then. It's just hard to believe that the symbolism of a wall coming down is seen as momentous, when the events that >I am not speaking for or on behalf of Negroponte.. I do not need to.. > Someone needs to, because he's not discussing anything with anyone but those he chooses to. Perhaps you could nudge him into discussion on this list? > But to >trash an idea that has actually captured the imagination of those who can >make it possible is destroying value.. If only for the fact that its been >debated like no other in the past six months, Negroponte has created enough >value for a life time of most people who are debating it. > Bah. Humbug, Satish, I say HUMBUG (tis the season, you know). You've humbugged the Simputer yourself, so this easily reverses. >Negroponte has shown he can do it.. > No he hasn't. He's got a prototype with a minimum order of 5 million, with an actual price of $110 a piece, where the hand crank falls off. And why on earth it has a hand crank when everyone in engineering knows 'the less moving parts, the more robust' when it comes to technology... well, I'm sure that there's a suitable excuse. >Similarly, Simputer has done a great job of energizing the field, it also >captured the imagination and though it is not really what market will accept >as a product, its a great contribution.. Like something you romance with.. > > Perhaps a few lives could use more romance and less hype, especially if the romance is in production and the hype breaks in public. Wait. It seems that the Negroponte laptop is actually the romance, because romance sees past it's obvious flaws. Love is blind, Satish. The Simputer is imperfect, we all know that, but it is in production - has been for years - has been evolving... and doesn't require minimum orders, but if someone ordered 5 million, I'd love to hear what the price sould be. Incidentally, the Simputer lasts 12 hours and better without recharging, and solar recharging does work. But that's just someone who actually has used a Simputer, even to edit the Wikipedia entry on the Simputer. http://www.flickr.com/photos/knowprose/28037276/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simputer I guess it needs a detachable hand crank to transcend what you appear to call romance. >I do not wish to pass the virginity test of liking Simputer to get past the >threshold of being acceptable to the club.. But we may need to change our >glasses in light of what is in front, staring at us.. > > You don't have to like the Simputer, but with your position as the Special Adviser of the Kofi Annan Centre for Excellence in ICTs, I would think that you would take a chance and ask one of the producers of the Simputer in India how many 5 million would cost per unit, with that sort of guaranteed production level. Because in the end, that's all the magic Negroponte has and is the one failure that the Simputer has had - politics and marketing. I think I'm going to get out of all of this and start selling detachable hand cranks with Valentine's Day cards. It may not be politically correct, but I'm guaranteed staunch defenders. And to make it interesting, I'll set a minimum order of 5 million. Maybe they'll make good replacements. -- Taran Rampersad Presently in: San Fernando, Trinidad [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.knowprose.com http://www.easylum.net http://www.digitaldivide.net/profile/Taran Coming on January 1st, 2006: http://www.OpenDepth.com "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.
