I do not where we are headed with such questioning and debate.. I believe if we are trying to cook rice, let us not talk about lentils..
The issue here is making computing more affordable for the poor.. If someone wants to raise a question about whether computing in general does any good without a perspective is agreed on what do we do with it.. may be its too late in the day to take that view.. Much like twenty years ago trying to look at the policy issue about supplying water to a population where someone found data that the water quality will lead to a likely incidence of cancer at the rate of two for a population of million over a decade and someone said let us give them Perrier.. And that settled the matter.. In case anyone would like all the questions answered before they take the first step, good luck to them.. But then they should not speak on behalf of others.. Computing is supposed to know more than literacy has been doing for all of us.. Whether we use education to bomb not-proven-guilty Iraqi or lying through their teeth bombing governments cannot be judged before we settle the question of literacy.. Computeracy has for whatever reasons become as important as literacy has been and if we need to discuss that, thats another conversation.. Simputer is not even really a product from the definition of a product... Paraphrasing Twain-- it may look like a product, feel like a product but don't be fooled.. it may even become a product.. But not just as yet.. I am amazed at the theology of Simputer.. I have never said one thing against Simputer save that India does not know how to create a product just as yet.. Even needles we have in India were created someplace else.. We have not created a single product worth the name in 55 years of independence.. If anyone contests that please start naming.. may be some of us get enlightened.. And taht should be another thread of discussions.. No matter where the money comes from, from the perspective of investible funds, it has the same effect.. As long as a government officer does not decide on where funds must go, there is some hope that the risks may not exceed market risks.. As long as any idea is backed by the global market, its risks are understandable.. I would rather have ten experiments trying to create a $100 laptop and let there be competition to create it for 500 million usd is chicken feed when we want to plan for computeracy of 4 billion people.. The world income is close to $100 billion per day.. It can plan to spend $3 billion a day most of which is spent by the rich economies.. half a billion for a year for the poor economies does not even show up as a bubble.. I guess someone is ready to bite me for this one.. But can we have a sense of proportions please??? I want to know which of the projects of ICT4D has produced an ROI comparable to average market returns?? Please do list them. and on another thread.. Thanks On 12/2/05, Chris Wilson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Dear Mr Jha (and fellow DDN readers), > > On Thu, 2005-12-01 at 09:29 -0500, Satish Jha wrote: > -- > Satish Jha > Special Adviser, Kofi Annan Centre for Excellence in ICTs > Principal Adviser, vMoksha Technologies > Co-Chair, Economic Opportunities Commission, WITFOR > Management Consultant - Technology Strategy, Management and > Program/Project Management > www.vmoksha.com; www.dpindia.org; www.aiti-kace.com.gh; www.witfor.org > _______________________________________________ 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.
