Hi, I was with the UNDP team at the World Summit and included in our team were the OLPC Project and of course the founder Negroponte himself. I was lucky enough to meet the team and to witness the first prototype as well as the hardware internals of the OLPC when it was shown to the UN General Secretary Kofi Anan.
OLPC will be sold to governments and other organizations that agree to order in bulks of half million to one million plus laptop pcs since that is the key factor to what keeps the cost minimum. If you go through the specs, you will find that the device is not a commercial offering but targeted at children in the least developing/developing countries. The idea is to make every child a member of the Information Society and benefit from ICTs. Governments that place the order will be given a time frame for production of that many laptops. As time passes, you will see that the prices of laptops are continuously lowering. What one use to buy for nearly US$2000+ is now also simply available for US$500 and there are also news rumors that major vendors are going to manufacture low cost laptops so we may see a major shift in the replacement of desktops through such low-cost laptops. These laptops may fall within the price range of US$200-US$400 based on the minimum to additional specs. Within our country in Pakistan, laptops are already available within the price ranges of US$500 (Re-furbished) and you may read the latest prices at http://www.ishop.com.pk. US$1=Pakistani Rupees 60.5 Regards ----------------------- Fouad Riaz Bajwa FOSS Advocate FOSSFP: Free and Open Source Software Foundation International Free and Open Source Software Foundation (iFOSSF) -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of pras Incs Sent: Thursday, September 21, 2006 8:14 PM To: FOSS Nepal Subject: [FOSS Nepal] Re: OlPC great As far as I know olpc won't be a commercial venture... like selling in huge quantities.... am I wrong? please correct.... -- No virus found in this incoming message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.1.405 / Virus Database: 268.12.6/453 - Release Date: 9/20/2006 -- No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.1.405 / Virus Database: 268.12.6/453 - Release Date: 9/20/2006 --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "FOSS Nepal" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/foss-nepal FOSS Nepal Community: http://www.fossnepal.org -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
