Dear GKD Members, I apologize for the late response; I was at a conference and then had issues with my webhost. Depending on where you are, you may not see my site for another 24 hours.
But my response is inline, as this is an important topic. On 12/9/05, Kris Dev wrote: > Dear Taran, > > I agree with your views. My immediate reactions: > > It is unfortunate Simputer is not yet recognised, maybe because it does > not have a god-father MNC!! You mean a contributor to Wired Magazine, which has become (in my opinion) intellectually incestual. I stopped reading Wired magazine a while back because it started reading like an advertorial to me. > But I tried to use it, to integrate our application developed using open > source tools, for communication and collaboration. I could not even get > a demo piece, and there was hardly any response from them. I had to fight to get one, so I understand completely. It was not easy - mainly because of the problems of getting money in and out of India, from what I gather, and perhaps also because of a language translation issue. I'm not saying that people in India don't speak English well, mind you - that is definitely not the case. Still, some things written by a native speaker of English, such as myself, could be hard to understand just as *if* I could speak any one of many languages in India, I would have a problem understanding a native speaker at times. But your problem, below, sounds like a money/shipping issue. > They asked me to take it from one of their customers, who had not even > opened the box!! So much for ensuring utilization!! Yes, well - one must also understand that these aren't NGOs selling these machines, or manufacturing them. These are businesses who, despite being hamstrung by people within their own country and even within their own government, have put their money where their mouth is. I cannot defend them. I can only try to understand them, and from what I have gathered the climate for exporting Simputers is rather extreme, possibly because of all the hamstringing... > We have budgets for buying and no audit for utilization monitoring!! > Every government shows computer purchase expenses as initiatives on ICT > and e-Gov, without actally putting to use fully the infrastructure. Infrastructure is really the problem. Sad state of affairs when people keep trying to sell cheaper machines when they are ignoring the problem of infrastructure - not to mention actual content... > Almost 75% of computers are unutilized or grossly under-utilized. We are > trying to change all that with our 'e-Administration' tool, where the > utilization has been enhanced to say 75%. But the mindset has to change! Hmm. I'd love to see where that number comes from, because I would like to use it.... I consider even my laptop underutilized, mainly because I'm still not 100% efficient. :-) > What I discussed with Lee Thorn, during his Chennai visit, is that we > need to have a technology where local people can make / assemble > computers at say USD 100-200, using freely available products and > technology which can be offered at nominal cost, as nothing comes free. That's what can be done with the Simputer - or sorry, *could* be done. The plans are available online at Simputer.org. The trouble is getting the parts, and the manufacturing ability. I actually would like to see a similar business model to DIY Solar, where parts can be exported and put together locally... but having been in wholesale hardware, I am also aware of the troubles that brings. > It should enable working for 12-24 hours a day, using RAM and CD/DVD ROM > and not hard disk, with or without power supply, work with or without > telephone lines, have packages for local use in the local language. It > should be a sealed unit with no moving parts and guaranteed for life, > unless mishandled. I'd go so far as to say a DVD/CD writer would be best, though I would encourage more use of USB memory sticks - as they are more robust. But CD/DVD is the lingua franca of sharing data by 'Sneakernet'. > All this means investment of time and money!! I don't know, really. Where I am, I can build a computer cheaper than I could build one in the United States because of wholesaler competition and because though wholesalers buy from the resellers in the U.S., they do not have to pay taxes as one would have to if it were for a U.S. market. Trinidad and Tobago has no duty on computer/computer parts, which is a really good thing - but the infrastructure has not kept pace, and neither has telecommunications policy. In fact, one could translate the laws here to mean that my hotspot within the house is illegal, or could be illegal. I made it pretty public that the government could sue me. :-) > I wold like to have your reaction and others, as to how we achieve these > on a sustainble basis, to mainly transform the under privileged and > deserving. The key is sustainable. Sustainable isn't a solution as much as a mindset for coming to solutions... and people who live outside of a region are hard pressed to know exactly what the problems are, and people who live in the region and yet do not live in affected areas do not know what the real problems are either. I was told recently by a visitor to Trinidad that the infrastructure is good - but their realm of experience was limited to a small part of Port of Spain (the capital) which does not show the problems outside of that area. It's a messy world. Clean solutions don't exist... the people at the grass roots level need to be involved. It has to be bottom up; top down has failed consistently while paying people to do so. -- Taran Rampersad Presently in: San Fernando, Trinidad and Tobago [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.knowprose.com http://www.digitaldivide.net/profile/Taran Coming on January 1st, 2006: http://www.OpenDepth.com "Criticize by creating." - Michelangelo ------------ ***GKD is solely supported by EDC, a Non-Profit Organization*** To post a message, send it to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To subscribe or unsubscribe, send a message to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>. In the 1st line of the message type: subscribe gkd OR type: unsubscribe gkd Archives of previous GKD messages can be found at: <http://www.edc.org/GLG/gkd/>
