"Gabriel Genellina" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: > En Fri, 09 Mar 2007 16:10:51 -0300, Tim Bradshaw <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > escribi�: [...] > > ill-conceived idea (not because of Python, note!). The electronic > > gadget people need in the developing world is a mobile phone not a > > computer. > > What for? > That requires a phone company, installed antennas everywhere, and > available power to charge batteries. Without forgetting you to pay > the bill, of course. > I don't think OLPC would actually help people so much, but a mobile > phone would be almost useless. [...]
How wrong can you get? Mobile phones have been making a significant economic impact in many places in the third world. Sub-saharan Africa has seen huge growth in access to mobile phones over the past few years, for example. A recent report indicates there are now over 100 million mobile phones in use in Africa. That's a huge change im communications from five years ago, but more than that, since people often don't own a mobile, but rent them by the minute from at the roadside, access levels must be much higher than that would imply (i.e., much greater than 10% of the continent's population). Mobile connections are intrinsically cheaper than fixed-line networks, can be rolled out faster, and have a disproportionately large impact in places where such electronic communications have in the past been absent, when compared with places like Europe and the US. For example, farmers report that they find mobile phones valuable to get information on market prices; without them, they would in the past have little choice but to physically go to market and hope for the best. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/article737130.ece I know nothing about OLPC, but I hope they're spending lots of time talking to children, teachers, and academics, and to anybody with a good criticism. It must be tricky for big projects to stay connected to reality. John
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