UN joins partnership to produce $100 laptop
by Peter Pollack
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20060127-6068.html
The US$100 laptop cart continues to roll downhill and gather speed, and now
it's getting an extra shove from the United Nations (UN), who announced
yesterday that they will be partnering in the project, which is attempting to
provide inexpensive computers to children and families in developing nations.
Kemal Dervis, head of the U.N. Development Program, will sign a memorandum of
understanding Saturday with Nicholas Negroponte, chairman of One Laptop per
Child, on the $100 laptop project, at the World Economic Forum's annual meeting.
For those who have slept through much of the last year, Mr. Negroponte (who
doubles as chairman of the MIT Media Lab that conceived the project) announced
at the January 2005 World Economic Forum a plan to provide 100 million to 150
million inexpensive laptops to children in the third world. This extremely
ambitious program, now being administered by the non-profit OLPC, progressed
from good idea to design in just nine months, with the first working prototype
presented in November.
The device is to be a small version of a common laptop, with screen and
keyboard sections pivoting around a central cylinder. The screen can be used in
a traditional laptop position, as well as rotated all the way around the
cylinder for portrait display of electronic books. A yellow crank attached to
one end of the cylinder turns a tiny generator which provides power when no
other source is available. The laptop has a 7-inch display, wireless
networking, a 500 MHz processor, and runs on Linux.
The UN had already shown some interest in the project when the November
prototype presentation was introduced by Secretary General Kofi Annan.
This is not just a matter of giving a laptop to each child, as if bestowing on
them some magical charm. The magic lies within -- within each child, within
each scientist-, scholar-, or just plain citizen-in-the-making. This initiative
is meant to bring it forth into the light of day.
The laptops are expected to be paid for by national governments and private
contributions, then distributed free to the children. Production will begin
when 5 million to 10 million units have been paid for, and nations which have
expressed interest in procuring them include China, India, Brazil, Argentina,
Egypt, Nigeria, and Thailand.
The device, which has already been derided as a "gadget" by Intel chairman
Craig Barret, should get some desired credibility with the UN's support, but an
even greater benefit will arise when distribution begins next year. There are
no limits to the number of potential problems that can arise when attempting to
distribute supplies to the needy in developing nations, and it will take plenty
of diplomatic skill to ensure that the laptops are not diverted away from their
intended audience.
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