I really want a $100 Laptop

[Doppleganger]

I do remember learning a lot without having to be in front of a computer. I think the computer has been a crutch for kids.

Main point... speel chuckers.

[Jeff-20]

They must have been listening to us.

Starting November 12, One Laptop Per Child will be offering a Give 1 Get 1 Program for a brief window of time. For $399, you will be purchasing two XO laptops—one that will be sent to empower a child to learn in a developing nation, and one that will be sent to your child at home. If you're interested in Give 1 Get 1, we'll be happy to send you a reminder email. Just sign up in the box to the left and you'll receive your reminder prior to the November 12 launch date.

http://www.xogiving.org/

[gklinger]

I'm in for the buy one/give one. I've been one of those pushing for such a program for more than a year now.

[pitcalco]

Staying away from the ethical debate, I find it interesting that only half a century ago we were told that there would only ever be demand for about 5 computers in the whole world, and now we seem desperate to give computers to every single person in the world!

I am looking for a 386 or 486 right now. I can't find them because they have been thrown in the garbage. An obsolete computer has no resale value and are not even worth the space they take up.

My head is spinning

[Jeff-20]

[eslapion]

I am looking for a 386 or 486 right now. I can't find them because they have been thrown in the garbage. An obsolete computer has no resale value and are not even worth the space they take up.

My head is spinning

Recently, I donated a pile of perfectly working Amiga 500 computers.

Nobody wanted to pay for the shipping... I had to wait for people to come and pick then up. And still, because I was half asleep after a full night of work and was confused when one of the guys who wanted one of these machines called me, he posted a screenful of insults and meaningless degrading things about me.

No wonder the chinese are the only ones ending up with our obsolete computers. They don't use them, they dismantle them and recycle what they can. The process is in fact highly destructive for the environment as most of what cannot be recycled is usually just burned.

People always want the latest machine and the latest electronic toys right here right now no matter what the environmental or social consequences.

In 1984, the video game industry crashed, in 2000, the telecoms crashed. I suspect the computer industry as a whole will eventully be put agaisnt the miniaturisation "wall" quite soon and it too will more or less crash.

Already we see that the only way to get PCs to run faster is to put more processor cores onto the same chip.

[eslapion]

I just think it's arrogant of us to think that computers are the answer. Around the world, and even in sub-cultures within our own, there are those who have no use for a computer and thrive quite well, ...

...The old cliche about giving and teaching a man about fish is often applied; however, giving them a computer isn't teaching them to fish. Teaching them to FISH is teaching them to fish; giving them a computer is like teaching them how to use a typewriter and has absolutely nothing to do with fish or fishing.

Well, I really feel obligated to answer this one Paul.

As an autistic kid, my parents felt I didn't need a computer at the age of 12 when I was screaming for one... According to them, I needed to play ball and learn to socialize... While because of my miserable hand/eye coordination, that playing the VIC later on actually helped me develop, I could barely catch a ball, let alone hitting one with a bat, and socialisation is always the weakest point (read bête noire) of autistic people.

By doing so, they have made sure that I finished high school at the age 31, that all my younger years when I could have capitalized on what I was good at and develop my potential was just plain wasted.

Now at 37, I am more than 15 years behind other students and still with very high average grades, something just about no other students of my age ever achieved, I am still shunned by potential employers because I never gained confidence in my abilities at the proper age for lack of adequate encouragement, because of my older age for the level I am at and because of all the verbal and physical abuse I had to put up with when trying to socialize as a kid. Also because as a vulnerable person, I was left to fend for myself when faced with manipulators who abused the vulnerability related to my condition and pushed me into committing acts that resulted in me having a criminal record.

In other words, by denying less wealthy kids access to computers they sometimes dream of having and using, from here or abroad, you also deny them the right to develop their potential, you make sure they can't contribute to a very important part of the world's social and economic network. You create an us and them type of situation by saying to these kids that there may be among them very good programmer's, scientists and engineers but you've decided that the only way they are allowed to earn a living is by working in jobs related to growing or hunting for food.

In effect you've decided for them that there is no room for them in the digital world and they just have to accept it.

Getting out of this vicious circle of being in the diminished potential situation maybe possible but its incredibly difficult and I know for myself its requires a tremendous amount of hardship that I know for a fact other people who were given the right opportunities at the right time in life don't have to put up with. In my case, having worked multiple times as hard as the younger students, I still can't say its a success.

As history shows us, when these kids get older, some revolt against this type of labelling and categorization. When they do, they get even more stigma and they have an even harder time as they are being portrayed as bad people.

Sometimes, they take arms and they revolt in a massive way. As they did in Vietnam, in Cuba, more or less so in Venezuela and other south american countries.

I am not in a position to tell wether these revolts (some calls them revolution if there is such a thing) are always truly motivated by good intentions. One thing is sure, however, they all have a similar root cause: the denial of a people's right to develop its full potential and to live out a decent life.

If you see an enormous amount of weapons being bought and manufactured by countries like Canada, the United States, Israel and less significantly Australia (now that may change with the new administration there), its precisely because of that. These are countries that greatly contribute to place other people (other countries) in situation of empoverishment. They contribute to keep millions (billions?) of people in situations where they are completely denied the opportunities essential to allow a person to develop its true capabilities. And then they donate large amounts of money (but that has change considerably under the Harper administration here) to make themselves feel at ease with the horror they commit.

You can be absolutely assured there would be a lot more revolts, massive ones, if it wasn't for the constant threat of "counter insurrection" by the rich powerful nations.

Well, as an american catholic priest who demonstrated in front of a military base and got jailed for it about 10 years ago said; "Who do you think the insurgents are?"

[Wonder-Boy]

The Economist's review of the XO. The bottom line is that it is too expensive and too difficult to use. Too bad.


Intel's Classmate, an alternative.

[PaulQ]

People always want the latest machine and the latest electronic toys right here right now no matter what the environmental or social consequences.

Not me, man. Not me. I've spent more money over the past year on "Obsolete" computer stuff than brand new. I think I bought a firewire/USB2 Maxtor 300GB external hard drive to back stuff up, because my hard drive was getting noisy. That, and I like to have more capacity to do my video editing.

Clearly, Eslapion, you illustrate a point that, in some cases, a computer can really benefit a child, given certain circumstances. There are most likely children all over the world with a similar disability that would benefit the same way.

Perhaps a new approach is needed. We have, as has been pointed out, piles upon piles of "Obsolete" PC hardware. I have, in storage, '286's, '386's, '486's, and an early Pentium computer. I store these because they still work perfectly fine and I could not bear to see them torn apart , with the unwanted parts burned or sent to a landfill. They are all quite capable for word processing, spreadsheets, games, e-mail, and even web browsing. They can be easily programmed. They are able to run a multitude of operating systems. Perhaps what we really need is a program that gets these so-called "Obsolete" PC's into the hands of children who would really benefit from them.

I mean, think about it...a Vic 20 made a world of difference to you. Imagine if it was a '386 loaded with OpenDOS or DR-DOS (both free), and pre-loaded with some freeware games, freeware telecommunications software, a programming language or two (BASIC comes to mind), and some freeware productivity software? I mean, there's a guy out in BC fixing up old bikes and shipping those over to 3rd world countries; this idea wouldn't be all that different.

[Jeff-20]

Internet users by number and nation (almost reflected evenly in Denial membership):

Of course, this is from 2002. China and India have surely jumped since then.