Re:PrePackaged PC Fails Miserably! Shamefully! Aga
Posted by: Anonymous Coward
on May 28, 2007 02:21 PM
Thank you for the article. It is informative, if naive, about the suitability for Classmate in third world countries. Obviously Classmate is a joke when compared to OLPC and Intel should be ashamed / boycotted for building such a thing. Boycot Intel.
OLPC is trying to keep their system closed so that they create a community where all parts of interchangeable and mass production creates economies of scale. There are problems with this strategy and I think they will eventually come out with different hardware versions.
I just purchased a 2GB USB Flash for $11 in China, so I think the need for a hard drive in this system is zero. Kids can do what they need to do with their own Flash drives.
I have lived half my life in China and traveled extensively throughout China and southeast Asia. Beijing is like NY, but 50 miles out and it is like being in the 1800s. (BTW Chinese is no longer written right to left in China for the moron above.) Machines like OLPC will have a fantastic impact on Children throughout the world. Those of you who don't think these devices will help the 3rd world have never lived in the 3rd world. Live there, speak the language, understand the culture and shut up about things you know nothing about.
I rarely participate in these kinds of discussions because they are read by so few but the thing that tipped me over the edge was the idiotic suggestion of an "allowance" so "local communities would decide how to best spendfor their needs". You are a complete idiot. You no nothing about the 3rd world. The biggest problem in the 3rd world is graft. If you left this decision to local communities they would pay $200 for something only worth $80 and put $120 in their pockets. Last week I witnessed a guy pay RMB700 for a device worth RMB400 but he got a receipt for RMB1150. The purchaser was buying for his government agency and made a profit of RMB450 while the seller made an extra profit of RMB300. This is so common everywhere outside of the USA that it is part of daily life. To even suggest that something like this could be implemented on a community level shows your utter and complete ignorance.
I think OLPC should be available for sale in the USA and abroad at a low markup. This will help reduce production costs and iron out the bugs in the system and subsidize the cost for poorer countries. And I wish OLPC all the success in the world.
Learn about Linux
Download Linux
Get Linux help
Re:PrePackaged PC Fails Miserably! Shamefully! Aga
Posted by: Anonymous Coward on May 28, 2007 02:21 PMOLPC is trying to keep their system closed so that they create a community where all parts of interchangeable and mass production creates economies of scale. There are problems with this strategy and I think they will eventually come out with different hardware versions.
I just purchased a 2GB USB Flash for $11 in China, so I think the need for a hard drive in this system is zero. Kids can do what they need to do with their own Flash drives.
I have lived half my life in China and traveled extensively throughout China and southeast Asia. Beijing is like NY, but 50 miles out and it is like being in the 1800s. (BTW Chinese is no longer written right to left in China for the moron above.) Machines like OLPC will have a fantastic impact on Children throughout the world. Those of you who don't think these devices will help the 3rd world have never lived in the 3rd world. Live there, speak the language, understand the culture and shut up about things you know nothing about.
I rarely participate in these kinds of discussions because they are read by so few but the thing that tipped me over the edge was the idiotic suggestion of an "allowance" so "local communities would decide how to best spendfor their needs". You are a complete idiot. You no nothing about the 3rd world. The biggest problem in the 3rd world is graft. If you left this decision to local communities they would pay $200 for something only worth $80 and put $120 in their pockets. Last week I witnessed a guy pay RMB700 for a device worth RMB400 but he got a receipt for RMB1150. The purchaser was buying for his government agency and made a profit of RMB450 while the seller made an extra profit of RMB300. This is so common everywhere outside of the USA that it is part of daily life. To even suggest that something like this could be implemented on a community level shows your utter and complete ignorance.
I think OLPC should be available for sale in the USA and abroad at a low markup. This will help reduce production costs and iron out the bugs in the system and subsidize the cost for poorer countries. And I wish OLPC all the success in the world.
#