[Robotgroup] OLPC manufacturer to sell $200 laptop in developed countries

[Def Egge]

Interesting, if true.  Previous inquiries regarding sale of these 
cheap laptops in developed countries were rejected outright ... at any price.

Perhaps, reality caught up with idealism and the sale of a more 
expensive version to those that can afford it will (inadvertently?) 
fund distribution in the developing world.

By damn!  You may not have enough to eat but you will be able to blog 
/ email / spam about it.  By the way, who is funding the ISP(s) 
through which the underprivileged children of the world will connect 
to all of the information on the WWW?

Another jaundiced view through the squinting eyes of a 
cynic.  Discount it as necessary.  Post your views to this list, 
i.e., do not respond privately to this address.


All the best....

Mike


At 21:02  2007/03/31, you wrote:
>This was posted by "Les" linuxles at yahoo.com on the Good Will Linux Group list
>
>
>OLPC manufacturer to sell $200 laptop in developed countries:
>http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070329-olpc-xo-manufacturer-to-sell-budget-portables-in-developed-countries.html
>
>OLPC manufacturer to sell $200 laptop in developed countries
>By Ryan Paul  | Published: March 29, 2007 - 08:31AM CT
>
>Quanta, the company manufacturing the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC)
>project's XO laptops, plans to begin selling low-cost budget mobile
>computers for $200 later this year. According to Quanta president
>Michael Wang, the company plans to leverage the underlying
>technologies associated with OLPC's XO laptop to produce laptop
>computers that are significantly less expensive than conventional laptops.
>
>The OLPC project, which hopes to bring inexpensive Linux-based laptops
>to the education market in developing countries, selected Quanta (the
>laptop manufacturing company that produces mobile computers for HP,
>Dell, and Acer) to produce the individual XO laptop units. OLPC
>project founder Nicholas Negroponte says that OLPC has no plans to
>make XO laptops, which are "designed for the poorest and most remote
>children in the world," available to ordinary consumers in developed
>countries. OLPC plans to sell the laptops in bulk to governments,
>which will then distribute the hardware to school children.
>Related Stories
>
>Quanta's announcement will be welcomed by the throngs of technology
>enthusiasts in the US and elsewhere who have expressed interest in
>acquiring one of the OLPC's budget-friendly laptops for personal use.
>Quanta plans to create a new "emerging PC" business unit to focus on
>establishing a new global market for low-cost computers. Although few
>details are available at this time regarding the software that Quanta
>will ship with its own XO-like laptops, it is known that the company
>intends to use open source software. Since virtually every element of
>the OLPC platform (including the unique user interface) is available
>under various open source licenses, Quanta could easily ship its own
>computers with the exact same software used on the XO.
>
>With luck, Quanta's increased involvement in the low-cost mobile
>computing market will allow the company to further decrease
>manufacturing costs and help the OLPC project reduce the XO's total
>cost per unit. This move by Quanta could also help make modern
>technology more accessible to underprivileged families around the world.
>
>_______________________________________________
>Robotgroup mailing list
>Robotgroup at puremagic.com
>http://lists.puremagic.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/robotgroup