Yet another reason to get angry with Bill...

[Eric Dunbar]

On 19/03/06, Jeff Waugh <jeff.waugh at ubuntu.com> wrote:
> <quote who="Duncan Anderson">
>
> > The laptop in question is a wind up job which does not require
> > electricity, so I think it is precisely those communities which would
> > benefit from it the most. Or should I assume that the great big yellow
> > handle in the picture on laptop.org is just for show?
>
> It has a crank, and takes C cell batteries. One of the comments made by the
> OLPC staff is that this laptop may be the first artificial light source
> available in some places it will be distributed.

Not to rain on the parade, but, if it's the first artificial light
source, then there's also a good chance that no one can read at a
sufficient level to make use of the laptop.

That said, enough people are literate and still in _desperate_ need of
information so, provided they're targetted then there's the
possibility that people will find a use for them (in the developed
world there may be a _tiny_ market for them as well -- the homeless
(though, they will now start to have public access to
internet/computers as well so for them to tote around one of these
gadgets will be yet another thing to lose (and, that's one of the
problems (at least in Toronto)... oftentimes they're not "with it"
enough to keep track of their meage belongings).

Eric.