Some searching around will provide estimates that the usefulness of those
notebooks will not be fully achieved at the current sticker price of $140.
Most estimates say that providing the necessary infrastructure will raise
the cost per notebook to approximately $1k.

I still think the money would serve a more useful purpose to provide food,
medicine and schools/education.  For nations that have the necessary
food/medicine/education, then sure, cheap access to technology is
beneficial.

This link has two other interesting links in it.
<
http://www.engadget.com/2006/11/14/quanta-builds-the-first-ten-xo-1-prototypes/
>
<http://www.olpcnews.com/>



On 11/22/06, Vitaliy <piclist.account@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Shawn Wilton wrote:
> > Yeah, from what I recall reading, Thailand dropped out and no longer
> > wishes
> > to purchase those laptops.  Are laptops REALLY what 3rd world children
> > need?  How about decent food/shelter/medicine/education...  $100 in a
> 3rd
> > world country goes a long ways.
>
> Providing laptops to children beats simply pouring money into third world
> countries, by far. Money is wasted by corrupt governments. And food stores
> are often hijacked by local militias, sold for money, and used to fuel the
> local conflicts. The nice thing about these laptops is that they're not
> easily convertible to guns.
>
> And if the laptop really can replace a book, it makes perfect economic
> sense. How many textbooks can you buy for $100?
>
> Vitaliy
>
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-- 

Shawn Wilton (b9 Systems)
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