$100 laptop

The $100 laptop computer is the new project established by the MIT in order to help the children of the third world. It's a revolution for these countries because all they have to do is to wind its hand crank during 1mn to have 10mn of power.It works without electricity. Thanks to its low price, it can be distributed free to plenty of children and improve their way of learning. Indeed in these countries, there is poor teaching and this computer could enable them to access to the internet and to study with it. I think that it's a kind of long term project to raise the intellectual level and therefore the life's level of these countries. It's for developing them. But it could also involve a computers' traffic. Moreover, thousands of people are starving each day. We'd better give them food and priority needs. Even if we provide them with food, which is of course a necessity, it won't help them to develop their countries by themselves. These computers could perhaps show them new horizons to exploit. As a conclusion, I think that it isn't a waste of money and of energy.

 

our opinion about the introduction of the $100 laptop computer in the 3rd world:

even though it's possible to find positive aspects to this innovation, we don't think it would really help the inhab. of those countries.
At first, this special comp. is not the most useful thing for poor people.
Thanks to $100 some pop. as the Cambodians can live for more than 3 months.
That's why it's more intelligent to favour the distributions of food stuffs, medecines,etc...
In addition of that, it wouldn't change a lot of things in their life so quickly.
Poor countries need other helps.
If we want to permit the development of the 3rd world countries, we have to give them aids in several domains, but not just in this one.

 

Everyone involved in the computer business seems to have either their own vision, or doubts about the whole concept. Here is some different views.

The $100 laptop - don't get carried away

Not-So-Pricey Internet Device Hits Europe

Intel Blasts $100 Laptop

 

Instead of spending $100 per child/laptop, 3rd world countries' governments should give the money to the children, to help them to have a better way of life.
What's the point of having a $100 laptop even though more than 30% of the population in the 3rd world is living on less than $1 a day.
The money that would not be used in the purchase of these laptops could be used in a better way such as for vaccines, adequate sanitation, to improve drinking water sources in order to raise their life expectancy.
Even though the laptops could be of great assistance in helping them to learn, how many children could really benefit from this new technology? Do you really think that they would like a computer when they know that when they come back home they will probably have nothing to eat..or no more medecine for their families ?

 

The MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) will normally send 15 million of laptop computers over the next five years. These laptops are robust and cheap, $100, they work with a wind-up mechanism as an alternative to electricity. They can wirelessly connect to each other, that’s fun, it’s creating small networks and normally it will be able to connect to the Internet. It’s a good opportunity for these countries which are very poor and where there is a big learning potential. However they can’t exploit it because they haven’t got the necessary materials. But with a better learning level, children could reach high school and perhaps they could find jobs and help the development of the country. It will increase the income of people and the life expectancy. The silver lining is that the learning level could increase but the priority for these countries is more food or vaccines or better infrastructures for example. There is an other point, is that smart alec can take advantage of the situation and buy computers for next to nothing to the children and sell them in developed countries for a better price. To sum up we can say that it’s a good thing to send computers to the third world countries but it must be used wisely.