One Laptop Per Child pledge

[Jon maddog Hall]

> I'd support this project if it were to get a laptop in every household in the
> USA but third world I don't think so, let's start thinking about taking care
> of our own first the rest of the world. 

I have heard nothing about the OLPC project that targets the "Third World"
exclusively.  It does target children and school needs versus the "commercial
computer".

I could see these computers going into inner city Chicago, deep south USA
and other "depressed" areas.

Nevertheless, there are things about the OLPC project that do not map directly
to the USA.  As an example, the electricity in most of the USA is at least
available due to the electrification programs of the past, and most places have
at least dial-up networking.  The notebooks that people in the USA can buy...
fully configured to be useful...can be purchased for $400-600., and good used
notebooks for a lot less than that.  Refurbished, useful desktop systems are
more and more available in the USA, but less so in emerging economies due to
the small use of computers over all.  In some of the "emerging economies" the
same notebooks cost the equivalent of 600-1000 USD*, sometimes due to high
import taxes, sometimes due to lack of competition.  Their governments sponsoring
a plan to import the OLPC computer into emerging economies might get these
computers to the children at something closer to the real cost of $100.-$135.
instead of the "normal" market and tax uplift of 3-4 times.

I am currently reading a book called "Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail
or Succeed" by Jared Diamond which shows how even some "isolated" societies
collapsed when they did not take into account the "global" picture.  The way
of stopping illegal immigrants and to increase the number of US exports bought
by other economies is to increase the buying power and standard of living
of those other economies.  Hard?  Yes.  Impossible?  No.  Ireland, Lichtenstein,
and Malaysia are all examples of countries that have turned themselves from
some of the poorest economies of the world to some of the strongest in less than
twenty years.

What is happening in East Timor right now is exactly what happened to some
of the not-so ancient civilizations.  The desperate plight of the needy
overruns the ability of government to keep order.

One of my favorite cartoons of all time was in Walt Kelly's Pogo, when the title
character was rowing a boat through the swamp they lived in and he said "We
have met the enemy, and he is us."

In today's world there is no "we" and "them", there is only "us".

Regards,

maddog

*I recently bought off the net a USB flash drive that holds 2 GB for $40.
after rebate.  My Brazilian friend told me that *IF* he could buy it in Brazil,
it would cost the equivalent of between 200-300 USD.

-- 
Jon "maddog" Hall
Executive Director           Linux International(R)
email: maddog at li.org         80 Amherst St. 
Voice: +1.603.672.4557       Amherst, N.H. 03031-3032 U.S.A.
WWW: http://www.li.org

Board Member: Uniforum Association, USENIX Association

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