Too many topics, too little time

Gates Dismissive of $100 Laptop [1] ….:

My take is that it may be both a publicity stunt and also a good project. Because, of course, the support issues wouldn’t go away if every child were given a $1000 laptop, would they? Nor would anyone sit there cranking the $1000 laptop; they’d stare at it as it rested inert for want of a power outlet. The whole plan is that it isn’t a gadget but a readily adaptable network node.

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Readily adaptable network node… but without any support network, educational infrastructure or else, what we basically end up with is a commodity and as someone said to me at wsis… You can burn it to keep warm or you can take the plastic to make a roof for your hut, or you can disassemble it for parts for your neighbors, but if you don’t know how to use it, you aren’t going to be computing with it.