Microsoft is right this time
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| Author | Content |
|---|---|
| glynmoody Jan 31, 2006 6:49 AM EDT |
I hate to say it, but in this particular case I think that Microsoft is actually on the right track as far as the type of device is concerned - see http://opendotdotdot.blogspot.com/2006/01/microsoft-is-right... |
| salparadise Jan 31, 2006 7:33 AM EDT |
Of course Bill Gates has shot this idea down, it will destroy Microsoft for the next generation. A new generation of computer literate young adults who have cut their teeth on Linux? Are they really going to fall for "the Windows way" of doing things? Windows can't compete because it won't work on a $100 laptop so the idea must be ridiculed and sneered at until no ones talking about it anymore. Otherwise Microsoft are out of the race (if indeed it is a race). |
| number6x Jan 31, 2006 8:12 AM EDT |
In 10 years time Royal, or some other company, will probably be selling an ''organizer' with a 500Mhz processor, 512MB to 1GB or ram, and built in wireless. It'll probably cost less than $100.00. It may very well be primitive compared to the desktops and laptops available in 10 years, but it will be used by people who can afford it. If students today get exposure to a $100.00 computer environment that lets them learn how to develop software, those hand held 'organizers ' will be made to do amazing thing in the future. The Apple II and the Timex/Sinclair are primitive by today's standards, but they encouraged many individuals to learn how to program. They were used in many home brew projects. They stimulated minds, and encouraged learning. They were designed as hobbiest machines, but they planted seeds that grew. |
| SFN Jan 31, 2006 8:50 AM EDT |
"once voice recognition systems are good enough to cope with breathless speech on the move with significant background noises" Yes once that happens, the keyboard - and consequently, the laptop - will not be the way to do this. When is that going to happen? Next year? Two years from now? To think that it will happen soon enough to tell the poorer people of the world that a $100 laptop is a bad idea just screams "let them eat cake". |
| glynmoody Jan 31, 2006 10:33 AM EDT |
Sorry, I wasn't suggesting that they should wait for voice recognition: I meant that one day this would be a solution. In the meantime, Microsoft's idea of attaching a keyboard to a mobile phone and using a TV as the screen seems to me more practical than trying to design a $100 laptop if millions/billions are going to get a mobile phone anyway. Another problem is that nobody knows whether this $100 laptop design is even feasible yet.... |
| salparadise Jan 31, 2006 12:45 PM EDT |
The prototype has been shown. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/4445060.stm |
| alc Jan 31, 2006 1:35 PM EDT |
How much for the mobile phone,keyboard and TV? |
| glynmoody Jan 31, 2006 1:43 PM EDT |
Yes, but as you say, a prototype, not an early production model: if you look at the second picture in the BBC story, you can see that this is currently a rather larger object that bears very little resemblance to the sleek green thing (with the fake screen in the first picture) it needs to become. Unfortunately, the question is not whether something with all the announced features can be made to work - clearly it can - but whether it can be made for $100. |
| salparadise Jan 31, 2006 9:35 PM EDT |
The other point being that $100 might not be that much to you and I but there are places in the world where that is a fortune and certainly more than most families see in a year. A $100 laptop for EVERY child on earth is a beautiful vision and one that will cost HUGE amounts of money and present logistic problems hitherto unforeseen. It would be sad to see this idea crash and burn through lack of resources or lack of support but it would be a tragedy if it happened because Mr. Gates decided to stop it. |
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