Yeah, good points, I wonder how many brilliant minds we loose every day, how many <font size="-1"><b>Einstein</b>'s was loose daily, those that never even reach maturity..<br><br>it's a scary thought, that our world may be doomed, <br><br>at least we'll still have .net and silverlight to rejoice about. ;-)<br><br>Lee<br></font><br><b><i>dreamisdead0@gmail.com</i></b> wrote:<blockquote class="replbq" style="border-left: 2px solid rgb(16, 16, 255); margin-left: 5px; padding-left: 5px;"> > Good idea, let's go! Oh wait... the OLPC is hand cranked 'cos the owner may<br>> not have electricity in their hut; its peer to peer network capable as<br>> there wont be any internet/network connectivity. I'm not sure what software<br>> I could write that could move their lives forward, do you? Does anyone? You<br>> see, this is what I have against the OLPC idea; I believe there are more<br>> important things the money could be spent on that really would
make a<br>> difference to these people's lives. Corporate America do you want to help<br>> the African poor? Good! How about you drop the trade barriers then and make<br>> a real difference. OLPC is just re-arranging the deck chairs on the<br>> Titanic.<br><br>I agree that for a lot of countries and children, there are steps that could <br>make far more difference than giving them laptops. For children struggling to <br>get food or stuck in the middle of a conflict zone, I think they might have <br>slightly higher priorities than learning to use a computer.<br><br>That said, I think there are places where the OLPC scheme can really help. I <br>was in Ecuador they year before last helping to build a computer room for a <br>school in a remote village. People there had food to eat, but they couldn't <br>afford the building materials let alone computers, but the head of the <br>village told us that learning English would be the only way these kids would <br>get
better jobs - in banks, in the growing tourist industry etc. <br><br>It seems a lot of South American children are in a similar situation and <br>having computers could make a world of difference to their future - but for <br>the worlds poorest people I'm still not sure how great an effect the scheme <br>can have.<br><br>Hazel<br><br>On Friday 18 January 2008, Gary Short wrote:<br>> -------- Original Message --------<br>><br>> > From: Lee Hughes <toxicnaan@yahoo.co.uk><br>> > Sent: 18 January 2008 00:29<br>> > To: Tayside Linux User Group <dundee@mailman.lug.org.uk><br>> > Subject: [dundee] OLPC BBC report<br>> ><br>> > It's basicly says, well that the intel one is being more favour by<br>> > govements?<br>> ><br>> > I wonder why that is?<br>><br>> Could it be because it is backed by a billion dollar corporation and not by<br>> some charity that could disappear overnight if the donations dry
up?<br>><br>> > right, lets get coding some apps for the OLPC platform, maybe that's<br>> > where the difference will lie<br>><br>> Good idea, let's go! Oh wait... the OLPC is hand cranked 'cos the owner may<br>> not have electricity in their hut; its peer to peer network capable as<br>> there wont be any internet/network connectivity. I'm not sure what software<br>> I could write that could move their lives forward, do you? Does anyone? You<br>> see, this is what I have against the OLPC idea; I believe there are more<br>> important things the money could be spent on that really would make a<br>> difference to these people's lives. Corporate America do you want to help<br>> the African poor? Good! How about you drop the trade barriers then and make<br>> a real difference. OLPC is just re-arranging the deck chairs on the<br>> Titanic.<br>><br><br><br><br>> Just my tuppence worth
:-)<br><br><br><br>_______________________________________________<br>dundee GNU/Linux Users Group mailing list<br>dundee@lists.lug.org.uk http://dundee.lug.org.uk<br>https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/dundee<br>Chat on IRC, #tlug on dundee.lug.org.uk<br></dundee@mailman.lug.org.uk></toxicnaan@yahoo.co.uk></blockquote><br><p> 
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