[dundee] OLPC Videos...niiiiiiiiiice!

[Tim Spencer]

these are some follow through arguments of points i have collected reading
and a) cannot be bothered referencing and b) am only writing them down
because its 5 o'clock and i cant sleep

1. Rural areas are the more affected areas, who through the problem of being
rural have less attractability/reachability for teachers and, especially in
poor countries, are normally the more poverty stricken areas and hence force
have shit loads of kinds (families have kids as their old age pension
skeem)  Now if u combine schools with no money u don't get a lot out of
that. I mean we are talking about the lucky few who can go to school because
their parents can afford school fees. although the western world sends a lot
of aid they normally do this in form of supplements like food and book n
stuff. they don't like paying people.plus u have the major problem of native
educated people preferring to opt out to higher pay out-of-the land jobs.

2. on the one hand we can be harsh and criticise the bad points of the OLPC
project but the only reason intel and all the other majors are developing
comparative products is because the project has shown that selling pc's too
poor countries is a feasible business model. now if u look at intel they are
like ms out to make money where as the OLPC just really wants to get even
big +.

3. spending money on teachers is good but alone not sufficient, schools
don't soley rely on teachers they need book and pens and all kind of shit.
now although teachers are good they are the least difficult part. shipping
is expensive especially spacial products(like books) so if we could do the
same like condensed milk did for us (am revering to my British side) during
the 2nd ww then, instead of that ammunition from the example, we could send
more food and save shipping cost; plus plus.

4. if the laptops weren't open source that would be a minus, why?. well Ms
has never really been a major advertiser on free software for its platform
so u kinda hope they don't take over. we don't want kids in 3rd world
countries opting for credit cards so they can buy more educational info's

5. How much does MS spend on education in this country. shit loads. schools
get the complete ms cd pack with 100 cds in for like 50 quid a year, why?
because they like people to be able to use ms when they finish education
why? so that businesses out of clever buisnessing think they save money by
not having to teach their staff ms products. so i think that these laptops
are one step into the direction for Linux

6. the reason why we have not yet have this technology implemented in this
country could be a pr thing with the government, wouldn't wont to be
associated with a 3 world country would we now plus this product is new and
has only been though about for 3rd world countries doesn't mean u couldn't
ask ur school to buy some or even the parents but the days are young and
better maybe following the current ones

the real solution would be to pump money into local businesses to produce
shit so that parents have more money which the ultimately spend partly on
their children and so one would not only boost educational standards but
also the state of the country turning it from a needer possibly into a
giver.
but would we have really bought options for local businesses because lets
face it we are geeks and like the tecky stuff, so u get a sweet mobile
laptop and u even help the developing world

i am sure i have invented a few words and i hope u find my points
interesting and worth while to read otherwise, well, u properly wont read
this

peace Lo5t
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