Microsoft To Answer The $100 Laptop With Mobile Phones
from the anything-you-can-do-they-think-they-can-do-better dept
The decision by Nicholas Negroponte to use open-source software in his $100 laptop for the world's poor instead of a special version of Windows CE ruffled some feathers at Microsoft, with Bill Gates described as being "privately bitter" about it. It upset them enough that the company is now working on its own similar project to get poor people online with mobile phones that have keyboards and adapters so they could be connected to TVs, with Microsoft saying that it's a better and more sustainable idea than laptops. It's not really clear that one solution is better than the other: on the face of it, giving people a computer might appear more useful, but there are plenty of examples of people using mobile phones for economic empowerment. The danger, though, is that the benefits of both ideas take a back seat to some sort of ego-driven battle over whose approach is best. The bottom line here should be to help people, not to create a giant PR platform for your company's products.Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
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The bottom line here should be to help people, not
And for all of Bill Gates willy business moves, the guy has never been afraid to share his wealth with charity. He recently gave something to the tune of $600 million for TB research.
So if he uses the microsoft name in helping people become connected to the internet and giving them a passable "computer" than so be it.
Really the only person I find at fault is the person who said no to a free and proven (although a bit buggy of course) OS in the name of open source.
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Re: The bottom line here should be to help people,
Hell, I brought a new laptop with Windows XP Pro like 5 months ago and it has close to 20 hot fixes in it!
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Re: The bottom line here should be to help people,
Nothing from Microsoft is ever free. If they give something away, it is only to tie them into the Microsoft world so that they will eventually have to give money to the great shit^Hp that is Microsoft.
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Re: The bottom line here should be to help people,
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They're starving,
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Re: They're starving,
I don't think Billy is being greedy, him and his wife donate so much money to various charities that it makes me a bit tearful.
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Re: They're starving,
The basic theme, which is great, is that you have to start addressing the roots of poverty as well as the end product.
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Food for Thought
fail so miserably. We were going to teach
the backwards savages in Africa how to farm
the modern American way. They'd not only
be eating but exporting food in no time at
all... or so it was said. Yet clean
drinking water and food are still the
most pressing issues after all these years.
Is the (internet) technology gap holding
people back in these impoverished African
countries? Did a lack of internet prevent
people in other countries from building
their modern societies... obviously not.
The $100 laptop is a nice idea, but it doesn't
address the root causes of the problems
plagueing Africa and in the end will not be
very helpful.
IMHO YMMV Bla,Bla,Bla
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Microsoft To Answer The $100 Laptop With Mobile Ph
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Good thoughts
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Great but who is going to provide
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Re: Great but who is going to provide
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These Attempts...
Pee on em.
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Re: These Attempts...
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$20 bucks I bet...
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Bill Gates Donates Squat
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Grow up...
Grow up...
Don't think for a second that Nicholas Negroponte (who is ubiquitously playing the part of the lowly university professor just trying to do his part to help humanity) is not financially benefiting from this...HE IS. His book, BEING DIGITAL, has gained increased exposure and sales since his name has been in the news for this (It's on the NYT Bestseller list). He serves on the board of Motorola (I bet these laptops use some of their technology to great fanfare...oh what benevolence). Oh, don't forget the cover stories and exclusive interviews on the subject with WIRED magazine...which be founded.
I'm not saying it is right for Bill to make this a personal ego contest...but lets be fair. Negroponte has one of the largest egos out there and he is feeding both it and his wallet through this exposure. He's not your childhood Sunday-school teacher going off into the jungles for a mission.
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Re: Grow up...
I don't think Carlo was implying that Negroponte's offering was necessarily any better than Microsoft's.
If you look back on previous things we've written about Negroponte's plans, I think it's pretty clear we're not necessarily believers in his vision either.
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M$ cheap...
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Windows?
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Wait for the satellite phones...
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There were many reasons for using Linux
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Sillyness or not...
And I would much rather see an ego PR drivin solution than somebody lobying the federal government to start up another entitlement program.
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