Intel boss scorns MIT laptop
p2p news / p2pnet: Much is being made of the super-cheap ($100) Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) hand-cranked laptop being made for under-privileged kids in under-developed countries.
But Chipzilla boss Craig Barrett isn’t impressed. In fact, he’s downright scornful.
Governments in poor countries will be offered between 100 and 150 million laptops for distributioni n schools sometime next year, says MIT’s Nick Negroponte.
But although he calls it a $100 laptop, ” I think a more realistic title should be ‘the $100 gadget’,” Barrett told a press conference in Sri Lanka, states Reuters. “The problem is that gadgets have not been successful.”
Barrett said Intel was, “committed to delivering IT access to the developing world – and is helping Sri Lanka Telecom set up south Asia’s first long-range WIMAX wireless network – but would not produce a cut-price product like MIT’s computer,” says the story.
By the way, the hand-powered, low-cost laptop doesn’t have Intel inside. Behind it are AMD, Brightstar and Red Hat Linux.
Also read:-
under-privileged kids – Mac OS X for poor kids’ laptops?, November 16, 2005
Reuters – World’s poorest don’t want ‘$100 laptop’: Intel, December 9, 2005
December 10th, 2005 at 12:59 am
Nuff said really.
December 10th, 2005 at 3:45 pm
Plain arrogance.
If you have no gas stations where you live or you cannot afford an automobile, a gadget like a bycicle will do fine. Just because one has a Mercedes is no reason to belittle the bycicle and/or their owners.
Anyway, if volume is high enough, the price of a good laptop can be reduced greatly through automation. If promotion adds are eliminated and replaced by word of mouth advertisements, costs can be further reduced. Then, and maybe this is the worrisome part for Mr. Barrett, if executive that make millions of dollars per year simply to manage (interfere may sometimes be the better word) the work of others, are not hired, prices will really drop. Then if you do not feed many shareholders that have become used to gargantuan gourmet meals and capital gains, you can hit the bottom cost of $100 or thereabout per computer.
Rafael Venegas
http://www.gvenegas.com
December 11th, 2005 at 9:45 am
No money in it for Intel. Bet if there was, then this would be touted as the greatest invention since the abacus for helping third world countries.
Want a corporations support? You do business with them. If they get cut out then sour grapes rules and it is not a product they will give support to in any manner, no matter the possibility of future business down the road. Most likely Intel didn’t get the nod because their product is too expensive and they weren’t willing to give up the profits to help out.
Like every other corporation they want their cut. If it excludes them then never will the product be worthy. Toy or not, even calculator functions will work. That alone will be worth its weight in gold to those that don’t have one. Since even the most basic computer is capable of time telling, calculating, teaching typing, and a multitude of other services and capabilities, this is just so much smoke blowing as it isn’t their product in it.
To those that have nothing, even cheap is a step up. Heavens forbid that they learn how to program and remove Intel from the scene entirely and go to churning out linux programs that you can be sure that both Jobs and Gates will condem. This small computer may not be capable of programing on large scale but certainly it can teach the basics. One never knows where that will lead, as kids are about finding out what makes things tick.
December 11th, 2005 at 12:07 pm
Hehehehe…..
If this keeps up, then AMD is going to knock Intel from the top of the hill. I think that’s what Barrett fears the most. I buy AMD exclusively nowadays. Furthermore, Intel still doesn’t have a workable 64-bit platform for the x86 processor family. Their so called Itainium is a failure in the marketplace after how many years and billions invested? I think this is why Intel is being so vindictive…corporate jealosy. The Opteron is a superior product anyways, and it’s cheaper.
Remeber folks, this is coming from a company that did everything they could to kill AMD…Just like what Microsoft did or try to do to their competitors.