India Will Show Its $10 Laptop Prototype 374
Tech Ticker writes "The Indian Government last year announced the development of a cheap $10 laptop, but was later rectified as $100 laptop. Now the government has announced that HRD minister Arjun Singh will unveil the prototype of a Rs. 500 ($10) computer. The computer is developed by the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore, and Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Chennai. No specifications were revealed but DNA, a daily newspaper, has mentioned that it will be small and portable, will feature Wi-Fi, LAN, and expandable memory, and will operate on 2 watts of power."
Imagine... (Score:5, Funny)
... a $1000 beowulf cluster of those!
Sorry, had to be done...
2 watts! (Score:2, Funny)
Great scott! The only thing capable of generating 2 watts is a battery.
From TFA - $20 actually (Score:5, Funny)
But they hope for a lower price with mass production.
"At this stage, the price is working out to be $20 but with mass production it is bound to come down," R P Agarwal, secretary, higher education said.
Meanwhile, this laptop [amazon.com] is still priced at $12.25.
Re:Imagine... (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Critical thinking anyone? (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Critical thinking anyone? (Score:5, Funny)
Who will do the tech support? (Score:1, Funny)
Who can they outsource?
Pre-order gift (Score:5, Funny)
Also, a calendar going up to 2050 specifying exactly the year of "Linux on the Desktop."
Re:Critical thinking anyone? (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Ridiculous price (Score:4, Funny)
It's a misuse of the term labtop.
I really don't know how they could have misused that term.
Re:I hope they succeed. (Score:0, Funny)
I thought "third world" was outdated terminology.
I'm sure "developing countries" is the modern, PC, terminology.
I'm sure "non-viable markets" is the modern, Mac terminology.
Re:Imagine... (Score:4, Funny)
Hell fire, I'll take half a dozen of those sawbuck laptops right now if they just leave the friggin' stickers off.
Wow, a promise of a $60 investment! ;D
Oh, huh. (Score:4, Funny)
The sheer hubris of this announcement made me wonder: When did M. Night Shyamalan start making computers?
Re:I hope they succeed. (Score:5, Funny)
Re:From TFA - $20 actually (Score:1, Funny)
Fuck! There is only 5 left in stock!
Can we get that price lower? I think we *can*! (Score:5, Funny)
A $10 notebook is yet more proof that free markets, competition and Globalization will ensure the future strength prosperity of Western Civilization!
But can we get that price lower? I think we *can*!
1.) First, we have to trim the lowest 10% of performers from every organization. (Pay bonuses to executives for doing this effectively.) Tip: trim Human Resources last -- we need them to do the hatchet work while senior management strokes the shareholders and analysts.
2.) Repeat 1.) a few times and what will remain is a lean and absolutely *amazing* company of workers who do more error-free work with a facial muscle spasm than other schmucks do in 6 months with both hands and 20/20 vision!
3.) Next, we find cheaper workers. India's labour costs are a big part of that $10. Whom will we get to do the work? EASY... we train bonobos. We don't even have to feed them much -- those suckers are pretty lean.
4.) Sack all Testing and Quality Assurance people. With our lean, superproductive staff and well-trained bonobos, we won't need to test. And if there's a problem, we'll silence talk of it with legal threats and "promise" to fix the bug(s) in a future release. (Ha ha!)
5.) Squeeze as much free money as we can out of the government. If the government is Pro-Business, say we're creating new jobs in a cutting-edge market. If the government is Green, say we're saving the bonobos. If it's a coalition, say whatever you have to say no matter how self-contradictory or idiotic.
6.) Spend cash from 5.) on bribes to steal someone else's technology. R&D is for losers.
7.) Throw the product over the wall and pump up the advertising! If it fails, lock the workers out and give senior management a round of bonuses. But it won't fail, because using the above strategy, I think we have the $10 notebook down to $2.35.
Unless of course "$10" is a typo.
Re:I hope they succeed. (Score:3, Funny)
> I don't see why Negroponte's OLPC project didn't succeed before.
the N word
Re:Imagine... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Critical thinking anyone? (Score:3, Funny)
The original would likely have been Chinese to begin with, so being a Chinese knockoff wouldn't necessarily mean anything. :)
Re:I hope they succeed. (Score:3, Funny)
yet a laptop with a quarter of the power and less functionality can't be built for less than 200$ for the OLPC.
I don't know. The more I hear about this "laptop" (portable, operating off of 2 watts, expandable memory...) the more I'm convinced it's the real deal.
Soon, all Indian children will have calculators.
Re:Imagine... (Score:4, Funny)
wow, all the home page tags stickers came off of the html when I clicked that link ...