There is enough buzz over the $10 laptop. Let me tell you, there is no such thing as a $10 laptop today. Anybody who talks about a $10 laptop is ignorant. It’s not easy to develop technology and, with due respect, India has not yet developed any good products..., one can argue.

 

 

You can read an interview by Sam Pitroda in Mint of June 29, 2008.. At least its hard for education ministry to argue with this guy..

 

 

http://www.livemint.com/articles/2009/06/28223947/Education-requires-innovation.html

 

On Mon, Jul 6, 2009 at 5:07 AM, ridhi dcruz <ridhidcruz@...> wrote:

Any further developments on this?

2009/2/4 Shubhranshu Choudhary <cgnet.in@gmail.com>

The Human Resource Development (HRD) Ministry unveiled a low-cost
computing device â€" a $10 (less than Rs 500) laptop prototype â€" in
Tirupati on Tuesday. To be launched in six months, the device has
generated curiosity coupled with quite some skepticism across the
international media. Here is a peek into the dream device: ¦ HOW IT
STARTED: The idea hit the Indian Gov ernment first when Nicholas
Negroponte of MIT Media Laboratory came up with his aggres sively
marketed one-laptop-per-child (OLPC) scheme. When Negroponte offered a
$100 lap top and even made a presentation to this Gov ernment on his
OLPC plan, it was turned down in 2006 by the Arjun Singh-led HRD
Ministry on several grounds. Besides asserting that the ac tual cost
would drive up to $200, the ministry also contended that the
"extensive exposure to the computer implicit in OLPC is worrisome" and
could have adverse effects on the rather vulnerable age group of 6-12.
¦ WHAT REVIVED THE PLAN: Though the HRD Ministry rejected the
Negroponte proposal, it caught the imagination of the PMO and the
Planning Commission. Finally the HRD Min istry asked IIT Madras to
help with the creation of a 'low cost device' that would cost as less
as $10.

¦ THE TEAM: IIT Madras director M S Ananth is closely involved with
the project, which also has students from the IIT, IISc Bangalore,
Velore Institute of Technology among others as mem bers of the core
team developing the device.

The Semiconductor Laboratory under the De partment of Space is also
helping to anchor the ambitious project to create probably the world's
cheapest laptop. The HRD Ministry also claims that it is in talks with
several chip manufacturers like Intel to get the plan moving.

¦ PROJECT STATUS: The core team has managed to created a prototype
that costs around $20. "The challenge is to bring this down further to
$10 and we are working on it", Secretary Higher Education in the HRD
ministry, R P Agarwal recently said.

¦ WHAT'S IN IT: Ministry sources say the device will come with a 2GB
RAM, wi-fi and broadband landline connec tivity facilities, a USB
port, a small screen and keyboard and will be pow ered with a 2Watt
system to suit even villages and areas with poor power sup ply.
Efforts are on to explore ways to power it with solar energy and
dynamo run cheap systems. While the $10 laptop will come at that price
tag with certain workable minimum features, there will be the
possibility of adding on a host of other features like expandable
memory â€" at your own cost, of course.

¦ WHAT THE GOVT PLANS TO DO WITH IT: The plan is to make the device
available to all, subsidise the cost for students and institutes and
still make it available commercially. The ministry hopes to make a
start in six months. The low cost laptop/notebook is posited as a
befitting answer to the Negroponte OLPC and a technol ogy based
strongly on domestic skill.

--
Ridhi D'Cruz
[+91 99670 31232]

Policy is the application of opinions in the ordering of priorities  - Simon Mundy