Gates Gets Cranky with MIT’s $100 Laptop
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Written By Reprise Media | March 16, 2006 | Share This
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The headline of the Reuters story is a little sensational: “Bill Gates Mocks MIT’s $100 Laptop Project.” But Gates, speaking at the Microsoft Leaders Forum, did have at least a little fun at the expense of MIT’s “One Laptop Per Child” initiative, even if it didn’t amount to out-and-out mockery:
“If you are going to go have people share the computer, get a broadband connection and have somebody there who can help support the user, geez, get a decent computer where you can actually read the text and you’re not sitting there cranking the thing while you’re trying to type.”
In addition to disdaining the machine’s hand-crank power-generation and “tiny” screen, he called leaving a hard disk out of the laptop “the last thing you want to do.” Not to put too fine a point on it, but this came soon after he showed off Microsoft’s much-hyped Origami device, which features a seven-inch screen, a reported battery life of 2-3 hours and a price tag up in the $599-$999 range. The article also points out that since MIT’s endeavor is called “One Child Per Laptop,” does that mean the intent is to “have people share the computer?”
If Gates seems agitated, it could be because he smells the conflict brewing between traditional computers that store information and software locally and so-called thin- (or server based-) computing that might threaten Microsoft’s gargantuan market share (viz. MIT’s Google-backed laptop effort). And a story yesterday in SiliconValleyWatcher reported that rivals Google and Yahoo! were both talking to thin-client leader Wyse Technology about making cheap computers “integrating data, voice, and broadband connectivity.” The SVW story notes that there are emerging middle classes in very large developing countries like China and India that will undoubtedly want an affordable way to tap into computers in general and online opportunities specifcally. Whether they’ll do it by turning a handcrank, clicking on a Windows ’start’ button or otherwise is yet to be seen.
Topics: Technology |