Tech News
Bill Gates slams 100-dollar charity laptop
Mar 16, 2006, 22:07 GMT
On the Web
Latest Headlines in Tech
- 1. Report: Apple plans mini-iPad
- 2. Nerd striptease: Unboxing lets others watch you unwrap your gadget
- 3. An online notepad? Your smartphone as a notebook
- 4. Spring cleaning for your computer: Get the gunk - and the germs - out
- 5. Repeaters help get around wi-fi hurdles
Older Talkback
page: 1
In regards to that last comment, Gates has been to those deprived places and has seen what they are like. Gates has show great affection for the poor and underprivileged in the world with his charity that gives a substantial amount of money (possibly more than any other charity according to reports) to aid the fight against hunger and disease.
That said I think Gates needs to put as much faith in the importance of education as he does in the the importance of healing the sick. He's probably just pissed that it's not running some kind of Windows.
gee Homer...
Gates needs a reality check. His only concern is that the $100 laptop isnt running some form of Windows!!!!! Now he is spreading FUD about a $100 laptop that could bring alot of good to some needy parts of the world. Very disappointing move on Microsofts part,....go figure they have a competing product that cost more........HUM.......!!!!!
Bill spends a great deal of time in the poor countries and he goes out to poorest of the areas and spends time with the people to understand what they are dealing with. It’s why he and his wife got couple of the year. People like to throw stones at him, but he gives more then anyone else, how much to you do for the poor. A person that can not read does not need a laptop. The poorest of the poor maybe earn 500 dollars a year, so a 100 dollar laptop is just out of range. As far as the mesh network to share files, sound like a security problem. The people the 100 laptop will go to will not be able to get additional software for it, and will not understand about patching the software on the laptop. It is simply out of their range of understanding. You must elevate the people up before they are ready for this type of technology.
gee homer.
qz lau
What a loser..!! Bill Gates... he says, why not get a broadband connection?!! Does he not realize that some of the countries that will get these laptops don't even have electricity, telephones, or internet connections for 1000's of miles. Hey.. Why doesn't everyone just go out and buy a private jet?! that's the comparison to someone in an poverty stricken country. These 100 dollar laptops are not some kind of marketing campaign, they are about giving the other %80 of the globe a chance to utilize a powerful educational tool, called a computer. Oh how can we forget, Bill Gates originally designed his computer operating system without any concept of networking capability or security in mind. go figure...
Two things:
One
While he's saying this what are the chance that the os on those systems is Mirosoft....if it is why is he shooting his mouth off?
Two
While I do use Windows and don't mind it, This just show what we all ready all knew Microsoft is evil. *Waiting for Google to come out with an OS, Wonder what Gate will say then*
First of all Bill Gates has given more money to charity than any of the people who are bad-talking him. Second, what's the point of having a computer in an area where there is no internet, no electricity, and probably not enough food to eat? Maybe they need to msn? 100$ is probably still far out of these people's reach.
I didnt hear his speech, but did he repeat the word innovate in his speech?
Two things:
One
While he's saying this what are the chance that the os on those systems is Mirosoft....if it is why is he shooting his mouth off?
Two
While I do use Windows and don't mind it, This just show what we all ready all knew Microsoft is evil. *Waiting for Google to come out with an OS, Wonder what Gate will say then*
Gates used to support the $100.00 laptop--behind everything about it solidly--until it was announced that the computer would not be running windoze, or windoze ce (garbage that they both are).
They will be running Linux.
Maybe now you can see why Gates is being so infantile about it... http://laptop.media.mit.edu/
Now, that's gotta hurt!
The laptops are going to be bought by aid orgs and given to needy persons. Internet is not needed to do useful tasks and gaming on the meshed computers.
For everyone raving about how much Bill has donated to charity, yes it's true that he has given large sums of money. But if you look at his history you'll see that he was notorious for only donating paltry sums to charity and the press would beat him up about it. Once he married Melinda his wallet really opened up for charity. Without her, he would still be scrooging it up.
a $100.00 clam shell shovel to help the poor of the world with there planting, maybe it could help them cook something, is it flammable?
Well, some of you need to learn a bit more about the $100 laptop before defending Mr. Gates. The laptop is not intended to be purchased by end users. It is intended to be subsidized by the UN & local governments and charitable organizations.
As for people not being able to read, if you can't get books to read, but your village has several of these, you would be able to learn.
Security and patching ... well, it won't run Windows so it has that going for it. I think it was a paired down OS with fairly limited functionality and likely lo 'serving' capability which would also help.
Bill's comment about needing a hard drive is idiotic. In these environments and with the relatively slow connections they will have to the outside world the hard drive would be a liability rather than an asset. The fewer moving parts there are, the less there is to break. Keep in mind we're talking about places where phone lines are a luxury, nevermind broadband connections.
Another note ... I bet many of us commoners do give more to charity than good old Bill when you figure it as a percentage of net worth. If I give $100 that's the equivalent of about $50,000,000 for him.
What Gates doesn't seem to realize is that broadband isn't even available everywhere in the US, much less the poorest countries these units are designed to service. That being said, I agree that a 'crank powered' PC seems a bit unrealistic and the screen size is certainly an issue that needs to be addressed. By the way, if Gates is giving away one of those phones that cost $600 and up, I'll take one.
Seems stupid to offer an laptop of any sort to poor people who
don't have electricity or water that is clean to drink.
why not instead use the money to build electrical 'grids' and plumbing??!!
Not only can you improve the quality of lives for the poor people of the world but at the same time create jobs for them. they could not only build but maintain these systems. As a former Army soldier who has been to some of these so called poor countries and most people could care less about a laptop of any kind they would rather have something to eat, a decent job and security for themselves and their families. So I say enough of the $100 laptop crap and build an electrical power plant and a drinking water/waste water plant instead.
As for Bill Gates well he gives the money away with these charities or the IRS will take more of it away so goes it with those so called philanthropists...
cant quite see the need for a $100 laptop in your mud hut when most of the third world is still having difficulty GETTING FRESH WATER.....
yes bill gates has earned the ire of the masses. I get that , but unless you are going to hire these poor people to build $100.00 laptops, I'll bet that giving them a $100.00 would do more . even the well intentioned act of coming up with this scheme can't escape the question of who is really benefiting from all this $$$$$ . my guess is those that make the most noise have the most to gain or lose.
Schweet! That's awesome.
I thought microsoft offered a version of there OS for this laptop at one time, but was rejected???No?
If you give 100 dollars to each poor, as someone said, you are giving them food (in the best case) for a couple of months. But if you give them knowledge, you are giving the opporunity for the most enthusiastics users to generate more resources. The others less enthusiastics, having the same access to the same knowledge, will try to learn looking at the others as example.
Also it's hard to convince them to 'buy' a device like that, because they will 'always' have other priorities (like eating). So you will find that the only way for them to get something like that (ever), is that someone gives this device freely to them.
Jpere said, on Mar 17th, 2006 - 03:08:52, 'I thought microsoft offered a version of there OS for this laptop at one time, but was rejected??? No?'
You are quite correct.
As the story goes, microsoft's involvement in this drove the price above the stated goal of $100.00 per unit. I'm recalling something that was around $160.00 with very little functionality, but I may be in error on the figure.
Is anybody wondering what OS is on Gate's own version of the cheap mobile computer? $600.00 to $1000.00 was it? And, I'm sure, he won't make a dime from it, right?
Go see what Nicholas Negroponte has to say about it here: http://laptop.org/faq.en_US.html from which I'll lift a quote:
'Why do children in developing nations need laptops?
Laptops are both a window and a tool: a window into the world and a tool with which to think. They are a wonderful way for all children to learn learning through independent interaction and exploration.
Why is it important for each child to have a computer? What's wrong with community-access centers?
One does not think of community pencils—kids have their own. They are tools to think with, sufficiently inexpensive to be used for work and play, drawing, writing, and mathematics. A computer can be the same, but far more powerful. Furthermore, there are many reasons it is important for a child to own something—like a football, doll, or book—not the least of which being that these belongings will be well-maintained through love and care.
What about connectivity? Aren't telecommunications services expensive in the developing world?
When these machines pop out of the box, they will make a mesh network of their own, peer-to-peer. This is something initially developed at MIT and the Media Lab. We are also exploring ways to connect them to the backbone of the Internet at very low cost.'
Gates is >ahem< PO-ed that there will be, in his mind I'm sure, too many people exposed to Linux instead of his dismal joke OS. Children, thus exposed to an alternative will not choose microsoft in the future.
How many people exposed? Look at the map http://laptop.org/map.en_US.html and consider the impact on Gates' wallet for a moment. This will destroy his hopes for marketing bilge watter to the entire globe.
I can't think of a single reason to do anything but look for ways to actively help Nicholas Negroponte, et al, achieve the stated goal.
Consider the impact upon the education of youth who, heretofore have had little opportunity for education. Consider the impact on their lives and communities as they begin to help themselves.
Isn't that what we really want, anyway?
Or do'we' just want to feel superior because 'they' are less educated than 'us?' Gee! What a reason to feel smug and superior--we deny an education to those who most need and deserve it, by denying them the tools for educating themselves.
What a WONDERFUL country this must be...huh?
I would prefer to crank and type rather than sitting without power at all.
I think these comments show that Gates is getting intimidated by the $100 laptop.
Feb 3rd 1976, when Microsoft was still an infant, Bill Gates argued extensively against the free circulation of software in an open letter to hobbyists for the then relatively new concept of proprietry software. Back then, the hardware costs were the biggest obstacle for computer users, while software and operating systems were passed around on bulletin boards etc at no cost.
Mr Gates is to be respected for his achievements, but he is and has always been dead against open source software and any opportunity he can get to slam it as bad and unreliable when the truth actually flies in the opposite direction. Eeverybody knows that if you teach the children while they are still young, you've won them for life. He's having a hissy fit like a little girl because he knows he's beat and it'll get uglier as linux gains more ground.
Bill hurt the Unix base in the early days, but out of Unix came Linux, which has silently been developed into the fantastic gem it is today. If it weren't for Linux and the apache web server, the web as we know it would not be even a fraction of what it is today. When you connect to google, you connect to a mass of linux servers.
That said, the educational potential for these underpriveleged children is huge. Our westernised society with all it's trimmings came about because of christian education, missionaries in action. Through the distribution of these laptops, children that had no possible way to make any head start will start to not only learn reading, writing and arithmetic, they will learn how to dismantle and rebuild them, which will bring out the entrepeneurial potential of the people.
They've already been introduced to technology, they have seen and heard radio's, so they already know people can talk over the air, at least one-way, and we introduced that to them. These laptops will through the initial mesh network take communication to a whole new level and dont we say in our westernised societies, information is power? These are simply a tool and mans ability to create and use tools and to reason are amongst his greatest assets.
Shame the billygoat has forgotten his roots - free software, from which he gained all his wealth 'power' and prestige. It would appear he is saddened by the fact he can not lord it over the weakest by tying them up with his draconian licensing and product activation, which isn't enough so he throws in product verification, followed up with his so-called trustworthy computing campaign where he and his cohorts can alter the files on your computer from his hot-seat across the other side of the world.
Give a man a fish and you've fed him for a day, but give him a fishing ploe and teach him how to fish and you've fed him for his life. Install XP 5 times in succession on the same machine and see how friendly microsoft really are. Linux is open source, so as the children learn, they may even discover how to write their own software - this is the fishing pole and the lesson, but Microsoft only ever offered a single fish. Stupid Microsoft!
Im from South Africa, where most schools insist that students have access to a computer. This is really silly because most homes in South Africa dont have access to electricity. That being said, the cheapest PC on the market goes for about R2500, or $400. So a laptop, that can power itself for a little over R600 is fantastic! I'm lucky enough to be pretty wealthy (typing this post on a 17' PowerBook) but even I struggle to afford Broadband in South Africa. (approx: $100 pm for a 3 gig capped 512Kb ADSL) South Africa is the most advanced country in Africa, so i can only imagine what things must be like in other parts of Africa. Its scary to read some of the comments here... one of the first posts spoke about the security issues and patching software... come on... really... thats sad that you really feels thats an issue... people dont have fresh water to drink, and you think network security is an issue???
I hear alot of people saying 'hey, Gates gave more money to charity than anyone who's bad-mouthing him!'. Yeah, true. But he actually has money to give -- and, percentage-wise, he's not even doing that much.
But even if he does, there's no reason to insult as noble a project as this. Yes, food is more important, I agree. But MIT's certainly doing more to help third world countries with their 100 dollar laptops that run off of a crank (for those of you saying, 'hey, they dont have electrictiy!') than M$ is doing with their 1000 dollar portable devices that need to be recharged.
I hear a lot of talk about how great this is giving a laptop for someone without electricity, way not work on the infrastructure? Wouldn’t solar cells for power, a community well, or basic medical go further? 200 years ago the US was basically “third world”, our first priorities were infrastructure too. We start the Turnpike and the postal service before we could even agree on a currency. I’d think infrastructure goes further, these people know how to live were they are, literacy is not what is holding them down, lack of infrastructure, medicine, food and clean water. Learning to read without something to read seems silly. (a little less war and violence couldn’t hurt some places too).
'literacy is not what is holding them down, lack of infrastructure, medicine, food and clean water'
If you consider the people who are backing the $100 laptop project (Google, MIT, etc.), they are more in a position to help with education and computing than infrastructure, medicine, food, and clean water.
For those other necessary items, countries, engineers, and doctors can (and do) help out and provide that assistance.
Or you could always get Bill to do it so he can get his next tax deduction.
yeah gates gives a lot, but i also agree he is out of touch if he thinks trying to bridge the techdevide is bad.... boo on that, but bravo for his help/money in other ways.. yo yo
In response to previous posts-- it is absolutely ridiculous to assume that poorer countries are also illiterate-- I'm Portuguese, and although my family grew up without running water and electricity, we ALL knew how to read before our 5th birthday. Even Cuba has a literacy rate over 90%. Compare that with the atrocious literacy record in the US. Poor people around the world deserve cheap internet access too. Pretty soon, there will be no boundries between different cultures and peoples. I think Bill Gates is just being Xenophobic and greedy.
Regarding the hand crank unit, you've got to start somewhere if you're moving toward the goals of providing true worldwide access to the internet. Insofar as literacy is concerned, the illiterates of the future won't be those that are unable to read or write. The illiterates will be those that refuse to accept change. If Bill Gates chooses to not accept alternatives to the current ways computers are designed and used, then so be it. He can go quietly into the night.
Based on the strong feelings I've read it seems like all poor people need is a cheap book on Linux -- then they will be totally informed and will be able to solve any problem.......What do you mean they don't read?
There's no doubt that bill gates care for the well-being of poor people in third world countries but i think he cares more for his companny, Microsoft. If this 100 dollar laptop succeeds, this will bring up a generation that can use linux, let a lone windows. Enough people will be tech savvy enough to actually use free linux distros instead of costly windows.
no surprises, Gates just being himself.
Some BASICS[CROSS COMPILER NOTES TO Release DOS Version 1.0 are later to expect].
-Mr. Gates, it was on the AUSTRALIAN ZNet to see, bought his DOS but NOT DingFonts.
Gates is right! Is it cute to think of giving poorest children a computer???When they do not get a good Mid day meal at their school. Iam sure a good slate or paper notebooks should do wonders to rise the literacy levels.I do support what Gates has said in that you crank a computer to read something which has may be 512MB ram?? What can you do with it?The children will get it in a two years time, cute isnt it?Sitting in MIT, guys please do some reality check on what the Poorest children want not a cranker.Provide them a broad band it is a reality in India and share a computer,remember computer is not the end of education!
I lived in an area where kids were carrying these 100$ units to school, I would be the first one in line to jump `em. Clean up one district and then move onto the next. I am sure that there will eventually be an underground market for these niffty units with tiny, eye straining screens.
Well...that pretty-much tells the whole world what kind of worthless garbage you are.
Comparing what Gates donates to charity to what others donate is idiotic. Other people actually do without something to help others. Gates just empties his waste basket in their laps - he can give millions without feeling a thing.
Giving what you don't need from utter excess is nothing. To give in comparison to what other's give, he would have to give billions away, and he doesn't - on the contrary, he's now putting big brother into his new OS (Vista) that will allow himself and other vendors to effectively 'own' the computer you paid for; to be able to disable things on it remotely and remotely delete files (if it gets to the point that I can't use XP any longer, I'll find another solution - I'll never let Vista in my home).
He HAS to do something. Anyone with that much money that didn't do SOMETHING would be hounded off the planet. Gates is a selfish, self-indulgent, power-mad egotist, with absolutely NO concept of what true charity means, regardless of what tiny pittance of a percentage of his vast wealth he may donate to organizations.
If I'd made an obscene amount of cash by selling overpriced crap for twenty years to a market that resembled a monopoly more and more with each passing second, then I'd give at least as generously. Until then, the change in my pocket at the end of the week won't by a coffe at Starbucks.
As for $100 being out of the price range of some of the world's poor, yes, that may be, but certainly not all of them, and besides, the low price-tag puts it within the range of the pockets of other charitable organizations. Instead of being able to buy one Microsoft product, charity X could purchase six of the cheaper ones. Sounds good to me.
Yes, Open source and Linux are going to save the world. Yawn. Gates may be right, but his comments show a lack of PR skills and tact. That said, I wonder what Google gets out of this? What will they do with all the info that will be transmitted on those laptops? I wonder what they are doing with your gMail right now?
I say take the $100, and build schools and supplies to teach these kids. A single common computer in a classroom will do wonders.
Seems stupid to offer an laptop of any sort to poor people who
don't have electricity or water that is clean to drink.
The laptop has a HAND CRANK! Why don't you think before you open your mouth next time!
why not instead use the money to build electrical 'grids' and plumbing??!!
Not only can you improve the quality of lives for the poor people of the world but at the same time create jobs for them. they could not only build but maintain these systems. As a former Army soldier who has been to some of these so called poor countries and most people could care less about a laptop of any kind they would rather have something to eat, a decent job and security for themselves and their families. So I say enough of the $100 laptop crap and build an electrical power plant and a drinking water/waste water plant instead.
I say you're a moron who doesn't understand the facts!
As for Bill Gates well he gives the money away with these charities or the IRS will take more of it away so goes it with those so called philanthropists...
SEEU Mar 17th, 2006 - 02:50:11
cant quite see the need for a $100 laptop in your mud hut when most of the third world is still having difficulty GETTING FRESH WATER.....
100-Dollar Laptop: UN Secretary General’s Office shouldn’t be used for exploiting the poor
My eyes were stuck to the news that the UN Secretary General Mr. Kofi Annan, while launching a 100-Dollar Laptop, on the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) in Tunis, Tunisia, said “the invention is an impressive technical achievement. The project promises to provide flexible technology that can be used in any place, even in the desert without energy supply”. It is also reported that the U.N. is backing the project even with financial support thinking that it could help to promote education in the Third World. A professor and his team mates of MIT (USA) have claimed the credit for the project and the invention (!).
At the very outset, let me state certain hard facts, which I believe will largely explain the title of today’s write-up. Long 31 years ago, in 1975, I invented the Free-play Radio technology and demonstrated a working model in a jam-packed press conference on 23 July 1975 in Dhaka. The news came out in almost all the news papers in the country in addition to an editorial the following day. Raymond Lee Organization, Inc.(USA) wanted to take initiatives for patenting the invention and marketing the product (Receipt No.71001, dated 13 February 76 ) when I contacted them from the then West Germany. On the request of Bangladesh Science Museum, a working model was presented to them in 1978. The invention, although apparently a simple (addition of storage facility to a hand generator) one, was never conceived and publicly demonstrated by anyone on this earth before 23 July1975. It opened the gate for free playing and playing low-powered electrical gadgets and equipments in remote and yet vast electricity-less areas of the world.. Thus the technology is especially handy for mass communication, mass literacy, emergency weather forecasting or as a life-saving communications tool following a natural disaster ( be it in the coastal areas of the Bay of Bengal or New Orleans city), mass-scale low-powered emergency medical equipments etc. However, to reduce the price of a product with free-play facility and bring its price closer to the product without that facility, mass-scale production was a necessity, for which the desire to do so by the wealthy and powerful people who rule and control the world economy was also essential. But it appears that the world leaders were not keen to give the green signal unless and until the very free-play technology could be hijacked, first by the British and then by the Americans.
In 1989, I sent a brief on my inventions and research works (including the free-play radio) to ITDG (UK) in the hope of mutual cooperation. In reply, they informed me that they would be establishing an office in Dhaka soon and re-contact me after that. But they never contacted me again, although they opened their office in Dhaka alright. One fine morning, on 28 August 1996 to be precise, through a British High Commission press release in a local daily, a company named Bay-Gen proclaimed itself to be the inventor (!) of the Free-play radio, which was reported to be developed under British technical and financial assistance under the ODA program. Immediately after the British press release, a wave of protests flooded the news papers and periodicals in terms of editorials, post-editorials, features, letters etc. in the country. Bangladesh Patent Office gave me recognition as the inventor of the Free-play radio and congratulated me for the invention and wished all success. The Bangladesh Govt. and I contacted the British High Commission, Bay-Gen company and the British Patent Office, but no to-the-point replies were received. Understandably so, since the UK Patent Office awarded a patent to a British named Trevor Bayliss in the 90’s on a technology which was in display in the Bangladesh Science Museum since 1978 and which was publicly demonstrated even before, i.e. in 1975, which is not only unethical but also highly illegal. The illegal invention of Bay-Gen received BBC product design award 1996 also. When the matter was raised to the BBC, they replied “development of the Bay-Gen is not a BBC matter”. A question was asked on the conscience of the BBC “Had it been the other way round i.e. a British invention in 1975, could you still have given a BBC product design award to a Bangladeshi company in 1996 and a reply to the British inventor “…..not a BBC matter” ? But no reply was received. According to a report titled “Launch set to go like clockwork” published in a foreign news paper, Bay-Gen received a multi-million pound cash boost from the GEC(USA) and planned to produce devices like free-play radio (originally planned for use in African bush fighting aids, with the blessing of the President Nelson Mandela, would go on sale throughout the world for about 50 pounds), mobile-phone charger, torch light, even TV sets etc. in its plan to launch a billion-pound business. During the recent war with Iraq the BBC talked about (and showed the product) using 5000 free-play radios by the allied forces. The 100-dollar laptop authorities must have acquired the hand-cranking free-play technology’s manufacturing right from the illegal patent holder as already mentioned above. A hand-cranking mobile-charger is recently being flooded in the local market @ USD 2, and appears to be a Chinese/Taiwanese product although no manufacturer’s name is printed, without caring for any patent rights. The President of a Japanese company appears to be right. He came to Dhaka towards the end of December’04 to discuss with me the modalities of acquiring the manufacturing rights of my new invention of free-electricity (2002) and commented on my new invention “the Americans will not care for your patent on such technologies, some Japanese companies may care but not every company will and the Chinese wouldn’t take more than seven days to reach your home with a manufactured product if they get a prototype”. He further added “some people told me that you did not elaborate in certain places in your patent paper”. I replied “75% answer of your question have just been replied by you yourself. Besides, there is hardly any time left to complete the patent formalities for the invention. I am not sitting idle, I am trying to develop a better process, and also to make a prototype with that”. At that time, I also discussed with him about my hand-cranking mobile-charger technology which he appreciated and now I can see the manufactured product in the market.
My new invention of Free-electricity has already been registered with World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) with a filing No. PCT/IB03/03366 dated 04 August 2003. The 44-page story with diagrams and a very favorable search report from the American Patent Office (USPTO) acting as the International Searching Authority (ISA), has also been published by the WIPO in the form of a booklet and is also in the display of WIPO website since 04 March 2004, under publication No. WO 2004/019476 dated 04 March 2004 (revised on 22 April 2004 for correction and again on 22 July 2004 to accommodate the ISA report). Actually, the ISA report dated 21 April 2004 from the USPTO was delayed by about 5 months. When the legal section of WIPO was contacted, they replied “there may be special circumstances where time is needed to resolve matters arising in connection with important workload in certain technical areas etc. As to your particular case, I would suggest that you contact the USPTO directly. You may also inquire about any refunds in such a case.” Accordingly, I contacted the USPTO, but I did not get a proper reply.
On 04 July 2004, the patent paper of my new invention was sent to many notable eastern/western universities of the world for their evaluation and comments. Although the “Innovation” magazine of Singapore National University opined it to be a “too high level research work”, the aforesaid MIT (USA) refused to give any comment on it. People started saying that the MIT was busy in building a mobile laptop using Bangladeshi technology and therefore it refused to talk at that time. Energy Technology Innovation Project of Harvard University (another university of USA) replied “we (the project of Harvard) do not do any original research either of science or of technology”. Most of the Universities of the Western world replied “this is not our project, we do not want to be involved”. My answer to all the universities was “I certainly honor your decision if it is honest and non-racial. But the way my free-play technology was hijacked, how can I be sure”? I did not get any further reply. A journal of the Physics faculty of a notable university of Canada was almost ready to publish the paper. But they asked me for my postal address on the plea of “addressing me properly”. As soon as they found out that I am from the Third World, they did not correspond with me any more. A New York born President of the Conserve Energy Engg. Inc. wrote to me while reading my paper “I am impressed with the parts that I have read. The dangers in bringing forth a low cost or free energy source, dangers that you must be aware of by now, the 'powers to be' or most certainly in the USA, Corporate America and also the worldwide Oil Mafia, will do just about anything to protect their interests”. Not a single university however could point out any fault in my paper and I strongly believe that my pressure-motion equivalence theory is correct and there is no scientific basis behind Newton’s third law of motion.
Although I received a local patent on my new invention of Free-electricity (and a very favorable search report from the International Searching Authority), I could not manage patents in other countries for want of sky-high financial requirements. Since I am a member of the International Federation of Inventors’ Association (IFIA), Switzerland, and the Institute of Electrical & Electronics Engineers (IEEE),USA, and an invited scientist of many inventors’ associations like East West Euro Intellect, World Association of Inventors, SIMED etc., I had
requested the inventors’ associations to try to make an arrangement to evaluate a WIPO published patent paper with a favorable search report , after the leading universities of the world had expressed reluctance to do so. An inventor cannot plead his case himself in the national phase of an international patent application. An attorney or at
least an address of correspondence in that particular country is required, which is highly expensive and really impossible for an inventor of a Third World country. As it is, the basic fees for pursuing a patent is exorbitantly high too.
Coming back to the comments of the UN Secretary General on the 100-Dollar Laptop, it is worth mentioning that there was again a wave of protests in the leading local dailies against the hijacking of the Bangladeshi technology of Free-play Radio by the100-Dollar project authorities. On the question of 100-Dollar Laptop’s technical achievement as opined by the UN Secretary General, I became tired and was unable to find any such thing. The Linux operating system, the flash memory instead of hard disks/CD-Rom drives, the LCD displays (the dual-mode display as claimed by the project was not operational in the WSIS prototype. The prototypes were shown with conventional transmission TFT LCD displays)etc. are pretty old technologies. Cheap components have been used in the 100-Dollar Laptop. But one who knows about the definition of “invention”, should understand that merely using cheap things to reduce the price does not constitute an invention. Use of 'parasitic power' of typing, although not a totally new idea, could however be considered an achievement if it could be economically and reliably utilized. But I am afraid, this seems not to be the case so far. Using of low-cost, low-power and high-resolution eInk displays will be a good idea, but the project’s undisclosed technology appears to be not a novel one either and understandtably the project has no plans to patent their display innovations(!). As far I understand, the project authorities are not confident enough to bring such display innovations(!) in the market before the hardy Chinese (without any UN backing or multimillion pound cash boost from GEC,USA).
At the UN conference in Tunisia, several African officials, most notably Marthe Dansokho of Cameroon and Mohammed Diop of Mali were suspicious of the motives of the project, and claimed that the project was using an overly American mindset that presented solutions not applicable to specifically African problems. Dansokho said the project demonstrated misplaced priorities. Diop specifically attacked the project as an attempt to exploit a new market under the guise of 'non-profitability'. He further added “It is a very clever marketing tool. Under the guise of non-profitability hundreds of millions of these laptops will be flogged off to our governments. That's the only way of achieving the necessary economies of scale to get the price low. They've finally found a way of selling to a huge number of poor people. Even at a hundred dollars, as the well dressed Africans were pointing out last night, these things are absolutely not a bargain for an African child. Schooling for a year would make more sense. Better food would be nice. If it ever does make sense for Africa's children all to have laptops, this will surely not be until the price of them goes down to something nearer to ten dollars than a hundred. My guess is they will all have mobiles long before. And we don't need to give this one away. If somebody puts in the research to design the thing and really, really optimizes for cost, I'm sure there's a Chinese factory somewhere you can build it for”. Mr. Bill Gates in his criticism said 'The world's poorest two billion people desperately need healthcare, not laptops'.
Unfortunately, my “free-play” technology has been hijacked and incorporated in the 100-Dollar Laptop to reach a vast population of electricity-less poor people (without incorporating free-play technology this wouldn’t have been possible). Even a profit margin of barely USD 25 in the cleverly designed marketing plan of “one laptop per chid(OLPC)”suggests a profit of only(!) USD 50 billion, from the world’s poorest two billion people.What a Nobel-prize winning maketing plan indeed!
The western world preaches for open-market economy, but this OLPC maketing plan (with a minimum market lot of 1-million) will be executed through the corrupt governments( the beneficiaries of so-called western assistance programs through World Bank,IMF etc. while the common people have to shoulder all the loans with cleverly designed effective heavy interests), so-called donors, absolutely loyal to their masters the NGOs, and other similar arrangements under the umbrella of UN. One Mr. Lee opined 'The U.N. is backing the project
because it can help promote education in the Third World'. But the question is, what is the per capita income of the vast targetted people? I am afraid, the figure may not be very much away from USD100, if the income of the western so-called assistance nourished so-called elite groups are not taken into account.Therefore, after being forced to buy a 100-Dollar Laptop, he wouln’t have anything to eat ,anything to live on or anything to wear (attire
is a must for the poor, although optional for the western people).However, the OLPC project will be first launched in countries like Nigeria, Egypt, India, China, Brazil , Argentina and Thailand. Between five million and 15 million units are expected to be provided to these countries.
Actually, even the computers failed to calculate the wealth gathered by the powerful and leading arms- producing countries of the world each year. They invest the surplus wealth in a highly profitable business of so-called assistance programs(in terms of interest, supporting even the misdeeds of the so-called donors, listening to harmful dictations, serving as an assured market and accepting all kinds of garbage tools and so-called experts etc.) by channeling the money through the world Bank, IMF , loyal NGOs and similar tools. They create and spread conflict and corruption and demoralize the people in other countries in order to sell their arms and to arrest their progress with an ultimate view of keeping a vast assured market and less powerful nations to rule.
In the WSIS, Mr. Kofi Annan also said “This is not just a matter of giving laptop to each child, as if bestowing on them some magical charm. The magic lies within-within each child, within each scientist, scholar or just plain citizen in the making. This initiative is meant to bring it forth into the light of day”, but the question is why should anyone be a scientist in the third world country? To give scope to the western world for hijacking their inventions or to helplessly tolerate USPTO delaying the search report by 5 months (on grounds of special circumstances where time is needed to resolve matters arising in connection with important workload in certain technical areas etc.) without giving compensations or to become a puppet to the whims of the rich people where “intellectual property” has been very cleverly and effectively been shaped as “rich people’s property” or to get no answers either from the governments or from patent offices on the question of alleged hijacking of inventions or to discover racism in leading western universities when they were reluctant/failed to evaluate a science paper or simply to be a victim of the West /oil Mafia in trying to do good to mankind?
If the UN sincerely believes in the welfare of the third world, why shouldn’t it try at least a few following things :
1. Close all the arms manufacturing plants in the world.
2. Make “intellectual property” as an “intellectual property” in reality and not “rich people’s property” effectively : (a) Make arrangements so that an individual scientist of the Third World can get a patent for the whole world with a maximum expenditure of USD 100. He should be allowed to plead his case himself and perform all the necessary formalities from his own residence through correspondence with his own equivalent currency. (b) Fully assist in fighting the “hijacking of inventions” cases, including my one in the International Court of Justice. (c) Make arrangements to evaluate a WIPO published patent paper with a favorable search report.
3. Monitor the ill-motivated so-called assistance programs through IMF, World Bank, loyal to their masters the NGOs and similar tools of the West.
4. Do not be a party to the huge profit-making programs of the West by exploiting the poor in disguise of humanity, child care, education and God knows what not.
5. Do not allow the West to escape competition from hardy nations under the umbrella of the UN by marketing any product forcibly (invisible) in huge numbers through corrupt governments, so-called donors, loyal NGOs and similar agencies. ……………………………………………………………………………………………………….......
Written by: Nazmul Huda , 38/10 Siddheswari Road, Dhaka-1217, Bangladesh. E-mail : nazinvbd@yahoo.com
Copy forwarded for your information and necessary action by : NAZMUL HUDA
Before commenting about Bil Gates, take a moment and learn more about his charity work around the world. and think about 'what I am doing myself to end poverty?'. Then answer. His fundation just got 70 billion dollars? from an well-known old american billionair ( who also believe in making the right and sharing his wealth) I know he is rich, but how many people is also that don't contribute to the cause. Just think.
Two things, First Why does everyone allways critasise Bill Gates. But secondly i dont understand how these people will use a laptop when they dont even have electricity.
why cant i get some desent info on wat bill gates has done? its not like he hasnt done anything to help! or hasent he.
The power-crank for the OLPC device is problematic. The original handcrank is not on the current design, nor will it ship on the ultimate design. My guess is that we should look for a pedal charger and the implentation of a central 'gang charger'. (see wiki.laptop.org/go/Battery_and_power for more information) Surely Bill is smart enough to know that the older crank design is just an initial step in the ultimate design. It is hard not to suggest that his criticism of the device is based on a megalomaniacal need to control all computer technology based on his core idea that only he and his company truly know what is best. Bill Gates is incredibly intelligent, but his conceit that no one else is smart enough to create better products is just a spurious argument informed by the arrogance of extreme power.
Gates has given over a few BILLION dollars to various organizations of different goals. But he needs to keep his head in the fact that if these can help underpriveleged children, then why cant they make 100 dollar computers? Gates needs to keep his ego a little lower.
HELP WE ARE TWO BLACK CHURCHES IN CHICAGO THATARE TRYING TO GET 20 LAP TOPS TO GIVE AWAY FOR BACK TO SCHOOL AND NEW COLLAGE STUDENTS OF OUR CHURCH OUR FUNDS ARE SO LOW THAT WE CANT AFFORD IT IF YOU CAN OR ANY ONE CAN DONATE US ANY GOOD CONDITION WORKING LAPTOP PLEASE GIVE US A CALLWE ARE IN CHICAGO OUR NUMBER IS 773 846-3446 THAT IS THE ST PAUL CHURCH MY GOD BLESS YOU IN EVERY WAY POSSIBLE ..... OUR PASTOR IS REALLY WORKING HARD AT THIS HELP ME PLEASE !THANK YOU!
Perhaps the computer could be more sophisticated, considering the price and current technology. But the aim was low energy consumption and computer is functional. Any idea, even if bizzare and not perfect, is good, when fights poverty in Africa.
And that what *100 dollar* computer does.
True, someone will make great bucks and is the bizzare way of charity. But as long as people in Africa get the computer for free and education in Africa rises, i support it fully. The main priority for Africa is to gain functional education, so that they could be able to build mega infrastructure, which is the only way to fight disease, water and food shortages.
I too have kept fairly good track on Bill Gates charity work, and it is absolutely amazing that the richest man in the world is really not in it for the money, considering he spends all his time giving it to people who need it while also advancing our technological capabilities and literally changing the world and our society for the better.
With all this said, as much as I hated to hear the news from Bill Gates about the 100 dollar computers, I trust his remarks, and am certainly not offended.
And this affects a non-profit organization I'm highly involved in, who plans to donate money and computers to poverty stricken areas in Jamaica in February. I just created their website, www.wekare.redwirefilms.com and was searching to add links to the 100 dollar computer idea so people with big hearts might go to the link and order for us and our cause.
I'm still doing it despite Mr. Gates because that's all that can be done.
any one really concerned , to make a little difference to the plight of a very backward indian village bajroli in sikar distt rajasthan may please help me , in locating donors for the poorest of poor, i belong to that village but am not really strong enough to do much, unless some ngo volunteers to help or someone is willing to donate , i can just accomodate anyone who is intrested in the venture in my home, can assure him of full cooperation from the villagers,
page: 1
Your Talkback on this Story