It was interesting to see Professor Nicholoas Negroponte, Director of Media Lab, MIT announcing the launch of OLPC and showing off the first designs of $ 100 PC that he talked about in World Economic Forum last year. Economist talked about this development yesterday; there is a lot of heightened expectations.
It is promising, but one has to keep one's fingers crossed about the many assumptions; they plan to sell directly millions of pieces- one million is the minimum- to Ministries of Education in China, Brazil, Thailand and Egypt; they plan to use low-cost $ 35 dual LDC display; there is no storage and there is a definitive need for connectivity and content.
Will Governments be able to buy in millions directly without a "tendering process"? Will the display stand the heat & dust as well as usage by high school kids? Will not the cost of communications and other useful content + software take away the charm of "low cost"?
With $ 20-40 mobile phones a reality today, will it not be worthwhile for the Governments to subsidize the last mile communications cost (with communications being far more useful to the child's entire family than computing that is targeted primarily for the children)? Can large-scale project take off without extensive field trials?
These are issues I am sure the learned professors at MIT must have addressed; the only doubt is whether professors at MIT can really "feel" the "reality" in third world countries.
Only time will tell if the project succeeds in the field.
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Very well said Professor. It is not easy to empathize and understand the requirements/needs faced in the third world countries. And when projects have such hidden costs - it is what makes such promises totally unviable in the third world countries.
In the Indian vedanta it is said, everybody the moment he wakes up in the morning has to utter"Karagre Vasathe Laxmi (on the tips of your fingers Goddess Laxmi resides - so also make her awake to work for you) Kara moole Saraswati (on the bottom of your palm, goddess Saraswati resides - In the olden days transference of knowledge was enabled through palmira leaves, assembled together (in tamil it is called 'adu') and written with a sharp iron rod tip (in tamil it is called "Ezhuthani"
The 'Adu' used to be held in the bottom of the palm and it is read and that is why).
and Kara Madhyathu Govindam (in the centre of your palm Lord Vishnu resides) and thus "prabhate Kara Darshanm" in the morning you see your hands which earns wealth with the blessings of the three - through your fingertips - literally and practically - if you are a stock trader - by using your fingers on your computers of your stocktrading terminal you accumulate your wealth, that too at ZERO I repeat ZERO income tax rate capital gains tax (@10% if short term gains tax, if sold within one year of purchase of shares) provided you sell it after one year of purchase of the scrip as per the current income tax act.
Isn't it an easy way of earning tax free wealth in the comforts of your own home -
there is no business travel involved
not attending meeting, eating cheating, attending any conference, training, workshops,seminars, conventions
there is no godown warehouse or insurance or octroi sales tax involved
there is no purchase or sales manager
there is no "collection agent"
for credit sales
of course it comes with a rider
you should have the art and science of managing the price risk - the greatest and highest risk involved in stock trading business.
Mahoday Soumyanarayanan Sadagopan, Direcor,IIIT,Bangalore, is enabling mechanism of goddess laxmi, goddess saraswati and Lord Vishnu in each and every student undergoing study, training and practicals at Indian Institute of Inormation Technology, Bangalore!
May such wealth creation machines for India flourish for all time to come in geometric proportions.
You give a man fish he will eat for one time. If you teach a man how to fish, he will not only eat fish during his life time but also for all of his lineal descendants generations for all time to come! A chinese proverb
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