Text 4150, 78 rader
Skriven 2005-05-16 09:44:56 av Rich Gauszka (1:379/45)
Ärende: $100 laptop on the horizon
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From: "Rich Gauszka" <gauszka@hotmail.com>


http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1093&e=2&u=/pcworld/20050516/tc
_pcworld/120845

An ambitious plan by the  Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Media Lab to
develop and distribute a laptop computer costing no more than $100 is expected
to take a major step forward next month with the receipt of the first order.

Orders from five or six countries, for a total of 6 million machines, are hoped
for before a full pilot project can begin, says Nicholas Negroponte, chairman
of the MIT Media Lab. He spoke during an in an interview in Tokyo on Monday.
The basic aim of the project is to provide a laptop for every child, supplied
though any country that wants to offer them.

The standard sales model for laptop computers requires a lot of capital for
distribution, promotion, and profit, but Negroponte is convinced that with a
simplified sales model and some reengineering of the device itself, the $100
price point can be realized.


The machine won't be available in shops. The company, which has the working
title of The $100 Laptop, plans to sell laptops in-bulk, directly to government
ministries and isn't looking to make a profit. About half the price of a
current laptop computer is accounted for by marketing, sales, distribution
channels, and profit, so removing those aspects will provide big cost savings,
Negroponte says.


The remaining half of the laptop's cost is accounted for by the parts and
manufacturing, and Negroponte is planning savings there too. Roughly two thirds
of this cost is the display panel and associated backlight, but Negroponte's
version of the machine will use a projection display system that costs a total
of about $30, he says.

Linux inside

"The rest of the cost is there to support an absolutely obese, overweight, and
unreliable operating system. If you get rid of that and start with a thin, tiny
operating system you can do an awful lot," Negroponte says.


The laptop will run Linux, he says. The distribution hasn't been decided upon
yet but the project is in serious discussions with Raleigh, North
Carolina-based Red Hat and Beijing's Red Flag Software, Negroponte says.


The first generation machine will be based on a 500-MHz processor from Advanced
Micro Devices, which is one of the project's main backers, and will have 256MB
of main memory, 1GB of flash memory in place of a hard drive, and a wireless
LAN connection, he says. The machines will automatically connect with others,
forming a mesh network to support communications and also Internet connection
sharing and they'll run software including the Skype Voice over IP application,
Negroponte says.


Plans are already advanced enough to include second and third generation
machines, due in 2007 and 2008 respectively, Negroponte says. A prototype of
the third generation machine he demonstrated was a tablet form-factor based on
a plastic-film display from E Ink. That machine could also use an advanced
printing technology to produce the circuit board further cutting down the
price, he says.


Current plans call for the first 6 million machines to be manufactured in China
and then for regional manufacturing centers to be established. Brazil is also
interested in building a plant to produce laptops for its market and those in
South America, Negroponte says.


Additional manufacturing will be needed if the project reaches its eventual
goal: production of between 100 million and 200 million laptops per year. In
comparison the total worldwide PC market in 2004 was 195 million, according to
a recent report from IDC.

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