a propietary OS would go against the fundamental ideology of this project. that technology and education can be accessible to all who seek it, not those who can afford it.

The reason Gates and Jobs are interested in this project is obvious. When these laptops are in the hands of hundreds of millions of children, they will learn to use Linux. In my opinion, people tend to stick with what they know. People who use Windows have always used Windows. They were "raised" up on it. Most people who use OS X, are either in/voluntary converts from Windows or were previous Mac Users. The reason more people don't use Linux is because they are afraid of change. I know I was. I use both Windows and Linux, and as I slowly learn all the ins and outs of Linux, I am constantly amazed at what it is capable of doing. I would like to point out that I am not bashing Windows. It has it's place. Ease of use and product compatability are important for the technologically-challanged. But the truth is that if there was more demand for products to "just work" in Linux, the companies that make these products would have no choice but to comply. So if this laptop suceedes (and I think it will), it will bring up an entire generation (hundreds of millions) of Linux users. That demand will be created, and Jobs and Gates will be in trouble.

this will not be vailable to the general public, read there website.
So, this is dead news... let the 3 world nations have an awsome piece of tech... I am not helping with a penny of my money or a seconed of my time... none for me, $@!%#@ you... i have better things to do then help/read about/watch jujuboy get a laptop.

I guess your mom didn't teach you to share.

Read the article, the very last line

"While the low-cost device will be offered to governments and educational institutions, a $200 commercial version is also being planned where the profits would help support the non-commercial side of the project."

This IS going to be available to the general public.

This isn't dead news, this is exactly what Betanews is here for; it is a technological breakthrough for third-world countries and I believe it is more news worthy than following the Europeans trying to sue Microsoft for everything they are worth.

You obviously don't know the principles of charity and humanity.

Will these be available to the masses or just charitable organizations and schools?

I wanna see what these laptops are like. =)

stupid move passsing up OSX. Apple going the distance to help people. OSX easiest user friendly OS out there..who made this decision?

Well think about it. These laptops aren't going to have a ton of processing power; only a 500Mhz CPU and 1GB of flash memory.

Would OSX even run (tolerably)? I think Linux is probably the only OS light enough to run on them (other than the various mobile OSes) .

Well said.

Absolutely outstanding and I expect a lot of companies will look at this and look how to adapt the design within their existing range of laptops. Hugely inovative and very impressive. I won't say that this is the way of the future but I think it will inroduce quite a few changes to the way laptops are made.

Can someone make some feature that will make this laptop operable from small solar panel 12V DC to run in poor remote villages. It seems difficult to get cheaper laptop that operate on 12VDC supply.

Thank you

Dear Press depart.

Greetings from egypt

It is very nice to read this report.If i understood this clearly i might think this is a good step or either a bad step!!!! what i mean is if this laptops will be used as a promoter for microsoft products by applying bill`s strategy then we are going to another era of Microsft monoblization but the good thing is we can teach chlideren to use other operating system and other softwares.

This isn't a Microsoft promotion - just the opposite. They are only using free, open source Linux products.

even though I love apple I think MIT made the right decision in not choosing MAC OS than Microsoft and everyone will start crying. Good Luck and I can wait to see what type of effect this will have in helping those countries that need it.

They would have sold a lot more of these and had a lot better chance of them being accepted by beginners if they had accepted the offer for Mac OS. Big mistake. An excellent example of politics triumphing over common sense.

Or perhaps OSX won't fit on a 1gb chip?

I seem to remember reading this thing won't have a hard drive. The OS and programs are going to be in ROM and the data storage will be in Flash RAM. I think Linux would be the best bet.

A wind-up laptop? Sounds perfect for the Linux Luddite crowd. They can blog one another as civilization implodes around them.

OSX would be a great OS for this project because of the reliabilty and like others mentioned, Open Source software can be run on it. Linus is a good choice, OSX would be a better choice.

Fool. OSX won't run on anything less than 1.5ghz....well.

Where exactly is this wonderous 64mb videocard and 20gb harddrive?

in response to VictorAnderson:

Why does it have to be an Open Source operating system?

People can write Open Sorce programs for OSX

I also think some people missed my point. OSX is a proven and very easy to use, and reliable operating system that will have a solid company behind it to provide security updates as well as functionality updates. This Open Source project doesnt nearly have the support that Apple and their OSX does. I am sure that Apple would have fully cooperated with this project to provide the best usable laptop for under 100 bux.

SorenMD - having the Mac OCX on the machine defeats the open-source concept part of the project as a whole.

They PASSED on Mac OSX for FREE? Are they smoking crack? Mac OSX is infinitely better and more reliable than open source linux. WOW...what fools to pass up a very benificial offer. They will soon regret their decision when the $100 laptop does NOT not succeed.

You are quick to judge. Say they do use a Mac OS for free, who is going to provide tech support on the OS? Are future versions of the Mac OS going to made to run on this laptop? Are they going to provide free software updates for bugs and patches?

At least with a true open source OS, more doors are open then closed

I was kinda surprised myself. "Here, take it."
"Now, now, now, that would be too financially efficient."

How big is OSX? I hope it's < 64mb, or it will have a hard time fitting! :P

Edit: Fitting and leaving any room, at least.

Fabulous! Todays computers are overkill for basic tasks like word processing, and they are way too expensive. Its about time we put our powerful technology to good use, especially for children. The idea of an efficient low-power consuming portable computer makes a lot of sense. I look forward to winding one up.

Does it have USB? =)

Yes it has usb ports and it's WiFi.. ;)

USB. W00F! :P

AMD Chips (makes sence, not like intel with it's billions of dollars the company has laying around would help, let the little guys do it!)

Linux, possibly MAC OSX

Glad to see that these smaller companies are working together to help these people.

"Edited due to people unable to see the use of an example"

Just to be fair: http://www.guinnessworld....com/index.asp?id=55248

Bill Gates has given away more money than anyone in the history of the planet. He and his foundation give more money than even the United States gives for things like AIDS resarch, and fighting malaria and other diseases.

* $1 billion over 20 years to establish the Gates Millennium Scholarship Program, which will support promising minority students through college and some kinds of graduate school.
* $750 million over five years to the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization, which includes the World Health Organization, the Rockefeller Foundation, Unicef, pharmaceutical companies and the World Bank.
* $350 million over three years to teachers, administrators, school districts and schools to improve America’s K-12 education, starting in Washington State.
* $200 million to the Gates Library Program, which is wiring public libraries in America’s poorest communities in an effort to close the “digital divide.”
* $100 million to the Gates Children’s Vaccine Program, which will accelerate delivery of lifesaving vaccines to children in the poorest countries of the world.
* $50 million to the Maternal Mortality Reduction Program, run by the Columbia University School of Public Health.
* $50 million to the Malaria Vaccine Initiative, to conduct research on promising candidates for a malaria vaccine.
* $50 million to an international group called the Alliance for the Prevention of Cervical Cancer.
* $50 million to a fund for global polio eradication, led by the World Health Organization, Unicef, Rotary International and the U.N. Foundation.
* $40 million to the International Vaccine Institute, a research program based in Seoul, South Korea.
* $28 million to Unicef for the elimination of maternal and neonatal tetanus.
* $25 million to the Sequella Global Tuberculosis Foundation.
* $25 million to the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative, which is creating coalitions of research scientists, pharmaceutical companies and governments in developing countries to look for a safe, effective, widely accessible vaccine against AIDS.

http://www3.sympatico.ca/truegrowth/gates1.html

21.8 Billion? that's it? that's pocket change for Gates! lol

(^^^^^This satement above is a joke^^^^^^^^)

Nah that's actually really good, but I was just using gates as an example, he's still holding on to a 90 Billion dollar bank account as of 2003, so he has plenty more where that came from. (I mean he isn't even leaving any of it to his children, whats he gonna do with it when he dies? take it with him to the grave???)

"The statment in parentheses is just speculation, I am unsure of the truth to this hence the next line"

I must be missing somthing here, because a total of 21.8Billion doesn't sound like much from a man as wealthy as Gates.

(****Read next line down, it stats that I am not picking on bill gates, just using him as an example******)

But I'm not picking on gates himself, I know he has done alot! (obviously more than anyone in the world) But what about the other people? everyone should be chipping in, If anything gates should be helping MIT, AMD, and the others with this $100 Laptop deal. I mean, if the smaller companies can do it, why not one of the largest in the world help?

let me know when you decide to get off your lazy bum and make as much money as he does and then give a sizeable chunk away.

if that's too much then let me know when you learn how to reply to the proper post.

How much do you want Bill Gates to give?

According to BBC News, in the past decade he has given more than $7 billion dollars to charitable causes. And according to Forbes magazine he is worth $42.6 billion. I think he doing his job as a philanthropist.

Wow...I'm hurt. 20 years old and I'm suppose to be as rich as Gates :/ What am I doing wrong? If I had a 90 Billion Dollar Bank account I would have done the same as him and thensome. But I wasnt around in the early 80's to become a software writer and start a company like microsoft, I wasn't born until after microsoft was introduced, but hey I'm working on it, I donated to Katrina, I work 40+ Hours a week, PLUS when I get off work, I work on my Side job with web design, so actually I work my a** off for my money, and I donate what I can.

Oh and yeah...replied to the wrong post, woot I'm an idiot :)

oh, and what have you done?? are you a billionaire like gates?

P.S. if you learned how to read I wasn't critizing gates.
Quote: "But I'm not picking on gates himself, I know he has done alot! (obviously more than anyone in the world) But what about the other people? everyone should be chipping in, If anything gates should be helping MIT, AMD, and the others with this $100 Laptop deal. I mean, if the smaller companies can do it, why not one of the largest in the world help?"

Hmm...so what was my point?
1. Gates has done alot and I acknoleage that
2. Not everyone is as generous as gates
3. Microsoft should help with the $100 Laptop deal

Pay attention!

Did you read this part?

"Other technology players are also interested in joining the project. Microsoft chairman Bill Gates and strategy CTO Craig Mundie met with Nicholas Negroponte, MIT Media Lab's founding chairman, to discuss the project last week. While Microsoft is not formally involved with the project, discussions are ongoing to determine what role the company could play."

Good! I hope they do! Like I said!!! You people take things the wrong way.

I am actually a recipient of the Gates Millennium scholarship. It is paying for all my college expenses for the next 10 years. I’m basically getting my PhD for free. He also flew all of the current scholarship recipients (around 1000 of them) out to LA for the annual “leadership conference”. All expenses were paid for by him, including the plane tickets, our rooms at the very nice Westin Bonaventure Hotel, and all of our meals. And I can’t stand people who criticize wealthy people like Bill Gates for doing well in life. It’s not like he didn’t work for it, and I’m sure that if these people had as much money as Bill Gates, they wouldn’t be giving it all away like they say they would. I know I plan on being filthy rich one day (lol) and I plan on spending most of it on myself, my family, and my friends, and I’ll spend some on people who need the money more than me.

All very sizable tax write offs.

Believe what you want, there are two reasons.

1. Melinda
2. Taxes

Flame away, but I bet those that have enough money to understand why he really gives money away won't say a word.

Problem with that argument is that he has more money than anyone in the history of the planet.

One man.

Dittos!

Actually he didn't work for it. Maximal value a human can produce per hour = ~$200. ~80 working hours per week X 50 work weeks in a year X ~35 years (of work) X $200 = $28 million dollars. Anyone who has more than that has been exploiting their employees or their customers.

"Flame away, but I bet those that have enough money to understand why he really gives money away won't say a word."

Mostly because they probably won't read your comment.

Not more than the US gov...

hmm, that may be true.

:-/

The gov isn't a person, but yeah you are correct.

Bill Gates does not have a 90 billion dollar bank account. Forbes places his WORTH at 47billion right now. He once was up to 95 Billion before the .com crash and would have been the first person to cross the 100 billion barrier.

Any how, Uncle Bill does have a pretty deep bank account, but its no were near the number you are suggesting.

90Billion as of "2003" (almost 3 years ago) again people...read before you critize...

Wow this is an awesome idea! yay for open source.