Bill Gates criticizing $100 Laptop

I met Mr. Gates awhile back ( i think I was 10 so 7 years) and the first thought in my mind was i think I could take him. I should have taken the opportunity......
Here is an article where Mr. Gates is ragging on MIT and Google's $100 Laptop
http://www.cnn.com/2006/TECH/ptech/03/16/gates.100.laptop.reut/index.html

 

I had a signed copy of Windows ME, signed by Gates ofcourse. Ended up throwing it away.

 

ME was a POS, it was the worst of 98 and XP rolled into one

 

Gates is just mad b/c the laptop doesn't run windows.

 

Windows costs more than $100 so of course Gates is upset. I don't know who he thinks he is to talk about how you should design an inexpensive computer. We all know that the first thing to think about when designing an operating system is to prevent holes, security flaws, and bugs. I would love to see Google fire back with a statement about his own inability to do things how others see is the right way.

 

i'm pretty sure Bill Gates can mock anything he chooses to, are any of you the richest person on earth??? That is a pretty crazy achievement by itself. Microsoft started in a Garage didn't it?

 

I think that is a ridiculous statement for him to make . . not everyone can afford a computer running your operating system, Mr. Gates, and neither can many third-world countries.

Chaz

 

Take Bill Gates where James? ^^

I applaud MIT and googles noble venture. Bill Gates obviously lives in his own world, his riches making him forget that some people don't have that sort of money. Mind you, if he wanted to, he could probably buy a decent laptop for every child in the world, and with microsoft software on it, he'd make half his money back instantly anyway! And it'd be a pretty clever investment for the future, monopolising all corners of the world.

However, laptops for kids are gonna be a killer for their backs. Laptops are a nightmare for phsiotherapists and ergonomics. I'm not so sure it's a good idea on the whole.

 

I agree with Gates' comments to a point, but to be honest I disagree with the fact this project is even being done. Having a friend that has taught in Cambodia for a year opened my eyes to the more basic needs they have such as proper school buildings, books that are less than 15-years old, trained teachers and basic supplies. It seems to me $100 would be better spent on getting the basics into 3rd world classrooms, these laptops look very breakable and likely hard for the teachers there to know much if anything about. Nice idea, not the right way to spend the money though.

 

man if he thinks he is all hot shot, let me see him giving or selling "better" computers to poor people / countries .... ****

 

Well they look like they're made by fisher price lol. The hand crank thing is a solution to batteries I guess but it would suck. The other thing is the lack of hard drive space and of course internet access. They'd need huge wireless networks setup like a cellphone service to do much good. Once you get them reading and writing a computer with net access would be very handy.

the only truly good thing about these little things is the price and the linux use.

 

Actually, I think the idea is a gigantic peer-to-peer network between the notebooks, with only a few actually needing to connect directly to the internet.

I'm babbling here--sorry, networking isn't my thing.

 

FYI, there is Windows XP Starter Edition for developing countries that cost about $35

http://www.infoworld.com/article/06/03/01/75982_HNmultilingualxp_1.html