[Assam] WoW--the $ 10 Desi Laptop is Here!!!

[Chan Mahanta]

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Govts_much-awaited_10_laptop_turns_out_be_a_joke/articleshow/4078115.cms



Govt's much-awaited $10 laptop turns out be a joke
5 Feb 2009, 0054 hrs IST, Neelima Rao, TNN

 
TIRUPATI: The hype surrounding the $10 laptop ``prototype'' with two 
GB RAM turned out to be a joke when the department of Human Resources 
Development announced - during its inauguration in the temple town of 
Tirupati - that it wasn't a laptop at all but a computing device.

While the world eagerly waited for the launch of the $10 laptop - 
designed by students of Vellore Institute of Technology, scientists 
in Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, IIT-Madras, UGC and MHRD - 
it wasn't a patch on the $100 laptop made by MIT.

The MHRD officials said the price was working out to be $20 but with 
mass production it was bound to come down to $10 (Rs 500) and thus 
become affordable for every student in India.

But netizens were disappointed when the ``laptop'' turned out to be 
nothing more than a computing device along with a hard disk with 
e-books, e-journals and relevant educative material through the 
state-art-of-the-art ``Sakshat'' portal.

As the device appeared smaller than the normal laptop with 10-inch 
length and five-inch width, buzz got around that it was a 
``Nano-top'' and not a laptop. But MHRD official brought the curtains 
down on all the hungama, saying it was just a computing device with 
2GB memory.

Joint Secretary, MHRD, N K Sinha said that the device still needs to 
be fine tuned. But he had no answer to the million dollar question: 
where was the $10 laptop?

The talk of the ``invention'' had raised expectations of bridging the 
technological divide between rural and urban India. Talking to TOI, a 
Professor from Sri Venkateswara University said (on the condition of 
anonymity), ``How can just a computing device bridge the digital 
divide and make access to computer literacy affordable to the masses? 
Where will poor students get computers to jack this gizmo with? Will 
MHRD provide computers and internet connectivity in rural and remote 
areas? There is no clarity among the officials themselves,'' he said.

A research scholar from Mahila University said, ``How many students 
in Tirupati have access to computers? Then, MHRD hasn't given details 
of the size of the screen, storage, processor, etc. MHRD should first 
think about the feasibility of such projects before they are 
launched. The entire world was watching. This act of MHRD has shamed 
the nation,'' she said.