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State Of The Simputer
Posted by
timothy
on Wed Sep 17, 2003 07:59 AM
from the intention-attrition dept.
from the intention-attrition dept.
2br02b writes "Readers might recall the Simputer (Simple, Inexpensive, Multilingual Computer) whose story Slashdot has been following over the past few years, including its release in October 2002 and most recently the Scientific American article in November. Rediff.com has an informative overview on the status of what was introduced as a low-cost computer for the poor to be sold for under Rs 10000 ($200). Of the two companies that have been given licences, one has yet to put the product on the market while the other is only looking at bulk sales at prices from Rs 12000 to Rs 20000 ($400). Only between 1500 and 2000 Simputers are out on the market."
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Computer for the poor? (Score:3, Insightful)
I'm not at all against technology education and maximizing its use wherever possible, but there truly are some things that must take priority here.
argueable, but... (Score:3, Insightful)
For example: If you give poor farmers in Africa, India,
This is much better than just giving them food. Computers could help solve THE PROBLEM instead of just curing the symptoms.
However, there are many other problems:
- Lot's of poor people can't read/write.
- If they can read/write,
Re:argueable, but... (Score:2, Interesting)
Of course, because behind every third world poor farmer is a computer programming genius who can just program C/C++ his way into better and efficent ways of growing things.
Next on freshmeat.net: GNU/RainMiracle.
Re:argueable, but... (Score:4, Insightful)
Knowledge is power, as they say...
Daniel
Parent
The 35 cent solution. (Score:4, Insightful)
So what's wrong with a photocopied pamphlet or even a book? Hundreds, perhaps thousands of booklets could be printed for the cost of one of these computers.
If the goal is the distribution of information, this is the wrong tool for the job.
Parent
Re:The 35 cent solution. (Score:3, Insightful)
Besides, even if the printing is cheap (not a given), distributing tons of printed material in areas with poor infastructure is problematic at best.
Re:argueable, but... (Score:5, Insightful)
For example: If you give poor farmers in Africa, India, ... computers, they could use them to improve there farming and harvest more food or to make a better profit selling their harvest.
3rd world farmers suffer more from trade barriers, dumping by the US and Europe, beauracracy and wars than a lack of efficiency
Parent
Re:argueable, but... (Score:4, Insightful)
You forgot the word "subsidised".
Parent
Re:Computer for the poor? (Score:2)
It's the whole "Give a man a fish/Teach a man to fish" idea.
M@
Re:Computer for the poor? (Score:5, Insightful)
This is a device that is meant to help close the digital divide. You take for granted how much information is at your fingertips and what advantages there are to having that information. If you are looking for a job where are you going to start? Probably on Monster or HotJobs or some other site. Send out some resumes by email that you typed in your word processor. Now take away your computer and try to do the old fashioned way. Type your resume on a typewriter, pay to have it photocopied, flip through a newspaper and walk door to door only to have them reject you because you don't have computer experience.
Not everything is about helping the poorest of the poor. There are a lot more people out there who need some help too.
Parent
The original concept was like this... (Score:3, Interesting)
[This is recycled from something I posted about a year ago.]
Alice is a shrewd 17 year old who plans to build on her investment in a Simputer and a cell phone until she achieves world domination. With the optimism of youth, she figures that will happen when she's about 25. After all, she needs two years to pay off the Co-op loan she took to get the things, and then she needs to really learn how read and write, too. That might take a little while. But she's willing to put off starting her family until she'
Re:Computer for the poor? (Score:3, Funny)
"we"? Where do you get this "we" from? The Simputer is manufactured by a for-profit corporation in India. Are you saying that they (a bunch of tech guys, obviously) should have gone into the food water and housing business? Or
computer for the poor? (Score:2, Insightful)
Re: computer for the poor? (Score:5, Insightful)
How about to educate themselves and get out of the slum. I came from a poor rural area not realy a slum. My parents overextended their budget buing a C64 for us when I was in junior high. Many people saw that as a waste of money. My parents saw that as an investment. It paid off. I'm a programmer now.
Parent
Re: computer for the poor? (Score:2)
Have you've seen the pictures of this computer?
The thing doesn't even have a keyboard. I doubt that it even has end-user friendly programming language. And I can get an old desktop computer for cheaper.
Not sure how much serious real-world skills from a thing that looks like an over-glorified GameBoy.
Re: computer for the poor? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re: computer for the poor? (Score:3, Insightful)
In that case, why are you using one? Computers are excellent means of communication. You do understand that with a computer, you can access all kinds of information you couldn't get otherwise? You know, not everyone has a library near his/her house, and not everyone can read, especially in 3rd world countries? A computer can efficiently solve both of these problems.
You have to realize that the 3rd world is very different. A
Re: computer for the poor? (Score:3, Interesting)
Outsourcing bonanza! (Score:3, Interesting)
>>I'm a programmer now.
Enjoy it while it lasts. I can't help but wonder how long before your company outsources your job to some kid with a Simputer willing to work for 35 cents a day? Ouch!
Re: computer for the poor? (Score:5, Insightful)
What a clueless moron you are. That may well be true in the affluent west where if you work hard
you can better yourself but in some countries the children don't get a chance to be educated before they're out in the fields helping their parents
grow food or even supporting their brothers and sisters after their parents have died from disease or war!
"They just want the government to hand them welfare and be done with it. "
Yeah , the welfare systems in africa and india are known to be the best in the world right!
Jesus , get a clue you insular dick!
Parent
Comparitive Soscio-Economics (Score:4, Insightful)
I'm not sure how it works in India, but it is probably (please correct me if I'm wrong) similar to the Philippines where the average college graduate makes about $300 / month.
If you assume that the average college graduate in the US makes $3k - $4k / month, then a fair comparison would be a $3500 computer in the U.S. to a $300 computer in the Philippines (or perhaps, India). From an expense point of view, it is likely to be affordable (although certainly a luxury).
But to imagine that these people do not wish to communicate, learn and reach out to the world through the Internet is fairly ignorant. In my experience with families from the third world, a computer (and even a broadband connection, which can be had for pennies on our dollars) is more desirable than a telephone or television.
My conclusion? The simputer may not fit the bill, but the need and economics are right on.
Parent
Re: computer for the poor? (Score:5, Informative)
Let's not discount the fact that the per capita GDP in India is $2,540, which would make a $200 PC in India worth $2960.63 in US dollars (US per capita GDP = $37,600).
Some help that is...
Parent
Re: computer for the poor? (Score:4, Insightful)
i would say its pretty clear that many gen-X-ers got quite a bit of a technological leg-up from their boomer parents overextending their salary similarly.
the sale of cheap computing to underdeveloped countries is a Good Thing (tm).
sure, they need improvements in other basic areas too - but not everyone who wants to help can work on the same project (too many cooks), and some people just don't have expertise or experience in providing and distributing clean water, replenishing spent soil, or extending the electrical infrastructure.
does it make it a less noble goal to bring computing prices down? to provide an educational and informational medium to these people?
indians in particular living in the world's oldest democracy, would certainly tangibly benefit from being more educated voters.
the broader online marketplace also provides tangible benefits, even for the underprivileged (who benefit more from better prices/competition).
if anything, that money makes more sense for them now than it did when the boomers bought into it for X-ers. The internet adds exponentially to the value of a home computer.
not all of their children will grow up to be programmers or engineers, but there are tangible benefits to be had. yes, it requires some proactivity, and yes - not everyone in india (or any other underdeveloped nation) needs/would actually benefit from a PC.
but if only a dozen, or a hundred take the opportunity and turn it to their will - that'd make it a worthwhile cause.
Parent
Re: computer for the poor? (Score:3, Insightful)
You're missing the aspects of this device that make it more attractive than a used PC plunked down in a corner. The whole concept of using a simple palm-like device makes it low-power, rugged and ultra-portable.
How were you planning on powering that old PC that sucks 30 watts of power, when there's no electrical hookup fo
Re: computer for the poor? (Score:3, Insightful)
The access to latest information (and educational resources) can potentially open the gateway out of the slums.
S
Re: computer for the poor? (Score:3, Insightful)
Just a thought...
how do they expect it to sell? (Score:4, Insightful)
Another great idea tanked by a bunch of PHB's
I'm going to go into direct competition (Score:2, Funny)
Re:I'm going to go into direct competition (Score:3, Funny)
Is this compatible with Dirt-And-Stick 1.0? I've been looking to upgrade. I hate losing all my documents every time it rains...
just donate your old ones (Score:5, Insightful)
What a shame (Score:3, Insightful)
Utopian ideals... (Score:4, Insightful)
If they produce something with low capabilities, but a low, low price, then they will be accused of producing underpowered rubbish.
As soon as you start to increase the potential of the platform, the costs start to rise until you have an elitist product that the intended market cannot afford.
There *may* be a happy medium somewhere, but the edvil is in the details of finding it. In the consumerist marketplace we have in the West, production prices are already pushed as low as possible. Squeezing out extra pennies in production is almost impossible. The potential is there though to reduce prices through the marketing and adminitration side of things (pay no fat-cat salaries to the sales & management departments), but then again the product quickly becomes unfashionable and therefore undesirable.
I would love to see such a product to succeed, but it's a hell of an uphill stuggle!
Re:Utopian ideals... (Score:3, Insightful)
Those well-paid Indians (Score:4, Interesting)
What it all comes down to is (Score:4, Interesting)
"Well, it's not a cheap computer.
Its proponents have since discarded the buzzword -- 'cheap computer' -- that brought the Simputer into the limelight.
"We are not making a cheap computer. We are making a sophisticated device that will make computing possible for everyone," declares Professor Manohar."
What a crock of bull. How is computing possible for "everyone" when "most" Indians can't afford to spend $400 on a PDA?
Um... (Score:2, Insightful)
>people were interchanging polarities while inserting batteries and battery contacts were coming loose due to rough handling.
The UI interface better be really really simple.
And yes I think this is a dumb idea. Just give them old desktop computers. There is no reason for portability to be simple, inexpensive or multilingual.
Needs a few changes (Score:5, Interesting)
2. Cheap and robust external power supply. Batteries are expensive.
2. B&W screen, for godsake. Color is luxury, make a high-contrast large, protected B&W screen that can show decent amounts of information.
3. Little chiclet keyboard that plugs in to a mini-USB slot. Something like the old Spectrum keyboards, cheap, nasty, unbreakable.
That would make it cheaper and more useful. Imagine a computer you'd happily give to an 10-year old, no matter if it breaks.
Lastly, I'd add bluetooth because it's a tiny extra cost, only a few $, and provides unbreakable networking and connectivity better than any physical connection, and make the whole thing run on a stripped-down embedded Linux.
$400 is much too expensive (Score:3, Insightful)
The High Cost of Software (Score:3, Funny)
Perhaps moving development offshore isn't the cost saver it's been promoted as.
:)
Simputer became expensive because.. (Score:3)
Cheaper than the Simputer (Score:3, Informative)
The Simputer is a neat idea
but who is going to buy them
if you can already get something cheaper/faster
with more storage?
Here is a 1.2 Duron with a 20 gig drive for $200 US.
[walmart.com]
http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.gsp?produc
Of course if you have no place to plug it in
then you're hosed.
more tech details about the simputer (Score:5, Informative)
I think we're missing the point.... (Score:3, Interesting)
cheap linux pc (Score:3, Interesting)
The tv becomes their gateway to the rest of the world-- a one way feed.
if you really want, you should build a computer that costs 150$ linux machine and uses the tv as a monitor-- i think that would be a more ideal solution. Basically, if walmart can make linux machines and sell them at $200, it shouldn't be that much harder to bring the price down by 50.
in cost in rupees, that would be 7500/- cheaper than the simputer.
Re:cheap linux pc (Score:3, Insightful)
There are, of course, many reasons why it flopped, but here's one reason why it flopped in my household:- the Spectrum + had to fight for TV space along with daily soaps, news and cartoons, among other things. You know which ones won
Pictures (Score:4, Informative)
More recent picture [jetro.go.jp]
Picture 1 [jetro.go.jp]
Picture 2 [jetro.go.jp]
Picture 3 [jetro.go.jp]
Picture 4 [jetro.go.jp]
Picture 5 [jetro.go.jp]
Use of Simputer for Spot Billing of Electricity Metering [picopeta.com]
More Case [picopeta.com]
Studies
See Simputer in action in the Bay Area (Score:3, Interesting)
The same speaker will be visiting the Linux Users' Group of Davis (LUGOD [lugod.org]) on October 20th [lugod.org], near Sacramento, Calif.
Re:Aren't we all poor to some extent? (Score:2)
Re:Aren't we all poor to some extent? (Score:2)
Re:Not much point (Score:3, Interesting)
That's true for us rich westerners.
Fancy smartphones are sold to us at a loss by the telcos because they assume (and it's a risk) that they'll recoup the cost as we use data services
over a fixed term contract with inclusive rental charges.
Ask Vodafone how much a P800 would cost with no contract and you might find the Simputer starts looking like good value for money.