There has been a lot of focus in recent years on creating inexpensive, affordable computers for users in the developing world, and at the forefront is Professor Nicholoas Negroponte.
His not-for-profit One Laptop per Child (OLPC) project has been developing a laptop (targeted at $100 (£50) but currently struggling to break $200) suitable for use by every child in the developing world. Recently, Intel joined the board of OLPC and will even contribute funding to the project.
Helping people in the developing world cross the digital divide is a fundamental act of decency and generosity -- and even self-interest -- as these new markets grow, consumers spend and productivity surges.
The need for technology among the under-served is so urgent, hopeful thinking goes, that even a computer with no commercial viability -- no distribution channels, maintenance, training, programming services and, in fact, virtually no IT ecosystem at all -- can meet that market's need.
As laudable as this dream is, the ideal unfortunately runs counter to a fundamental fact of life: a computer cannot exist independent of basic economic realities.
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