Nicholas Negroponte: USD 100 laptop to be out next year
Just like the Rs. 1 Lakh rupee car project of Tata, USD 100 laptop is a dream project of the M.I.T. Media Lab co-founder Nicholas Negroponte.
Negroponte showcased the latest prototype of this product to a gathering of educators in San Diego earlier this week and said that the launch of this laptop is due to happen sometime next year.
He added that the project expects millions of the low-cost laptops to be distributed to children in developing countries around the world.
This laptop product features a hand crank that generates the two watts of power the machine needs to operate. It would be using a Wi-Fi mesh to connect to the Internet and other machines around it and would be powered by the open source Linux operating system.
The developers have chosen the products used on this laptop product carefully to best utilize the resources available in rural areas in developing countries.
The USD 100 Laptop comes with a dual mode display that can be easily viewed in natural and artificial light. However, in the initial years of the launch, this laptop would be priced at a slightly higher price than the project USD 100.