[Reader-list] Simputer

[Monica Narula]

An email sent by Geert. I believe that there are many who think that 
this is not working out too well in terms of licences etc. Any 
responses?


Open source of inspiration?

By Tim Nott

A computer for less than 10,000 francs destined for developing
countries? No, this didn't really impress Grok either, until the
realisation that this was in Belgian francs and therefore around 250
euros.

The Simputer has been developed at the University of Bangalore, and
will be officially unveiled this week. According to the photograph
printed in La Libre, the computer looks like a restrained version of a
handheld device. ITDirector says the Simputer (simple, inexpensive and
multilingual) has an Intel chip, a 320x240 display, 32MB of memory,
and a soft keyboard. It runs on Linux and open source products. The
ITDirector article's says the device won't be available for purchase
until March 2002.

La Libre goes into more technical detail: the operating system is
based on Linux and IML (Information Mark-up Language), and it has data
encryption and speech recognition capabilities, including a
"dictionary of several Indian dialects". It also has infrared and USB
ports that may or may not be connectable to a full-size keyboard. "Pas
cher" comments La Libre, but not "cheap" - a point also made by
ITDirector, which states that for many of the potential billion users
in India, this will still be "way out of their price range".  Both
reports end on a negative note: ITDirector believes that although the
"real effort and achievement will be the delivery of an open-source
solution" by next March it is unlikely that it will be the first to
market with the idea. La Libre compares it to the ill-fated Apple
Newton: a product launched too early. So it's going to be too
expensive, too late and too early.

Voici le PC «Pas Cher»
http://www.lalibre.be/article.phtml?id=13&subid=96&art_id=18738

India sets out to bridge the divide
http://www.it-director.com/article.asp?id=1751

-- 
Monica Narula
Sarai:The New Media Initiative
29 Rajpur Road, Delhi 110 054
www.sarai.net