It's hard to propose a $100 laptop for a world community of kids and then not say in the same breath that you're going to depend on the community to make software for it.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
Technology tools such as laptops are the kind of help that we need. A program that provides laptops for all youngsters would close a gap that most of us are not aware of, or will not admit to, which is a tremendous gap in the poor communities.
I'm encouraging kids to use computers at their own pace to build aspirations.
I was the first to advocate the Web. But I am very troubled by this thing that every kid must have a laptop computer. The kids are totally in the computer age. There's a whole new brain operation that's being moulded by the computer.
Practically everyone is going to have a general purpose computer in their pocket, it's so easy to underestimate that, that has got to be the really, really big one.
Computers have become more friendly, understandable, and lots of years and thought have been put into developing software to convince people that they want and need a computer.
A family living at the poverty level is unlikely to be able to afford a computer at home. Even with a computer, access to the Internet is another significant expense. A child might borrow a book from a public library; but it is not possible to take a computer home.
I want to see us remain convinced that software matters in the future.
With a 100-year perspective, the real value of the personal computer is not spreadsheets, word processors or even desktop publishing. It's the Web.
People who are really serious about software should make their own hardware.
Give One, Get One generated about 100,000 zero-dollar laptops. Somebody else paid for them, but from the recipient's point of view, that's zero.