Yes, that’s a headline from CNN. Doesn’t it create the image of Bill Gates standing there, hands to his ears, going “nyahh nyahh nyahh” to a bunch of laptops.
Seriously, Billy-boy-of-borg is upset that MIT has come up with a laptop for developing countries that lack many features found on a typical personal computer, such as a hard disk and software. They are expected to retail for $100. Billy-boy-of-borg would rather people buy his new “ultra-mobile computer” which runs Microsoft Windows on a seven-inch (17.78-centimeter) touch screen, and is expected to sell for between $599 and $999. Gates said that the big costs come from network connectivity, applications and support. The article neglected to state what Microborg charges for applications and support.
I have one word for Bill. Terminals. You see, in the “old days”, we had terminals that were little more than glorified TVs, that had no storage, no software, and communicated with a central computer that provided the software and storge. This model works, and still works today. Even Microborg is trying to move back to that model, with network-applications instead of customer-owned applications.
Maybe Bill needs more modern words. How about “Thin Client”. Those are essentially the same things.
Do you think Bill is more concerned with business interests than the interests of the people in those countries? Do you think it might be because Google is involved in the cheap PCs?
Me? Cynical? Nah.
