For $150, Third-World Laptop Stirs a Big Debate

[phiscock-g851W1bGYuGnS0EtXVNi6w at public.gmane.org]

>
> Thanks for bringing the thread back on track, Colin.
>
One of the exciting things about the OLPC project is that it is creating a
completely new, widely used hardware platform for computing.  PC hardware
has been a monoculture for many years and this has limited the kinds of
hardware explorations that might otherwise take place.

Whether it's widely adopted or not, the MIT team deserve full marks for
thinking 'out of the box' in this design. Open-source software gets some
credit for this - it's one of the things that has made it possible to
branch out in this fashion.

We might even return to the days of the Commodore 64 and Atari ST, when
there was a real diversity of machines to choose from -- with the added
advantage of data compatability, so that users are not 'locked in'.

-- 
Peter Hiscocks
Syscomp Electronic Design Limited, Toronto
http://www.syscompdesign.com
USB Oscilloscope and Waveform Generator
647-839-0325

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