RE: [Sheflug] Wind up Laptop

[(Ted Harding) <Ted.Harding [at] xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On 16-Nov-05 Richard Ibbotson wrote:
> Hi
> 
> No, this isn't a wind up.... but the laptop is.  Was just having a 
> look at the lead story on Newsnight on BBC2...
> 
> http://laptop.media.mit.edu/faq.html
> 
> see also...
> 
> http://news.com.com/The+100+laptop+moves+closer+to+reality/2100-1044_3-5
> 884683.html

I came upon this some minutes after it had started (owing to
watching News on BBC1), so missed the beginning.

Was Linux mentioned?

I thought the part of the discussion I saw was very disappointing.
The African gentleman insisting (no doubt with good reason) that
there's more to providing education than giving every child a laptop:
a few chairs and desks for schools would be a good start -- and the
American lady brushing this aside and insisting that once they have
their laptops they have all they need for learning by themselves;
and trying unsuccessfully to be charming when she said so; neither
really listening to the other (though the man seemed to be paying
more attention than the woman), and Kirsty Wark not managing to
build a bridge at all! I was left with a nasty taste in the mouth,
mainly due to the American lady who came across more like a
snake-oil salesman with a hidden profit motive than a campaigner
for benefits for third-world children.

I tried this morning to "Watch again" from the Newsnight website,
hoping to fill in background I might have missed from the opening
minutes, only to learn that last night's program will not be available
on the Werb "for copyright reasons" (might this be because of
the item about the Ian Blair lecture?). Bummer.

If Linux *was* mentioned, I hope this did not give people a bad
impression of Open Source and how people use it.

Best wishes to all,
Ted.


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Date: 17-Nov-05                                       Time: 11:18:15
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