On Sun, Oct 08, 2006 at 02:22:35PM +0200, Ingo Schwarze wrote: > > So those children will get laptops before their families > have electricity? Had they any choice, how many of them > would choose that way? Given the effort and money used > for the OLPC project - on what would those people like > to spend it? Or, to ask the question in a polemical way, > would they choose Marvell, and why? > > The criticism voiced by Siju and others does not only > apply to several situations in general, but it does indeed > appear to apply to this particular project. :-( > > Small wonder the project exhibits other flaws, too, > when even this central aspect has been screwed up...
These matters are complex, and it's difficult to gauge all the effects. Months ago I heard a radio news story about one of the countries with many poor people (can't remember which) where many did not have good clothing. Charities in the US and other Western countries collected and donated huge amounts of clothing over a long period of time. Sounds nice? The country in question had a small but growing economy including a healthy textile industry. The influx of clothing effectively killed the textile industry there and put many people out of work, thus increasing the number of poor. The people donating clothing, and the charities collecting and distributing the clothing, had nothing but the best intentions, and it would be difficult to find *any* but the most noble motives. Still, interfering on a large scale is tricky and has unforeseen consequences. This can't be improved much if there are other motives involved. I've been staying out of this and I probably shouldn't have posted this, seeing that this is not germane to the issues of open/free. But the door's been opened, and the above is worth considering. To those wishing references, I don't have them. I heard it on NPR, and that's about all I remember. -- Darrin Chandler | Phoenix BSD Users Group [EMAIL PROTECTED] | http://bsd.phoenix.az.us/ http://www.stilyagin.com/ |
