Notes on tech

In reference to Om Malik's posting for a Massputer around the $300 range:

Maybe one way to reach that magical $300 figure is to rely on some of the older PC configurations. For example, to do the something as basic as letter writing, accounting and internet surfing, you dont need the latest multi-gigahertz with 100 gigabytes of disk space. A modest machines, lets say a 1.0 GHz PC with 256/512 MB RAM and 20 GB HDD would surely hit the $300 target. PC's with these configurations can also be sourced from some companies trying to replace their entire PC infrastucture.

Another thing, people in this so called BRIC region will buy PC's only if the cost of the software comes down. Till now s/w has more-or-less been an assembler's (local guy who assembles computers from gray market parts) problem. They offer to install *any* software (pirated, ofcourse) as an added incentive to lure potential customers. But with crack down on piracy this is going to change.

The best way to achieve this cheap hardware/software combination is to leverage the open source community's resources. Most of the applications and even the OS can be gotten from open source. Open source software has to be user friendly to (atleast as good as M$-windows and should not be geeky to use) get adopted by the end-users.