I think it is a nice gesture that people are spending time trying to figure out which tech devices are going to truly benefit kids from the third world. Personally, I think they need to start with getting their parents on their feet before getting too into who receives a $100 notebook PC. Once starvation and other heath issues are addressed, I suppose this is something that could be looked at with a more serious eye.

Efforts to get information technology into the hands of people in Third World nations are a huge cultural imperative and a significant business opportunity. But what form those efforts should take is a matter of debate, if a keynote panel discussion Wednesday at Sand Hill Group’s Software 2005 conference in Santa Clara, Calif., is any indication.

Much of the discussion, which provided a welcome respite from all the talk of business processes and product strategy, revolved around two initiatives designed to propagate laptops throughout the Third World. Nicholas Negroponte, the noted MIT professor and chairman of MIT’s Media Laboratory, was on hand to share details of a project he’s spearheading that’s designed to put laptops in the hands of elementary-school students by driving the cost of a barebones machine down to less than $100. Meanwhile, Advanced Micro Devices Inc., a partner in Negroponte’s project, is promoting its $185 personal Internet communicator as a key device in the company’s campaign to ensure that half of the world’s population has access to the Internet by 2015. [Read the rest]