[IAEP] For Sugar Everywhere, Google-ize!

[Edward Cherlin]

On Wed, Feb 16, 2011 at 22:01, Martin Langhoff
<martin.langhoff at gmail.com> wrote:

> Forget about kids in those places ("they'll get broadband-quality
> internet... eventually") and yeah, we can do it all with JS and your
> favourite language on the server side.
>
> I look back at when OLPC started, and some things have changed in the
> world _we_ live in. But the kids we want to help with... their world
> hasn't changed much. They still haven't got internet for starters.

It is true that the children farthest from the Internet are still far
away, and that a few countries, notably North Korea, intend to keep
things that way. However, since we started, several fiber optic cables
have encircled Africa and landed in every coastal country, with many
more cables being laid. Spurs have been run to several landlocked
countries, notably Rwanda, and there are plans with some global
funding to reach the rest. In a particular case, a computer school in
Nigeria, the bandwidth cost was reduced from more than $1700/mo for
128 KBps via satellite to a few hundred dollars/mo for several MBps
via terrestrial wireless.

The resulting connectivity boom has barely begun. It means, among
other things, that banks in Africa will get connected to the
international digital banking network, and that their credit cards
will become acceptable in global e-commerce. This means that college
students will find it much, much easier to order textbooks online at
the best prices. The increased bandwidth, lower costs, and improved
banking will make selling local products in e-commerce much easier,
also, and will support outsourcing to those countries on a much larger
scale.

A few countries in Africa have announced commitments to give every
student in their schools an XO, and some of those have announced plans
to run Internet to all of the schools, also.

> Some things might be a tad closer -- lower costs per laptop, tablets
> are possible -- but connectivity isn't any easier or any cheaper.

Depends very much where you are.

Technology is reducing bandwidth costs in every place that has a
connection. The cost of a national WiMax network covering 90-95% of
populations (depending on population density, terrain, etc.) is
estimated at $10/person to install. Every country should include
either WiMax or fiber optic cable in every major highway and railroad
project, just as railroad companies a century and a half ago
automatically included a telegraph line on every major route.

> cheers,
>
>
> m
> --
>  martin.langhoff at gmail.com
>  martin at laptop.org -- Software Architect - OLPC
>  - ask interesting questions
>  - don't get distracted with shiny stuff  - working code first
>  - http://wiki.laptop.org/go/User:Martinlanghoff
> _______________________________________________
> IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!)
> IAEP at lists.sugarlabs.org
> http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
>



-- 
Edward Mokurai (默雷/धर्ममेघशब्दगर्ज/دھرممیگھشبدگر ج) Cherlin
Silent Thunder is my name, and Children are my nation.
The Cosmos is my dwelling place, the Truth my destination.
http://www.earthtreasury.org/