The government of India recently reported that it was preparing to unveil a $35.00 PC .
In that vein The Indian Times recently reported that there is an open invitation from the HRD ministry, to all to come up with more variants that fulfills specifications spelled out by it. The HRD ministry has set up several separate teams, which are involved in bringing out prototype. With a $35 price as the goal and it would include the cost of manufacturing abroad. At the current price point of $35, there would be 50% subsidy to educational institutions, which will effectively bring down the cost to only Rs 750. The initial order will be for no less than one lakh laptops.
The specifications for this device are compelling, as is the goal of cheap, round the clock connectivity and access to the cloud with devices that are genuinely affordable.
Here are some of the features that it will have:
- Support for video web Conferencing facility
- Multimedia content viewer for example .pdf, docx, .ods, adp, .doc, .xls, .jpeg, .gif, .png, .bmp, .odt, .zip, AVCHD, AVI, AC3, etc.
- Searchable Pdf reader
- Unzip tool for unzipping zip files.
- Possibility of installing suitable firmware upgradation.
- Computing capabilities such as Open Office , SciLab , cups (for printing support)
- Media player capable of playing streamed as well as stored media files.
- Internet browsing with flash plug-in, JavaScript, pdf plug-in java.
- Wireless communication for Audio/video I/O.
- Cloud computing option.
- Remote device management capability.
- Multimedia input output interface option (for allowing DTV, IPTv, DTH, streaming etc.)
But the story that is unfolding, according to ComputerWorld, is the Indian politicians announce dramatic technical advances but never produce any such devices. According the story, there have been other stories that pitched a high press notice, but produced nothing.
In February, 2009, the Indian government announced a $10 to $20 laptop called the Shaksat. It was like the $35 tablet, the Shaksat had 2GB of RAM, but other details were never produced. Then it was to be rolled out in six months and was to be used by millions of students across India, transforming the Indian educational system and economy. So, where is the Shaksat? Nothing came of it.
Even earlier in 1999, Indian scientists and engineers developed a low-cost computer for the poor called the Simputer. The design was around a Linux-based pen-and-touch tablet with text-to-speech capability. The Simputer was announced with great publicity by the Indian government, with a goal was to sell 50,000 units. That number never materialized,only 4,000 were ever sold.
So the story has two parts, one is that the Indian government keeps trying to produce a device that it has failed to produce on several occasions in the past. The second part is the manufacturing costs. The manufacturing process cannot be brought down to $35 dollars. The cost of many of the components also are greater than that figure. The upshot is that this is a vain attempt to present a device that will never see the light of day.
