$10 Indian Laptop Is Just A Computing Brick
Announced this past week by India's Ministry of Human Resource Development was a low-cost computing device that looks more like an over-sized, port-filled power adapter than a true-to-form notebook computer. Granted, this device is just a prototype, but we aren't counting on it to grow an LCD and QWERTY keyboard within the next short while. For now, the unit measures 10- x 5-inches and is evidently designed to interface with other computing parts (such as a monitor, keyboard, mouse, etc.). Ironically, it makes sense to think that poor individuals for which this whole thing was intended for won't be able to afford the necessary accessories to make it work.
In the end, many are suggesting that hype was built up around this in the wake of upcoming elections, and in a supposedly elaborate presentation, N.K. Sinha, Joint Secretary, Ministry of HRD, explained that the prototype "bore testimony to India's technological capability, with some of the components developed by engineering students themselves." What Sinha didn't mention, however, was that the $10 laptop that everyone was anticipating was a complete no-show.