Re: [Air-L] help on africa and computer donations

Paul DiPerna wrote:

The business/political dynamics at play between the One Laptop Project and Craig Barrett/Intel are interesting. The CBS report implicitly raises some profound questions about how oligopolies (here in the US. for example) can actually stifle technological progress and the diffusion of an innovation to the masses. I'm not a business analyst by any stretch of the imagination, but that was one of my takeaways.

My takeaway is the exact opposite: a politically connected charismatic operator can hijack the governmental developmental agenda to achieve unfair advantage, destroying emerging markets with an inferior and frankly absurd product that no one wants or needs... in the name of charity. --Jimbo