I agree that the objective is to drive down the price of the technology. But that's not what a *scam* imitation will do. Let me explain with an example. My partner recently returned from Shenzhen in China with a USB flash card, badged as a Sony VAIO device, and claiming to store 4GB of data. He picked this device up for about US$30. He put it into his machine, and sure enough the device registered as storing 4GB of data. But once you actually put more than 128MB of data on the device, and tried to access any of the files, it would simply stop functioning and could not even be reformatted again. The object of the scam imitation was not to drive the price of USB thumb drives down, but to *appear* to operate as a 4GB device whilst actually using cheaper parts, rebadged. To be honest I have no problem with knockoff devices if they function with the same or similar integrity of the originals. And I hate buying labels just because they are labels. My concern is with devices that appear to operate in accordance with specifications but actually do not. Economically, the effect of such an eventuality is actually to *drive prices of original devices up*. Because there is a need to delineate the real from the knock-off, the "De Beers effect" arises, and legitimate companies need to invest in expensive watermarking of products to ensure product integrity - and without a doubt the cost of developing such proof of product integrity is passed on to the consumer. It's probably more of an economic argument than a technological one. But it's still a concern that needs to be addressed. ____________________________________________ Joanne Jacobs, Project Manager Australasian CRC for Interaction Design (ACID) A Commonwealth Cooperative Research Centre http://www.joannejacobs.net/ -----Original Message----- From: air-l-aoir.org-bounces@listserv.aoir.org [mailto:air-l-aoir.org-bounces@listserv.aoir.org] On Behalf Of Jeremy Hunsinger Sent: Thursday, 29 September 2005 9:56 AM To: air-l@listserv.aoir.org Subject: Re: [Air-l] Fwd: [school-discuss] $100.00 laptop while scam products are a problem, i think that the point is less to encourage scam devices as to establish less expensive derivatives. it is actually fairly cheap to produce an advanced x86 processor these days, under license or not, and if you have compilers the processors might become less important in respect to fucntionality. no? anyway, i think knockoff in this case are actually the point of the project in political economy terms. why else would you be moving the cost differential to that low of a point? you can argue that it is cost, but cost of production is sort of 'moot' for computers like these, markets are what matters, so how do you get past the basic idealizes profit motives of producers...? through knockoff producers aiming toward getting cheaper and cheaper instead of getting more expensive. On Sep 28, 2005, at 7:48 PM, Joanne Jacobs wrote:

I've just discussed this on my blog, and while I'm a fan, I'm concerned about the business logistics of releasing the device among nations that will incubate a grey market for the product and possibly also develop scam imitations of the MIT-developed device.

____________________________________________

Joanne Jacobs, Project Manager Australasian CRC for Interaction Design (ACID) A Commonwealth Cooperative Research Centre http://www.joannejacobs.net/

Jeremy Hunsinger Center for Digital Discourse and Culture () ascii ribbon campaign - against html mail /\ - against microsoft attachments http://www.aoir.org The Association of Internet Researchers _______________________________________________ The Air-l-aoir.org@listserv.aoir.org mailing list is provided by the Association of Internet Researchers http://aoir.org Subscribe, change options or unsubscribe at: http://listserv.aoir.org/listinfo.cgi/air-l-aoir.org Join the Association of Internet Researchers: http://www.aoir.org/

from the MIT laptop site: Why is it important for each child to have a computer? What's wrong with community-access centers? One does not think of community pencils—kids have their own. They are tools to think with, sufficiently inexpensive to be used for work and play, drawing, writing, and mathematics. A computer can be the same, but far more powerful. Furthermore, there are many reasons it is important for a child to "own" something—like a football, doll, or book—not the least of which being that these belongings will be well-maintained through love and care. http://laptop.media.mit.edu/ I guess we don't talk much about grey markets for pencils, do we? Jarek

From: "Joanne Jacobs" <joanne@joannejacobs.net> Reply-To: air-l@listserv.aoir.org To: <air-l@listserv.aoir.org> Subject: RE: [Air-l] Fwd: [school-discuss] $100.00 laptop Date: Thu, 29 Sep 2005 09:48:21 +1000

I've just discussed this on my blog, and while I'm a fan, I'm concerned about the business logistics of releasing the device among nations that will incubate a grey market for the product and possibly also develop scam imitations of the MIT-developed device.

____________________________________________

Joanne Jacobs, Project Manager Australasian CRC for Interaction Design (ACID) A Commonwealth Cooperative Research Centre http://www.joannejacobs.net/

-----Original Message----- From: air-l-aoir.org-bounces@listserv.aoir.org [mailto:air-l-aoir.org-bounces@listserv.aoir.org] On Behalf Of Jeremy Hunsinger Sent: Thursday, 29 September 2005 9:40 AM To: air-l@listserv.aoir.org Subject: [Air-l] Fwd: [school-discuss] $100.00 laptop

Begin forwarded message:

...

From: "Gordon J. Holtslander" <holtslander@sask.usask.ca> Date: September 28, 2005 7:33:45 PM EDT To: schoolforge-discuss@schoolforge.net Subject: [school-discuss] $100.00 laptop Reply-To: schoolforge-discuss@schoolforge.net

Came across these sites:

haven't noticed this being discussed here.

A $100.00 dollar laptop running linux - intended for education in the developing world - and likely very practical for the developed world to.

http://laptop.media.mit.edu/ http://blogs.zdnet.com/BTL/?p=1935&tag=nl.e589

prototype to be released at World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) http://www.itu.int/wsis/ in November.

It looks like it is intended to support tablet style use (in addition to a keyboard)- so one can use it without using a keyboard. This opens many avenues.

Gord -- Gordon J. Holtslander / Dept. of Biology holtslander@sask.usask.ca / University of Saskatchewan tel 306 966-4433 / 112 Science Place fax 306 966-4461 / Saskatoon, SK Canada / S7N 5E2

Jeremy Hunsinger Center for Digital Discourse and Culture () ascii ribbon campaign - against html mail /\ - against microsoft attachments

http://www.aoir.org The Association of Internet Researchers

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I doubt that even at $100 EACH child can have a computer in the target income-bracket population

(each child in an upper income bracket may very well already have a computer in these regions...)

I think that the idea behind the project here is to make the computers as less expensive as possible to confirm an assumption that laptops will cause positive changes in lives of children who wouldn't have access to that technology otherwise. While it still looks like a good idea, I agree that income has always already played its role in access to education and again, there are children who go to schools with no pencils either ... Jarek

r

...

What's wrong with community-access centers?

One does not think of community pencils—kids have their own. They are tools to think with, sufficiently inexpensive to be used for work and play, drawing, writing, and mathematics. A computer can be the same, but far more powerful. Furthermore, there are many reasons it is important for a child to "own" something—like a football, doll, or book—not the least of which being that these belongings will be well-maintained through love and care.

http://laptop.media.mit.edu/

I guess we don't talk much about grey markets for pencils, do we?

Jarek

...

From: "Joanne Jacobs" <joanne@joannejacobs.net> Reply-To: air-l@listserv.aoir.org To: <air-l@listserv.aoir.org> Subject: RE: [Air-l] Fwd: [school-discuss] $100.00 laptop Date: Thu, 29 Sep 2005 09:48:21 +1000

I've just discussed this on my blog, and while I'm a fan, I'm concerned about the business logistics of releasing the device among nations that will incubate a grey market for the product and possibly also develop scam imitations of the MIT-developed device.

____________________________________________

Joanne Jacobs, Project Manager Australasian CRC for Interaction Design (ACID) A Commonwealth Cooperative Research Centre http://www.joannejacobs.net/

-----Original Message----- From: air-l-aoir.org-bounces@listserv.aoir.org [mailto:air-l-aoir.org-bounces@listserv.aoir.org] On Behalf Of Jeremy Hunsinger Sent: Thursday, 29 September 2005 9:40 AM To: air-l@listserv.aoir.org Subject: [Air-l] Fwd: [school-discuss] $100.00 laptop

Begin forwarded message:

...

From: "Gordon J. Holtslander" <holtslander@sask.usask.ca> Date: September 28, 2005 7:33:45 PM EDT To: schoolforge-discuss@schoolforge.net Subject: [school-discuss] $100.00 laptop Reply-To: schoolforge-discuss@schoolforge.net

Came across these sites:

haven't noticed this being discussed here.

A $100.00 dollar laptop running linux - intended for education in the developing world - and likely very practical for the developed world to.

http://laptop.media.mit.edu/ http://blogs.zdnet.com/BTL/?p=1935&tag=nl.e589

prototype to be released at World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) http://www.itu.int/wsis/ in November.

It looks like it is intended to support tablet style use (in addition to a keyboard)- so one can use it without using a keyboard. This opens many avenues.

Gord -- Gordon J. Holtslander / Dept. of Biology holtslander@sask.usask.ca / University of Saskatchewan tel 306 966-4433 / 112 Science Place fax 306 966-4461 / Saskatoon, SK Canada / S7N 5E2

Jeremy Hunsinger Center for Digital Discourse and Culture () ascii ribbon campaign - against html mail /\ - against microsoft attachments

http://www.aoir.org The Association of Internet Researchers

_______________________________________________ The Air-l-aoir.org@listserv.aoir.org mailing list is provided by the Association of Internet Researchers http://aoir.org Subscribe, change options or unsubscribe at: http://listserv.aoir.org/listinfo.cgi/air-l-aoir.org

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-- Radhika Gajjala Associate Professor School of Communication Studies Bowling Green State University Bowling Green, OH 43403

http://personal.bgsu.edu/~radhik

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http://www.cyberdiva.org _______________________________________________ The Air-l-aoir.org@listserv.aoir.org mailing list is provided by the Association of Internet Researchers http://aoir.org Subscribe, change options or unsubscribe at: http://listserv.aoir.org/listinfo.cgi/air-l-aoir.org

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