LINK: BRAZIL DESIGNS A CHEAP Linux-based PC FOR THE MASSES

[FREDERICK NORONHA <fred@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Thanks very much to George(s) Lessard for passing on this info. -FN

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Subject: BRAZIL DESIGNS A CHEAP Linux-based PC FOR THE MASSES
Date: Tue, 6 Mar 2001 23:25:28 -0500
From: "George(s) Lessard" <media@xxxxxxx>
To: mediamentor@xxxxxxxxxxx,
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BRAZIL DESIGNS A CHEAP PC FOR THE MASSES
Researchers in Brazil have developed a no-frills PC that should
retail for $300. Government officials hope that the low-cost
computer, which consumers will be able to purchase in $15 monthly
installments, will help narrow Brazil's digital divide. Although
Brazil has 170 million people, including 3.9 million regular
Internet users, and a gross domestic product of $580 billion,
many of its people lack phone lines, not to mention computers,
and the average minimum wage is only $75 per month. Sergio Vale
Campos of the Federal University of Minas Gerais, who led the
team that designed the computer, said it is "cheap, but is not
trash." The PC features the basic components: a monitor, a
mouse, speakers, and a browser for the Internet. A printer or
disk drive can be added as modular units. It has 64 MB of RAM,
a 500 MHz processor, and a 56K modem. The researchers further
reduced costs by relying on free Linux-based software. However,
the government may have difficulty finding a company that will
manufacture the new PC. Several firms have said the projected
market price is too low, and critics have suggested the
country's lack of IT infrastructure may make using such a
device problematic.
(Associated Press, 5 March 2001)
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and


BRAZIL ATTACKS DIGITAL DIVIDE WITH $300 VOLKSCOMPUTER
Issue: Digital Divide
Late last year the government of Brazil commissioned the Federal
University of Minas Gerais to design a low-budget machine as a response to
worries about worsening the country's social and economic inequalities by
starving the poor of information technology.  Now, a prototype is ready
and later this year, once software glitches have been smoothed out, the
government plans to install the stripped-down machines in public schools
and sell them to low-wage earners on installment for as little as $15 a
month. Installation in public schools alone will give Internet access to
seven million children. The computers have no hard drives, floppy disks,
or Windows. Each machine,  however, will have a modem, a color monitor,
speakers, a mouse and simple Internet-browsing software, and have to be
modular so users could later add a printer or disk drives. "If everything
we are planning becomes reality, and we manage to produce this at 600
reals [US$300] per unit, we will be creating a new base of some millions
of new computer users in Brazil," said Ivan Moura Campos, the project's
mastermind. "What we did was imagine a PC and strip off the fat." [SOURCE:
Wall Street Journal (Online), AUTHOR: Associated Press]
(http://interactive.wsj.com/articles/SB983829533844067393.htm) (requires
subscription)
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