Further to Jack's post on the limitations of the $100 Laptop - a subject we've written about before - Nicholas Negroponte also had some words for his detractors.
The initiative has come in for some stick from various quarters - most notably from Bill Gates, who scoffed at its low spec, saying "Jeez... get a decent computer where you can actually read the text and you're not sitting there cranking the thing while you're trying to type".
Negroponte responded by saying that "when you have both Intel and Microsoft on your case, you know you're doing something right".
But others have argued that the money would be better spent elsewhere - on getting much-needed infrastructural changes made, for example, or on more basic education requirements, like paying teachers. A $100 laptop is great, they argue, but it puts the cart before the horse.
I've often wondered about this initiative: is it worthwhile? Is it just a bunch of techie do-gooders who don't realise what's going on in the real world? Would the money be better spent elsewhere?
Let me know what you think.
