Comments on: eSriLanka PC - how it will affect ? http://www.web2media.net/laktek/2006/07/10/esrilanka-pc-how-it-will-affect/ A Sri Lankan, A Rubyist and A Web Dude Tue, 27 Jul 2010 06:56:01 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.1 hourly 1 By: Lakshan http://www.web2media.net/laktek/2006/07/10/esrilanka-pc-how-it-will-affect/comment-page-1/#comment-25 Lakshan Wed, 12 Jul 2006 11:11:59 +0000 http://www.web2media.net/laktek/2006/07/10/esrilanka-pc-how-it-will-affect/#comment-25 @Deane : <blockquote>I know for a fact that a cousin of mine is considering whether get one or two for his business. That’s probably not the exact thing the ICTA had in mind.</blockquote> I also heard one CEO of a popular IT company saying if this is on offer he would buy 100 computers for his business. Again ill-distribution of the system :( hate it ! As far as I know it's Redhat behind the project so OS will be most probably Fedora Core or something ;) @ICT4Peace : I think there also offering free help-guide and online help desk with the purchase of PC. Atleast it will help to non-geeks to work with linux. @Deane :

I know for a fact that a cousin of mine is considering whether get one or two for his business. That’s probably not the exact thing the ICTA had in mind.

I also heard one CEO of a popular IT company saying if this is on offer he would buy 100 computers for his business. Again ill-distribution of the system :( hate it !

As far as I know it’s Redhat behind the project so OS will be most probably Fedora Core or something ;)

@ICT4Peace :
I think there also offering free help-guide and online help desk with the purchase of PC. Atleast it will help to non-geeks to work with linux.

]]> By: ICT for Peacebuilding » Blog Archive » PC’s = Empowerment? http://www.web2media.net/laktek/2006/07/10/esrilanka-pc-how-it-will-affect/comment-page-1/#comment-24 ICT for Peacebuilding » Blog Archive » PC’s = Empowerment? Tue, 11 Jul 2006 04:41:55 +0000 http://www.web2media.net/laktek/2006/07/10/esrilanka-pc-how-it-will-affect/#comment-24 [...] Take for instance this interesting post on the eSriLanka PC. The author original post and Deane’s comments (the only one at the time of writing) both flag some interesting issues on the introduction of this PC and the underlying assumptions of community empowerment. [...] […] Take for instance this interesting post on the eSriLanka PC. The author original post and Deane’s comments (the only one at the time of writing) both flag some interesting issues on the introduction of this PC and the underlying assumptions of community empowerment. […]

]]> By: Deane http://www.web2media.net/laktek/2006/07/10/esrilanka-pc-how-it-will-affect/comment-page-1/#comment-23 Deane Mon, 10 Jul 2006 17:56:42 +0000 http://www.web2media.net/laktek/2006/07/10/esrilanka-pc-how-it-will-affect/#comment-23 Interesting one isn’t it? I'm not quite with it, nor against it. Fundamentally any form of elaborate government spending can do more harm than good, i would much rather have the market achive the same competence of giving the option of installments for purchasing PCs, and other equipment. In fact this is already happening with Abans 'no-poly ' (no interest) installment schemes. Now that it's in operation, i suppose its much better that tax-payers (that's all of us) money is being used for something constructive like this, rather than some free-milk project. Despite your reservations, i see the Intel involvement is one of the positives of the project, so that Intel at least they take away part of the burden. Like you say, the problem is of course, will the project reach it's intended beneficiaries? I know for a fact that a cousin of mine is considering whether get one or two for his business. That’s probably not the exact thing the ICTA had in mind. i don’t think it's fair though, to make an assessment based on the average monthly income, because the figure it self comprises of highs and lows, obviously the persons/families who have lower than Rs.12,000 income might not manage the 1500 odd every month, but those just about up and above might. The injection of FOSS Apps is also quite interesting, especially since this can be viewed being 'forced FOSS' , not really a comfortable concept. Whether or not this will indeed result in an increase of FOSS usage remains to be seen; I sincerely hope for the sake of the users that they will install a usable Linux distro such as ubuntu. An interesting analysis would be to find out if these governmental projects which go outside the normal paradigms of development do actually work. Is it really possible to transform economies, or even communities inspired by ICTA infrastructure/education alone ? without first achieving solid economic growth. Deane Interesting one isn’t it?

I’m not quite with it, nor against it. Fundamentally any form of elaborate government spending can do more harm than good, i would much rather have the market achive the same competence of giving the option of installments for purchasing PCs, and other equipment. In fact this is already happening with Abans ‘no-poly ’ (no interest) installment schemes.

Now that it’s in operation, i suppose its much better that tax-payers (that’s all of us) money is being used for something constructive like this, rather than some free-milk project.
Despite your reservations, i see the Intel involvement is one of the positives of the project, so that Intel at least they take away part of the burden.

Like you say, the problem is of course, will the project reach it’s intended beneficiaries? I know for a fact that a cousin of mine is considering whether get one or two for his business. That’s probably not the exact thing the ICTA had in mind.

i don’t think it’s fair though, to make an assessment based on the average monthly income, because the figure it self comprises of highs and lows, obviously the persons/families who have lower than Rs.12,000 income might not manage the 1500 odd every month, but those just about up and above might.

The injection of FOSS Apps is also quite interesting, especially since this can be viewed being ‘forced FOSS’ , not really a comfortable concept.

Whether or not this will indeed result in an increase of FOSS usage remains to be seen; I sincerely hope for the sake of the users that they will install a usable Linux distro such as ubuntu.

An interesting analysis would be to find out if these governmental projects which go outside the normal paradigms of development do actually work. Is it really possible to transform economies, or even communities inspired by ICTA infrastructure/education alone ? without first achieving solid economic growth.

Deane

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