Bill Gates mocks MIT’s $100 laptop project

April 1, 2006 @ 9:03 am · Filed under Technology, India, Open Source

While Mocking MIT’s $100 laptop project, Bill Gates said

Hardware is a small part of the cost” of providing computing capabilities, he said, adding that the big costs come from network connectivity, applications and support.

Someone at MS seems to be feeding him misinformation about BRIC. Here are some stats from India:

Cost of a laptop Rs 80000 USD 2000
Cost of a PC Rs 20000 USD 500
Cost of Broadband per month Rs 250 USD 6
Support cost per visit Rs 100 USD 2
Cost of a “commodity OS” Rs 100 USD 2

Whether the commodity OS is a Linux/BSD or pirated Windows depends on the seller and the buyer.

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