Microsoft's Alternative To US$100 Laptop: The Cell Phone

by Eric Bangeman
2006-02-02 00:00:00 | Viewed 1992 times

Even before the unveiling of a prototype last November, MIT's low-cost laptop had been building a lot of buzz. How could it not? It's inexpensive, has a hand crank to charge the battery, and serves a laudable goal: getting PCs into the hands of residents of developing nations. Last week, the UN climbed on board the bandwagon, officially endorsing the project and offering to lend a helping hand with distribution.

However, even as the project is moving forward, other alternatives are being proposed. One such proposal comes from Microsoft, which believes that cell phones are a better option for accomplishing the goals of the project. At the CES earlier this month, Microsoft showed off a prototype of a "Cellular PC" that used a TV set as a display and a keyboard for input. Both peripherals would be connected to the phone via special adapters. According to Microsoft CTO Craig J. Mundie, cell phones make more sense as a basis for inexpensive computers—they are common, relatively cheap, and the infrastructure exists for their usage already.

There are a couple of problems with Microsoft's idea. First is the matter of requiring an external display. TVs are an obvious choice for an inexpensive external display. The problem is that they are not terribly common in a lot of the places where the laptops will be distributed. In addition, TVs make lousy monitors. Back in the day when I was using an Ohio Scientific Challenger 2P with 4KB of RAM hooked up to a 9" black and white TV, it was all good. Nowadays, the mere thought of trying to use a computer on a TV set with only 525 lines of resolution is enough to induce a headache.

The other issue is that of the operating system. Microsoft is not known for advocating the adoption of hardware that does not run Windows, so it seems a safe bet that the phones in Microsoft's vision would be running a variant of Windows. Cellular phones are everywhere these days. Phones running Windows Mobile and its ancestors are not. Most phones available today run Symbian. There are a number of smartphones available today that run Windows Mobile or Palm OS, but the price tags for those would put them well out of the reach of the MIT program's budget.

Why not just help fund the MIT project? It could be because of the OS choice. Project head Nicholas Negroponte of the MIT Media Lab has made it clear that he wants to exclusively use open source software for the project. That led him to turn down an offer from Steve Jobs to use Mac OS X, free of charge. According to the Times, Microsoft Chairman and cofounder Bill Gates is "privately bitter" about Negroponte's decision to use Red Hat for the laptop. (Maybe he's not such a good guy after all.)

In the best of all possible worlds, all the players in the computer industry would throw their weight behind the MIT-led effort. In the world we're stuck in, corporations have agendas and obligations to shareholders. Thankfully, the laptop project appears to be moving forward. Quanta Computers of Taiwan will be manufacturing the laptops and Negroponte said he is "close to a final commitment" of US$700 million from Argentina, Brazil, China, Egypt, India, Nigeria, and Thailand for 7 million of the laptops. Hopefully, we'll be reporting on the deliveries of the first laptops this time next year.

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