The money spent to make the laptop is only $10, whereas, the rest of the money came in as grants from UGC and as sponsered projects.
It does't sound good if they say that it is for free, so they proposed $10 as the transportation charges from the IISc, or IIT-M to tirupathi where it was unvieled.
If they have really done this, it is a commendable effort. But i cant understand why they should rope in a crook like Arjun Singh to bless the project at Tirupathi. Ideally the laptop should have been ready for a market release and then brought to the attention of the world. I hope they are able to pull this off.
Re: Farcical Political Nonsense
by Shyam Sunder on Feb 04, 2009 09:48 AM
Agree with you 100 percent. And how did this crook go to Tirupathi instead of going to some church or mosque. Now we would have big cleansing required at the Tirupathi.
Secondly, India always projects low cost and floats things at high cost. Examples are the Maruthi Cars. Nano is still awaited. One reason that takes prices up in India is the high rate of taxes. If the taxes are made zero the cost can really be less than $10 a laptop. Let us wait till the product hits the market.
Re: Re: Farcical Political Nonsense
by Rajesh Manikkoth on Feb 04, 2009 11:36 AM
It is not possible to buy a laptop @USD10 even if the taxes are zero unless you make a toy and sell calling it as a Laptop
Secondly why did he choose Tirupathi temple to Unveil this so called Laptop . Tirupathi temple is place to Worship god and not a place to unveil a device developed with Government / Institutional aid and effort .. Thirdly Mr. Sinha told it sill need some fine tuning ... what was the reason for this hurry ?? Why can't Mr. Singh wait till a final device redy to Market is in his hand to unveil ??
TIRUPATI: The much-touted laptop for the masses said to have been built by students of Vellore Institute of Technology that would cost a mere Rs 500 actually turned out to be only a computing device.
Making this clear at the inauguration of the national Mission on Education Programme organized by the Union HRD Ministry here on Tuesday, joint secretary N K Sinha said the computing device is 10 inches long and 5 inches wide and has been priced at around $30 at the event. However, he refused to comment as to why was it being projected as a laptop when it was not.
The so-called laptop actually turned out to be a storage device containing megabytes of data info which can be accessed by a user by connecting this device to a laptop. It meant that unlike the internet, this device can display that information that has already been stored.
Some delegates at the exhibition claimed that with the help of this device a laptop caosting about $60 can eventually be manufactured. But for now at least the $10-laptop turned out to be damp squib.
Re: Its not laptop, its computing device.
by rohan agrawal on Feb 04, 2009 09:41 AM
when elections are close, Arjun Sing can make a piece of paper also to look like laptop:-)
Re: Its not laptop, its computing device.
by Rajesh Manikkoth on Feb 04, 2009 11:05 AM
This is nothng but trying for a cheap publicity .. Did those NDTV / AajTak / CNNIBN journeslist had the brain to question why is this called a Laptop or are thestill behind Mangalore pub and Valentines day ?
Another Joke before the elections.wait till it hits the market,first it will not come out and if it does ever see the sunlight it will be nothing less than $150.00.Its like THE NANO cAR.
Even if it is not a lap-top. If it serves the purpose of internet and some storate space, it will be of great help especially for the rural youngs to get close to the emerging tech. I really appreciate the move and it will improve and make people to afford for a higher versions at a later time.
Congratulations to all the team. Great Job. Keep goinng with new innovations with low cost products. We need to do the same thing with every product to compete with China. China is already captured the world with its cheap stuff. If we do not produce low cost products we will be dumped withh China's cheap stuff.
Re: Congratulation!!! Team
by Manivannan on Feb 04, 2009 09:35 AM
COngratulations to all those who contirbuted for this tremendous work. I m proud to be an indian! in the scientific world.
Re: Re: Congratulation!!! Team
by Rajesh Manikkoth on Feb 04, 2009 12:45 PM
Don't be a fool ! Look at the details ... They are cheating whole indians by calling it a Laptop .. Once it is Launched , the whole world will be laughing at us for calling this modem like thing a Laptop
