[LINK] Re Open source USB key to $2bn laptop plan

[Tom Worthington]

At 04:23 PM 10/12/2008, Bernard Robertson-Dunn wrote:
>... Open source USB key to $2bn laptop plan By Ry Crozier iTnews 10 
>December 2008 03:07PM
>http://www.itnews.com.au/News/90863,open-source-usb-key-to-2bn-laptop-plan.aspx
>...  students would receive a USB key and either a personal netbook 
>or a laptop that can be shared between two students ...

This would not provide every student with a computer. It would not 
achieve the political objective of  giving each student a laptop they 
can take home (not that educationally that is necessarily a good 
idea). In educational terms it would not be a lot better and may be 
more expensive, than simply equipping the schools with networked 
computers the students could use. Some sort of online backup would be 
required, otherwise we would have the "dog ate my homework" situation 
when the student lost their USB stick.

One aspect of the discussion missing is the realization that desktop 
computers do not necessarly cost less than laptops. It is not valid 
to compare a low power netbook with a conventional desktop computer. 
The comparison should be between a netbook and a nettop, that is a 
desktop computer made with the same sort of low power processor as 
the netbooks. Nettops will be cheaper than netbooks because they 
don't need batteries, but when you take into account the larger 
screen on a typical desktop computer, the price will be about the same.



Tom Worthington FACS HLM tom.worthington at tomw.net.au Ph: 0419 496150
Director, Tomw Communications Pty Ltd            ABN: 17 088 714 309
PO Box 13, Belconnen ACT 2617                      http://www.tomw.net.au/
Adjunct Senior Lecturer, Australian National University