COMPETITION FOR THE $100 LAPTOP

Engadget.com on Monday [http://engadget.com/entry/1234000077069951/|blogged] about a computer designed for developing countries that would be even cheaper than [http://thepete.com/tag/%24100+laptop|Nicholas Negroponte's $100 laptop]. This one is going to be free for people in 3rd world countries. No, the parts aren't THAT cheap--basically, it's got corporate money behind it. It runs Windows CE, and has a stack of buttons on the thing that are programmed to deliver the user to the company website when pressed. It's from a company called Asiatotal and is called the iT. How CUTE.

Or not...

The bad things about this machine are obvious.

1) Corporate sponsorship
2) Uses Windows (aka a non-open source OS)
3) There is no talk about where the power for this thing will come from.

[http://engadget.com/entry/1234000077069951/|Check out the Engadget post for a pic and more details.]