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I beg to differ.

If the international avererage annual income in South Africa is $3630; how much of that are they going to spend on a PC? Can they even afford the electric bill to turn it on? Now, given the literacy rate; how much support do you think the average user will need?

These countries are well known for corruption, theft, whole-sale slaughter, kidnapping and riots. Do you want to run a store in a neighborhood that sells these? What percentage of your product will simply 'dissappear'? What do you estimate your bribes will be, simply to not have the police 'confiscate' your inventory?

SlashDot has had more than a few articles regarding the $100 Laptop; but now let's consider the ugliness of these countries. How many $100 laptops are going to be used for terrorism? How many people are going to be murdered so a theif can steal that $100 Laptop. Which OS is going to be used? Think you have a mailbox full of Nigerian once-in-a-lifetime offers now? Just wait.

There are some markets that are worth going after; this isn't one of them.

In my limited experience in third world countries, at this time giving computers to people only makes sense if a certain amount of infrastructure is already in place. In the countries I've been to, the populace is about 90% illiterate. Anything much more complex than something US circa 1890's is quickly damaged or destroyed, and there is no infrastructure to facilitate repairs. I suspect that if people received some of the computers that generate electricity by winding up a crank, they'd use them mostly as night lights.

They have a lot of problems. I'd put computers on the list after a safe water supply, reliable electricity, and eliminating cannibalism (yes, it does still exist.)

Has it ever occurred to any of these $100 PC people that the US has an advantage in the world because of our technology and our training.

Instead of trying to disseminate our advantages to every Tom, Dick, and Harry on the globe, we ought to be thinking about protecting our advantages.

Oh well, I suppose if we give them Windows, we sort of are protecting our advantage.