India plans $10 laptop computers for everybody

Computer manufacturers in India are claiming to be on the verge of a mass release of laptop computers which will carry a sticker price of just $10. According to the UK website, DailyRecord, R. P. Aggarwal, secretary of higher education at India's Ministry of Human Resources, said: "This is a great breakthrough for India". Indian officials are keeping a tight wrap on most other details of the project.

According to the report, development costs of the bargain laptop have been kept to a minimum by utilizing the brain power of India's science student population. This technology advance is being touted as a significant step forward in efforts to show students that the world is continuing to invest in them and their futures.

Indian officials claim that the manufacturing costs of the laptop will be kept low by producing huge volumes of the devices. At this point, the plan is to make one of these $10 laptop computers available for every student in India. Having come from a manufacturing background myself, I can easily see how such a tremendous production volume would indeed keep manufacturing costs low. The official launch of the devices is expected to be in the southern Indian town of Tirupati next week.

This news comes on the heels of the announcement that America's own One Laptop Per Child program is reducing its staff numbers and their salaries.To date, the best U.S. entry into the bargain computer contest has been a $100 laptop developed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Of course, we should all be mindful of the old truism which dictates that we all tend to get what we pay for.