[ Thanks to steve
hill for this link. ]
“For many years, there has been a growing concern about the
emergence of a ‘digital divide’ between rich and poor. The idea is
that people who don’t meet a certain threshold income won’t be able
to afford the investment in computers and internet connectivity
that makes further learning and development possible. They’ll
become trapped by their circumstances. Under proprietary commercial
operating systems, which impose a kind of plateau on the cost of
computer systems, this may well be true. But GNU/Linux,
continuously improving hardware, and a community commitment to
bringing technology down to cost instead of just up to spec, has
led to a new wave of ultra-low-cost computers, starting with the
One Laptop Per Child’s XO. These free-software-based computers will
be the first introduction to computing for millions of new users,
and that foretells a much freer future…”