Developer of $100 laptop slams Gates's gibe on plan

Nicholas Negroponte, founder of the Media Lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, thinks Bill Gates is ''the most important philanthropist in the history of mankind." But Negroponte has a major philanthropic idea of his own -- a $100 laptop computer for every poor child on earth -- and he says that the Microsoft chairman's recent criticism of the laptop plan could hinder its success.

At the LinuxWorld trade show in Boston yesterday, Negroponte revealed more technical details on the hand-cranked laptop to be produced by his nonprofit, One Laptop Per Child. But a good deal of Negroponte's speech was a thinly veiled critique of Microsoft and other computer industry leaders who've built ever-more-complex and power-hungry software and hardware, instead of cheaper, simpler devices.

''Bill Gates the philanthropist and Bill Gates the businessman are in conflict," Negroponte said after the speech. ''I think we need to collaborate and not go to war."

Gates has made his fortune by selling the Windows operating system and other software that runs on more powerful machines. So even though Gates has committed billions of his fortune to aid people in developing countries, he's had little use for Negroponte's laptop, the first version of which will run on the rival Linux operating system.

''Jeez, get a decent computer where you can actually read the text and you're not sitting there cranking the thing while you're trying to type," Gates said at a Washington, D.C., conference last month.

''It's not about a weak computer," Negroponte fired back yesterday. ''It's about a slim, thin, fast computer." Negroponte added that his organization was already working with Microsoft to develop a version of the super-cheap machine that would run a stripped-down version of Windows. ''So jeez--why criticize me in public?" he complained.

Negroponte said that Gates is ''held in almost godlike regard" by foreign aid donors and recipients alike, and his criticism could hinder the success of his program. Negroponte hailed Gates's generosity to poor people, but said that the Microsoft mogul couldn't bring himself to praise a computer system that isn't dependent on Microsoft software.

Negroponte hopes that a computer vendor will offer a Windows-based version of his laptop in affluent countries. He said the success of such a product would encourage leaders in poor countries to participate in the $100 Linux laptop program.

By using a stripped-down version of Linux and older but still powerful microprocessors, One Laptop Per Child plans to introduce a machine that will use less than 2 watts of electricity, compared to 40 watts for the typical laptop. This means the computer can be powered by a hand crank or foot pedal attached to its power adapter, which can also be plugged into a wall socket when electricity is available.

Each laptop would contain a WiFi wireless networking chip that would automatically link the machine to every other laptop in range. Thus users could communicate with each other over long distances, by bouncing the messages from machine to machine. Each laptop's networking chip would continue to operate for up to 24 hours on battery power, even when the rest of the computer is shut down.

The laptop will feature a dual-mode screen. During daylight, it would have a high-resolution black-and-white screen; at night, when many poor families live in darkness, the laptop would display low-resolution color images, with a backlight for illumination.

Negroponte also said that his group is developing a $100 server for use with a network of super-cheap laptops. The server would require a standard power connection, but it could store up to 160 gigabytes of data, such as educational materials and reference works. Children could then access the material over the wireless network.

When Negroponte unveiled his plan last year, he said production of the laptops could begin this year. But he still doesn't have a working prototype. Yesterday, Negroponte said prototypes would become available before the end of the year, and full production would begin in 2007. The initial model of the laptop would cost $135, with the cost falling to $100 by 2008 and as low as $50 by 2010.

Hiawatha Bray can be reached at bray@globe.com.