Siliconindia

Tirupati, Feb 5: Crushing all expectations, the presumed head-on-head competitor to MIT's $100 laptop, the Rs.500 ($10) laptop was unveiled to be a laughing stock. The 'prototype' of the device with two GB RAM inaugurated at Tirupati was declared to be a mere computing device and not a laptop.

"How can just a computing device bridge the digital divide and make access to computer literacy affordable to the masses? Where will poor students get computers to jack this gizmo with? Will Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) provide computers and internet connectivity in rural and remote areas? There is no clarity among the officials themselves," a Professor from Sri Venkateswara University told The Times of India. Designed by students of Vellore Institute of Technology, scientists in Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, IIT-Madras, UGC and MHRD, the computing device was nowhere near to MIT's $100 laptop. It was a device that comprised of a hard disk with e-books, e-journals and relevant educative material through the 'Sakshat' portal.

The so called laptop even appeared to be smaller than the normal laptop with 10-inch length and five-inch width, making many heads to rethink on the definition of a laptop. There was also a buzz that it's a 'Nano-top'. Earlier, officials said the price was working out to be $20 but with mass production it was bound to come down to $10 (Rs 500) and thus become affordable for every student in India.