The post (and the after-class discussion) about the One Laptop Per Child Initiative (XO computer) and the Asus EEPC, and how I actually want to have either, or both of these machines made me think about my own technology use.
None of these machines are exactly performance champions - the XO Computer has a 433 Mhz processor and the EeePC's CPU runs at 900Mhz. They're not gonna be any good with the latest operating systems and apps. But really, slap in a scaled-down version of Linux (the default OS for both XO and EeePC) and these machines are good enough for most of my needs - word processing, web surfing, and email. Chances are, they're good enough for most of anyone's needs.
For me, this could mean an alternative paradigm of technology use. Do we really need the latest greatest hardware, bigger and fatter software, when older, cheaper tech is enough? When the personal lust for newer technology (upgrading for upgrading's sake) make less and less financial sense (plus, they also harm the environment with ever increasing demand for power), is there still a need to go behind the rush of Moore's Law?
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