At Davos, the Squabble Resumes on How to Wire the Third World

AT DAVOS, THE SQUABBLE RESUMES ON HOW TO WIRE THE THIRD WORLD
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: John Markoff]
At the World Economic Forum, the annual conclave of world leaders, concerns over a growing digital divide this year have taken a back seat to the challenge of climate change. Being out of the limelight, however, has not dimmed passions over what the best way is to deploy computers in the developing world. The controversy boiled over on Saturday at a breakfast meeting where Craig R. Barrett, the chairman of Intel, squared off with Nicholas P. Negroponte, the former director of the M.I.T. Media Laboratory, whose nonprofit organization One Laptop Per Child is trying to develop a low-cost computer for the 1.2 billion children in the developing world. Barrett, speaking about Intel’s efforts to train teachers to use personal computers, said that it is impressive to see what students “are able to accomplish with some help from a teacher,” adding, “You can literally change people’s lives.” But Negroponte suggested that Intel executives had engaged in a campaign to discourage world leaders from committing to purchasing his laptop systems. Negroponte also accused Intel of marketing its strategy to the developing world.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/29/business/worldbusiness/29cheap.html
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