Interview: The People's Laptop

The green and white gizmo is not much bigger than a clutch purse, but when you extend its plastic bunny-ear antennas and flip it open, clamshell style, the screen is colorful and welcoming, ready to network or create. It's even got a video camera and social networking software? It's the $100 (or so) laptop and its proud parent, the founder of the nonprofit One Laptop per Child, Nicholas Negroponte, believes it is within his sights to equip millions of developing-world children with these gadgets, paid for by governments and grants. NEWSWEEK caught up with the former head of the MIT Media Lab and best-selling author in Germany last month.

NEWSWEEK: How can you make a useful laptop for so little?

Negroponte: There are basically two ways to make a low-cost laptop. One is to take cheap components, cheap labor, cheap design and make a cheap machine. And that's basically what's been done in the world. If you go to China and India, you'll see a lot of that. What we've tried to do is to use very large-scale integration [a method that uses fewer components], use really cool design and then of course make them in really large numbers, so that every kid gets one. [We're suggesting] that in year two, we're going to make 50 [million] to 100 million--that's more than all the laptop production, everywhere, in 2005. So that's like telling you I'm going to build a car, and by the way, in 18 months 50 percent of the cars you'll see on the street will be ours.

When you first announced this two years ago, everyone was skeptical, but now people seem to be taking you more seriously.

As recently as a year ago, when I met with a head of state I would spend 75 percent of my time arguing for one laptop per child as a concept. Now I spend zero time. It's a given.

Bill Gates says that the way to connect the developing world is not with laptops but cell phones.