[olpc-software] Servers

[Jecel Assumpcao Jr]

David Zeuthen wrote on Fri, 31 Mar 2006 13:40:28 -0500
> On Thu, 2006-03-30 at 21:33 -0500, Jim Gettys wrote:
> > Even so, the expense of the cable becomes considerable.
> 
> I have heard stories (urban legends?) that in parts of the former soviet
> union, villains would disrupt the existing communications infrastructure
> by digging up copper cables only to sell the copper.

Here in Brazil all the phone and power lines are above ground, so no
digging is needed. Once in a while there is a power outage around here
due to people stealing the wires. Back in the mid-1980s there was a
brief fad of stealing man-hole covers to sell the metal and a friend of
mine had his car totally ruined as a result of falling into an open
hole.

Let's just hope nobody spreads a rumor about how you could extract the
gold from the electronics inside the Laptop or some other such nonsense.

Still on this topic, Nicholas Negroponte mentioned in one of his talks a
government program in Brazil where the kids would get shoes to go to
school with and some parents would sell the shoes making them walk
barefoot. All such programs that I am aware of give money directly to
the parents, so the OLPC project will actually be the first large scale
experiment in non monetary help. The closest I can think of is programs
where workers get "tickets" for food or public transportation to
complement their salary, and these quickly become an alternative
currency mostly used for things other than their original purposes.

-- Jecel