gates foundation will buy 100 craptops

Gates Foundation will buy $100 craptops in the aftermarket

This little item came in via our competitive intelligence memo this

morning. Appears that Beastmaster Bill is going to use his

philanthropical foundation to buy up as many of those hundred-dollar

craptops as they can. They're gonnna offer Third World kids cold hard

cash, or food, or vaccines and other medications, in barter for the

machines. Program is gonna be called, "Be a Hero, Feed Your Family."

Our guys have already seen mockups of the ads, which are tailored to

each country. Gist is the same. Picture of kid beaming with pride and

holding his OLPC machine. Message goes like this, "Hello, Abdul. Isn't

it wonderful to have such a shiny new toy? How happy you must be! Yet

how sad your Mama is that she cannot buy food for your family. Or that

your sister needs medicine but your family cannot afford to buy it.

Well, now you can be a hero! The 'Be a Hero' program will offer you

valuable goods in exchange for your wonderful toy. As much as one

hundred dollars, Abdul! Think! That is more than your Papa earned all

last year! Fortune has smiled upon you and granted you this valuable

object. Now you can use it to save your family. Won't you feel proud?"

You get the idea. Negroponte is flipping the hell out. Says it's a

transparent scheme to wipe these machines out of the market and kill

Linux. Bill's people say it's just an exercise in free market

economics. Man oh man. This is a real fiasco in the making.