The High Price of Computer Systems

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Description

This page is being edited by Piotr Ptasinski

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Although prices of computer systems are falling, the price is still high, especially for people in developing countries. The price of a computer system will depend on prices of hardware and software

A basic working computer system is already expensive in hardware components. Added with the high cost of mainstream operating systems and other commercial software used widely, they create a huge barrier for people to get access to computers for themselves and/or their children. Learning from this condition, the project aims to break the barrier by creating an ultra-low-cost system.

To start with, they think of creative ways to bring the cost of the laptop down. An example of this is to use a cheaper version of display (with a portable DVD player display) and using the open source software including a Linux operating system and all other open source applications.

Enablers

The monopoly of software providers (e.g. Microsoft being pre-installed on most PCs)

High price / low availablility of components

Intellectual property / patents

Inhibitor

Open source sotfware

Advanced technology / miniutarization

Declining prices of components

Move of production to low-costs countries

Low trade barriers and taxes

Competition between hardware manufacturers

Paradigm

• Open source concept has sprung up in reaction towards Microsoft’s domination and monopoly. These days many aspects of computing software will have an open-source version available for free on the Internet. Although some have surpassed the performance of commercial products, most of these open-source systems are normally not as reliable as their commercial counterparts.

Expert

• Richard Stallman, GNU Project pioneer

Web Resource

Open source software

Trends in computer prices

[Microsoft] [GNU Project] [Unix]