Cheaper hardware coming

There is quite a lot of activity centering on getting cheaper computing hardware to the vast majority of the world's population not living in the West. The most buzz (see above) belongs to Negroponte's $100 laptop. Other contenders for the role of globalizing computing access include Ncomputing who seem to have a presence already in Ghana and Novatium. Not to mention the folks in Redmond, who after initially scofing at the whole idea of such cheap hardware, are busy talking up their own efforts just in case this market segement actually begins to amount to something.

Finally, these guys are really doing something radically different. YouOS's web operating system aims to liberate software from hardware so that you don't have to own a dedicated computer in order to enjoy the rich desktop functionality we are used to. Just get to a web browser and your "desktop" is right on tap.

All of this is good, but the bigger constraint in my mind is the typically expensive network bandwidth found in developing countries. Without cheap bandwidth, cheap computing hardware will not attain its full potential. Take a look at cell phones today. Yes, everyone has a cellphone in Ghana, but how many people actually buy airtime on a regular basis?