Indian HR Ministry brings $35 low cost computing device to reality – Prices to drop further [Exclusive pictures]

This is big news – Finally a low-cost computing-cum-access device has been unveiled by HRD minister Shri. Kapil Sibal. The price is this device is expected to be around $35. However, HR ministry is aiming at bringing down the cost of this device to $20 and ultimately to $10. IIT’s and other Technical Institutions are setting up research teams to cover wide range of issues and capability enhancements to achieve the ultimate goal of bringing down the the cost of this device to $10.

I, personally am quite proud to see this happen, and I will tell you the reason why – While the private entities and corporates had given up on this idea, professors and experts from IISc & IIT’s went ahead and devised this concept. While B.tech & M.Tech students were guided to produce the motherboard and other key components.

Even though this device has been unveiled today, the development & research is currently on-going on at various different levels connected with HR Ministry. The ministry is quite confident of bringing down the cost of this device further.

Ultimately the goal of such devices is to spread education in Rural India, by offering such devices with educational courses / materials embedded inside them.

Here are some images that will give you a sneak peek at how this device will look:

Ultimately, HR ministry wants following minimum features & specifications in the said device

Minimum Functionalities expected:-

1. Support for video web Conferencing facility
2. Multimedia content viewer for example .pdf, docx, .ods, adp, .doc, .xls, .jpeg, .gif, .png, .bmp, .odt, .zip, AVCHD, AVI, AC3, etc.
3. Searchable Pdf reader
4. Unzip tool for unzipping zip files.
5. Possibility of installing suitable firmware upgradation.
6. Computing capabilities such as Open Office , SciLab , cups (for printing support)
7. Media player capable of playing streamed as well as stored media files.
8. Internet browsing with flash plug-in, JavaScript, pdf plug-in java.
9. Wireless communication for Audio/video I/O.
10. Cloud computing option.
11. Remote device management capability.
12. Multimedia input output interface option (for allowing DTV, IPTv, DTH, streaming etc.)

Press Release by Indian HR Ministry

I was talking to few people in MHRD couple of months back, and they had hinted to me on this – I never thought it would actually see the light of day, however, I am quite delighted to see this!

Cheers to Indian HR ministry !