Nova NetTV

When one talks about E-governance for conservation, most of us dismiss the idea as one whose time has not come. 

But an article I read at the following link called the 100 dollar un-pc

http://jasonoverdorf.blogspot.com/

reassures me that the day is not far when we can achieve that.  The article talks about the revolutionary product Nova net tv which is a PC costing less than Rs 5000/-

Rajesh Jain, co-founder of Novatium  says that in India’s PC market there are 10 million relatively wealthy Indians at the "top of the pyramid" who buy computers just like consumers in developed countries. There are an additional 30 million urban Indians at the "middle of the pyramid" and 100 million very poor Indians at the "bottom of the pyramid." "What we are saying is how can you dramatically bring down the entry levels for computing in this country and make it accessible to the middle of the pyramid?" he says.

Novatium’s approach has been to completely redesign the computer, slashing costs while keeping the form and functions typical of a top-end PC. Once it’s set up, it doesn’t look all that different from a conventional PC—the basic box plus a keyboard and monitor. It installs and operates as simply as a television—you plug it in and switch it on. And the money doesn’t come from government budgets or philanthropic largesse, but from Jain’s profit-oriented business model.

The concept owner and cofounder Prof. Jhunjhunwala and researchers at IIT came up with a plan that builds on the "thin client" concept that has been popular in the West for years, but only for business applications. It uses a cheap microprocessor and removes the hard disk, CD/DVD drive and other costly and problem-prone components, leaving the keyboard, screen and USB port. Easier to maintain than regular PCs, sales of thin-client PCs to businesses are growing at about 20 percent a year in developed nations, even as sales of regular PCs flatten. Instead of working backward from the PC, Jhunjhunwala pioneered a new architecture from the ground up, replacing the expensive microprocessor with the guts of a mobile phone—thus tapping a supercompetitive industry with enormous economies of scale. In 2003, Jain and Jhunjhunwala cofounded Novatium, along with Analog Devices Chairman Ray Stata, with the aim of taking thin-client computers into the home market.

Read the full article which appeared in News Week International at http://jasonoverdorf.blogspot.com/