By Anirban Sen, ET Bureau | 11 Sep, 2015, 04.00AM IST
BENGALURU: The IIT Bombay team, which earlier this year developed a $100 (Rs 6,647) netbook computer that it claimed could be the world's cheapest, is in talks with several colleges across the country, including Christ University in Bengaluru, to roll out the devices for students and is also working with early-stage open source technology firms to make the project commercially viable in the near term.
The netbook, which was conceptualised during IIT's work with the low-cost Aakash tablet project and was launched in February, is currently being used by about 90 students at IIT Bombay and plans are underway to get more college students across the country to use the machines, said IIT Bombay professor Kannan Moudgalya.
The 10-inch machines, which are being loaned out to the students for a year at the cost of Rs 5,000, were built primarily for students from low-income households who cannot afford costlier laptops.
"I believe that if you're serious about Digital India, we need to give computers to our children," said professor Kannan Moudgalya.
"Now if IIT students have difficulty in programming without a computer, you can imagine how it is in other colleges... now if college students don't have computers, they don't do programming. They don't do programming, they start mugging up since they have to pass their exams. So, if Digital India has to work, students will need computers."
The team has now started working with open-source language startups such as Julia Computing and is also using Brazilian chemical process simulator DWSIM as part of this project, said Moudgalya said.
While the earlier Aakash tablet project, which was commissioned by the HRD ministry, was hamstrung by launch delays and quality issues, the IIT-Bombay team working on this netbook project has gone about its launch in a different, low-key manner.
While almost 1 lakh devices were commissioned for the Aakash project, only 1,000 machines have been ordered so far for the new netbook project.
"Unlike Aakash, where we gave lots of machines to everybody to start developing software, here we are seeding it in a very careful manner because we have only 1,000 machines as opposed to 1 lakh," said Moudgalya.
The idea of creating affordable netbooks was also born out of the realisation that a tablet is merely a "consumption device".
A tablet is a consumption device, not a creator device," said Moudgalya.
IIT Bombay has forged a tie-up with Delhibased Basic Comtech, which delivered 1,000 netbooks for the pilot phase.
Kannan said more orders will be placed once the project starts getting accepted and rolled out in colleges across the country.
Under the pilot, IIT Bombay has lent these netbooks to first year BTech students at the institute who have to undergo an introductory programming course called CS 101.
Read more at:
