– say Webster error should not have occurred
Public interest in President Bharrat Jagdeo’s One Laptop Per Family (OLPT) project took a new turn over the past two days following the admission by Junior Finance Minister Jennifer Webster that the figure of $295,000 per laptop which she quoted in the National Assembly on Tuesday was in fact US$295.
But while persons in the IT sector were prepared to accept that the minister had made a genuine error, some of them wondered how such an error came to be made in the first place. One IT service provider told this newspaper that the error suggests Minister Webster was not “close to the project” which raises the question as to why she was allowed to speak on the subject in the National Assembly. “Even if it was the case that she was reading from a document, a prior intimate knowledge of the project would have allowed her to correct herself there and then,” the source told Stabroek Business.
Meanwhile, this newspaper has confirmed that the Government of Guyana recently purchased a quantity of the Lenovo S10-3 netbooks, a picture of which was published in another section of the print media on Wednesday at a cost of “under $70,000.” This newspaper was told, however, that the S10-3 is a netbook as distinct from a laptop. Additionally, and contrary to a report in another section of the media, Stabroek Business has ascertained that the model in question is not out of production.
Attempts to secure information on the purchase of the netbooks from a local source have proven futile. In response to enquiries Starr Computers General Manager Rehman Majeed told Stabroek Business that “company policy” did not allow Starr to divulge data on transactions witt clients. Starr Computers stock the Lenova 10-3 Notebook.
Another IT source told Stabroek Business that “the real issue” was not the error made by the minister. “It is clear that that was a genuine error. What is baffling people in the industry is whether it would not have been wiser to deal with desktops for several important reasons.”
The source also agreed to discuss with Stabroek Business the strengths and weaknesses of offering a laptop as against a personal computer noting that the “first and obvious advantage” of offering the desktops is that it can be produced in Guyana. “Apart from ensuring that significant amounts of the monies invested in the production of the desktops stay in Guyana, undertaking production locally would ensure a significant amount of employment” for Guyanese.
The source added that the major local IT service providers were equipped to meet the requirements of the OLPF project and that “there are enough technicians in Guyana to undertake a project of that nature.”
The source also told Stabroek Business that desktops are “far more suitable for training and family use” than laptops and that because of their size and multiple components they are less easy to steal.
According to the source, another important consideration that should be applied is total cost of ownership. “Any IT savvy person will tell you that a desktop would be several times less expensive to own in Guyana than a laptop. In the case of a desktop you are not likely to have a difficulty with availability of parts. More than that there are fewer technicians in Guyana who are proficient at repairing and servicing laptops which of course means that repair costs are likely to be higher.”
The source added that in the long term desktops are likely to last much longer than laptops “and of course they can be easily upgraded to suit the needs of the user.”
With regard to the advantages of acquiring a laptop, the source said he could only think of two advantages. “The first one, and this, of course is an important one, is the question of easier access to a power source; though of course the problem of power can in fact be gotten around with a desktop. The second advantage, of course, is that the laptop is more portable.
“Personally, I would have been more comfortable with the laptop idea if it had targeted perhaps a particular group of students. The idea of putting computers in homes and making them available to families is obviously an excellent one, the desktop is much more suited to family use than the laptop.”
