He also acknowledged that months of discussions with Microsoft and Apple Computer about using their operating system software for his computer had been fruitless, and that as a result, the laptops would use a version of Linux, the open-source operating system that is available free.
According to several people familiar with the discussions, Microsoft had encouraged Negroponte to consider using the Windows CE version of its software, and Microsoft had been prepared to make an open-source version of the program available.
Apple CEO Steven Jobs had also offered a free version of his company's OS X operating system, but Negroponte rejected that idea because the software was largely not open-source, meaning users could not get free access to software and its source code, which they could then modify. Negroponte said in an interview that he had resolved to use Linux not because it was free but because of its quality and maintainability.
"I chose open-source because it's better ... I have 100 million programmers I can rely on," he said.
At the same time, Negroponte, who is on the board of the Motorola Corp, said he was not opposed to the idea of building a low-cost computer using a cellphone. He said his research group at the MIT Media Lab had experimented with the idea of a cellphone that would project a computer display onto a wall and also project the image of a keyboard, sensing the motion of fingers over it. But the researchers decided the idea was less practical than a laptop.
Some business and development policy specialists have raised questions about Negroponte's laptop, pointing to the price of Internet connectivity, which can cost US$24 to US$50 a month in developing nations.
But Negroponte said that networking costs would not be an obstacle because the laptops would be made to connect automatically in a so-called mesh network, making it possible for up to 1,000 computers to wirelessly share just one or two land-based Internet connections.
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