do you ndiyo ?

Amazing the number of things one can learn from just one newspaper article. Yesterday there was one from which I learned the swahili word for "yes", the fact that there are plenty of short and snappy domain names left, if you are prepared to use swahili words, and most importantly, that www.ndiyo.org is aiming to give people in the developing world access to computer capacity by developing a device (called a Nivo box) that allows you to use remote computers without actually having a computer yourself. I think even here University libraries could save a lot of money switching to that kind of device. What's the point of having an array of state of the art computers that only serve as interface for stupid things like catalogue searches, which could easily run on a central server ?

So it's smiles all around. Plus a lovely quote:

For an example, Stafford-Fraser points to the railway station in Cambridge which for months had three display screens high on a wall in the main hall: one said "arrivals"; one "departures"; and one "Press Control-Alt-Delete to log in".

I think the monitors were in that condition when I visited Cambridge in May. but I didn't think of the logical solution.

Anyhow, here's the full
article.


PS: Ndiyo founder Quentin Stafford Fraser is also famous for setting up the world's first webcam, the Cambridge Coffeepot Cam.