Bloomberg: “It is Microsoft’s goal to lower the cost of personal computers so every student can afford to own one, Gates said. By that time, the PC will likely be in the form of a “tablet computer” that can recognize voice and handwriting via electronic ink, he said.”
Hmmm. Might this be three years out? Five? Or what about 10-15? If I were to take a guess, I’d say 10 to 15. It’s going to take awhile, for instance, before books and other school materials are widely available digitally. Current publishers are going to drag their feet–or should I say new businesses that offer book-equivalent technologies at a tenth of the cost with ten times the value are going to give existing publishers a challenging road ahead. It’s changes like this that when merged with new computing technologies will make laptops and Tablets in the classroom too compelling to avoid.