Taking PCs apart--and sending them back to school
BOGOTA, Colombia--In one corner of a massive warehouse, workers pick through bins of computers, keyboards, and mice, painstakingly cleaning each part.
There's a special room where peripherals such as mice go for washing and another where they go for drying. Once the hardware is reassembled, often with a few new parts added to the mix, the first set of testing takes place, to make sure all of the hardware functions as it should.
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In another area, the newly rebuilt systems get their collection of software--Windows 2000 and a several-generations-old version of Office. Then the machines go through another round of testing to make sure they are working properly, before being wrapped and packed in broken-down Styrofoam and being shipped out to destinations throughout the country.
Even printers are refurbished--and not just inkjet, but years-old dot-matrix printers that have long since been pushed out of the commercial market. It's all part of a project known as Computadores para Educar, which refurbishes thousands of computers each year for Colombia's schools.
Although the effort has given more than 9,500 schools their first PCs, some have begun to question whether the approach is the best way to go. Even the nonprofit agency itself has started to supplement the 20,000 or so computers it refurbishes each year with a separate manufacturing line that creates new machines.
One of the greatest strength's of the program is the rigor of its refurbishing process. Microsoft officials who toured the plant this week said the facility was among the best they had seen. Program officials say that a recent study found that the mean time before failure of their machines compares quite well against new machines, even though theirs are far older.
Among the criticisms is the fact that it costs about $160 to refurbish a PC. That figure is lower, say, than in Africa, but higher than in some other countries. It also is no longer so much less than a new PC, which can be had, sans software, for as little as $280.
One factor in the high cost for the program is the fact that the demand for the computers is so high that the program refurbishes nearly every donated PC that meets its minimum specifications--at least a Pentium II processor and 128MB of memory. As a result, the organization often has to supplement old parts with new. The parts that most frequently need replacement are system memory and hard disks, although new speakers and floppy drives (yes, each machine has a floppy) are often needed as well.
Other say the machines are just too slow. Among those with that view is Dario Montoya, who heads the national SENA job training program.
In an interview after graduating a new crop of students from its SENA's IT skills program, Montoya said the refurbished computers won't help the country get the software developers it needs to truly compete.
"At this very table six months ago, I had the minister of communication and the minister of education," Montoya said. "I told them that Computadores para Educar must change."
Although the program has distributed around 100,000 computers, he said that 60 percent are now more than 6 years old. "They are obsolete," he said. "We cannot continue to fool ourselves that was a good model."
Cecilia Maria Velez, Colombia's education minister, said she thinks a mix of technologies is best. "We think that it's very important for quantity to use refurbished computers but we think it is also important to have other kind of machines," she said.
The Internet question
For her the question boils down to whether or not the machines can connect to the Internet. "The point is connectivity and capacity to use connectivity," she said. "That is the line."
Velez pushes back when she gets complaints that the machines are too old." I fight with them," she said. "Before you haven't anything; now at least you have this slow thing."
A teacher from the Funsa school, which has benefitted from the program, brought some students to see the facility here on Tuesday. Asked about the debate of old versus new, he said it all depends on the students. With elementary school students, he said, it's all about getting more time to interact with the machines. In those cases, more machines is better, even if they are older. By high school, though, he said the needs of students are simply outpacing the machines.
Maria del Rosario Guerra, an economist by training and now the country's communications minister, said she wants Computadores Para Educar to hit a critical mass of schools with their first computers in the next couple of years. "After that, Computadores para Educar must move to work toward new strategy."
During her years at CNET News, Ina Fried has changed beats several times, changed genders once, and covered both of the Pirates of Silicon Valley. These days, most of her attention is focused on Microsoft. E-mail Ina. 
The very first problem beginners ran into back when I started was the fact that computers are truly stupid and the user had to learn what to expect of a computer. People learning computers need to learn many basic things BEFORE they can learn even basic "click and drool" skills.
How many of you remember falling down while you were first learning to walk? Same thing. Most of us have forgotten all about what we had to learn, and now assume everyone knows.
Old computers? Even a 286 is better than nothing. There's dozens of old DOS programs that run every bit as fast one of those as the latest and greatest office program on a two yr old machine, and are entirely adequate for keeping personal financial accounts and word processing, etc. So what if you have to close one program before using the next? So what if you have to save to a floppy and sneaker net to the machine with a printer? (A pre Pentium machine is entirely adequate for a kitchen table level business, or even for a family to keep track of their budget. No internet required for that.)
And, as others have suggested, an older computer can be used as a dumb terminal on a server, but I'd recommend one server per classroom, not per school.
As long as the students are able to get some experience with computers they should be fine. Advanced computers really are not a requirement until a student reaches college level. The article also states that a refurbished computer costs $160, while a new computer would only cost $200+. That may not sound like a big difference, but if you multiply the cost difference by 100,000 that could be the difference with every student having access to a computer and only a fraction of the class.
I have refurbished numerous older computers which I then donated to less fortunate elementary schools and have watched children use them and thrive. For many, the slower computer is just what they need as they learn how to use it. In most cases, the children who have access to a computer of any kind learn at a faster pace than those who do not.
Speed and age of the unit is not really important. I have an old 380 MHz Compaq that runs Windows XP Home with no problem. It can run almost all of the latest educational software, and though slow, works as a great test machine for new software that I wish to try in the refurbs.
More power to the Columbians for taking the initiative to get computers into their schools and bringing their country's future into the 21st century.
Older computers use less power, have smaller power supplies, and smaller cooling requirements, so for a energy standpoint they will consume less energy. The monitors are a different issue, but are a separate part, and there is no reason why a modern monitor can't be shipped with the refurb. There was a program a while back where LED monitors that have stuck pixles, which would be unsuited for modern markets would be sold to 3rd world countries at a much reduced cost.
As for a much longer lifespan, it terms of keeping up with modern day programs, yes, a Win 2000 box w/ 128 mb ram will have trouble running modern software, but the hardware itself, I would WAG would last just as long as a new one. Computer parts usually break right away (within 0-6 months) or last a very very long time, very little inbetween. Working computers from 6 years ago have passed that initial test and probably have a long life still left in them.
Slap debian on those bad boys.
I support a few schools by paying the $25/month lease costs for a modern computer. In a year, this computer will get passed down to a lower grade, and will be replaced with another new computer. All for $25/month. They are learning how to write modern s/w with modern open source tools. This is showing tangible results and the students know they are not at a disadvantage.
If corporations really wanted to help the developing world, they would actively take back dead computers and really recycle them part by part, toxic component by toxic component. And they would drop their profit margins to support organizations and individuals who want to buy new for this cause. Who makes the biggest donations? Microsoft... because their software costs nothing to give away, and they are training the developing world to be Windows and Office users for when they grow up.
- Try software tune-up
- by mikenyc08 April 14, 2008 12:59 PM PDT
- May be good idea to try software tuneup, I have find one at myquickpc.com it did good job on my pc.
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(13 Comments)-Mike.