The first post I made here was about the significance of the MIT Media Lab and the fact that its founder, Nicholas Negroponte was taking a leave of absence to launch the noble effort of supplying $100 laptops to children in the Third World.  In the six months since that post, the $100 laptop has moved toward becoming a reality.  It has also started to affect the computer marketplace in beneficial ways.

Last month the prototype of the $100 laptop had its public unveiling at a computing conference. It is about the size of a hardback book, has an orange plastic shell with two pop up ‘rabbit ears’ that enhance wireless reception and a small, clear LCD display.  It also will come in three other bright colors and has the ability to be powered by a crank.  Other technical specifications include having dual displays, one in color and one in black and white that is sunlight readable. It will use Linux software, it has a 500MHz processor, 128 of DRAM and a 500MB of Flash memory.  It does not have a hard drive, but it does come with three USB ports.

The first stage of the effort has been to find ways to assemble a useable laptop at a low cost.  Finding less expensive ways to produce create and find innovative technology and stripping down software to its fundamentals has been the goal, and it seems as though this phase is drawing to a close.  The next phases will be …

This week it was announced tha the MIT Media Lab has a new leader, Frank Moss. He will be replacing the visionary founder, Nicholas Negroponte. NN is relinquishing leadership of the Media Lab to focus full-time on his global initiative of the $100 laptop.

This news story, as much as anything else this week, provokes thinking about the last two decades and the coming decades. It needs to be looked at and discussed on several levels.

First, a disclosure: I think Nicholas Negroponte is one of the coolest visionary guys on the planet. I only met him once after a speech he gave, so this observation is based on viewing at a distance, and of course reading his seminal book “Being Digital”. During a time when technology, media and electronic innovation took off, he has been at the forefront in terms of vision and advocacy.

Creating and launching the Media Lab in 1985, Negroponte set a standard not seen since the Bell Labs days of the 50s, 60s and 70s. His innovation was to take the research out of the corporation and out of the university, but blend the two in a wonderful way, getting funding from corporations and housing the Media Lab at one of the greatest scientific universities in the world.

The fact that he started the Lab in 1985 and made the decision to leave active management of it in 2005 has a particular relevance to me. In speeches I give and in current essays I have coined the 20 year …