Simputer: Radical Simplicity for Universal Access

So, take heart: Simpler, more natural computer systems will enter our lives within the next 5 to 10 years. Lets speed up their arrival, as users by asking for them, and as technologists by daring to build them.
- Michael Dertouzos, The People's Computer, Technology Review, May/June 2000.

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In November of 1998, the first IT.com was held at Bangalore. At the end of the meeting, a group of technologists drafted the so called the ``Bangalore declaration.'' Here are some relevant quotes from the declaration.

• facilitate the availability of a range of computers, including cable-TV, modified telephone instruments, and rugged, low-cost, hand-held devices, along with traditional computers, for purposes such as information gathering, communication and transaction processing

• Avoid blind transplants of I.T. solutions, proven in other infrastructural and cultural contexts, and instead, nurture local expertise that can adapt I.T. solutions to meet local requirements.

• Devise measures to create thriving markets for local language content and applications

It is one thing to draft a declaration and quite another to bring it to life. Shortly thereafter, a small team of technologists from IISc (Vijay Chandru, Swami Manohar, Ramesh Hariharan, V Vinay) and from Encore Software Ltd (Vinay Deshpande, Mark Mathias, Shashank Garg) decided to look into the feasibility of a low cost access device. We held several discussions - totalling about 50 hours -- on what such a device should be. Slowly, the notion of a simple computer might be, emerged.