With Buffet's Billions, Will Gates Fund the $100 Laptop Initiative?

Authored by Jay Baage on June 27, 2006 - 6:54am.

One of the stories generating most buzz on the web today is Monday’s announcement that billionaire investor Warren Buffet will give 85 percent of his wealth, now estimated to be more than $44 billion, to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. It is the largest in philanthropic commitment in history, according to the Chronicle of Philanthropy. The record was previously held by Bill and Melinda Gates, who have given away more than $29 billion. Searches on Warren Buffet soared over 4,000% on Yahoo after the announcement and the donation has experts predicting it could energize the nonprofit sector and possibly spawn a new wave of philanthropy.

The Gates Foundation’s primary goal is to eliminate AIDS and 20 other deceases in the world. However, given Bill Gate’s professional background, maybe some of the money together with a possible contribution from the Google foundation could also go to get the much-discussed $100 laptop initiative really off the ground.

Educators from the U.S. and abroad will be among the first to test-drive prototype models of Nicholas Negroponte's laptop during the National Educational Computing Conference (NECC) July 5 through 7, in San Diego. Negraponte’s goal is to revolutionize education by putting a compact, durable, no frills, but Internet-ready computer into the hands of millions of children worldwide. Negroponte is a founder of Wired magazine and author of the book "Being Digital." NECC will be the first public forum to show a working prototype of the $100 Laptop and provide hands-on access to developer machine.

Related Links:

http://www.berkshirehathaway.com

http://www.gatesfoundation.org

http://www.philanthropy.com/

http://buzz.yahoo.com/buzzlog/category/Warren+Buffett/

http://laptop.org

http://wiki.laptop.org/index.php/Developers_Program.