Whoever called them People of the Book probably never counted on the Jewish penchant for the PC. Forty-four percent of Israelis own a personal computer, which beats the bejesus out of the US. Now the Israeli government hopes to bootstrap poor children by giving away 100,000 Pentiums. For a token fee, they'll throw in a color monitor, CD-ROM drive, 28.8 modem, Net access, training, and tech support.But not everyone is sanguine about the US$50 million initiative. Economic observer Sever Plotzker notes that free PCs won't address overcrowding, violence, and hunger."Maybe the most important thing," he writes, "would be to assure them a quiet home to study ... to give them books, and then more books."
ELECTRIC WORD
People of the Chip
