Computers for all

Had a fun day yesterday. Some may not share the joy in this with me, but it was fun for me. Fulfillment of months of thinking and planning. I got to buy 45 computer systems and help assemble them all in preparation for handing them over to the managers from some schools in various parts of India.

When the truck (yes, it was literally a truck load of parts) arrived I began to ask myself “What have you done?” In no time the guys had carried all of it upstairs to the conference room and the inventorying began. 45 cabinets? Check. 45 Intel original motherboards? Check. 45 Intel original processors? Check. 45 HP printer/scanner/copier all-in ones? Check. 45 APC UPS battery back ups? Check. 45 LG color monitors? Check. And so on down the list it went. There were also 45 copies of Windows XP Professional and 45 copies of MS Office 2003 Professional. All in all it was nearly $45,000 worth of stuff, and all of it is brand new and current, not outdated or second-hand.

And then . . . the assembling began. In a flurry of activity and remarkable order, 6 people set about putting all of these pieces into something that will one day soon change the way these schools function. In 7 hours all the machines were put together, and now ready to begin loading software, etc.

Throughout the day various people stopped in to see what all the buzz was about in the office that day. There was a mix of responses. Some jealous. “I want one.” Some wondering how we could afford it all. “I thought we have no money. How did we buy all of these?” Some just so glad to see that day had arrived. “We had heard that this was planned, but we never thought it would really happen.” I even had one person say “As soon as I came down the hall I knew it must be Kevin doing this because it is so organized and happening on time.” The best reaction all day was one who said “I am so glad to see that we are giving these schools the best stuff available, not giving them our old systems and keeping the new ones for ourselves like normally happens.”

That is what it is all about. Giving the best to allow them to do their best.