Monks with netbooks?  I say “Yes!”  While every one and their brother is walking around with a notebook, why not your local Buddhist Monk?  As it turns out, they are quite fond of technology and the benefits of staying “connected.”

Before I continue, let me first say that I am not a Buddhist. I just happen to be there at the right time to assist these monks. And please be advised that the point of this post is about applying new technologies to old institutions. Not about starting a religious flame war, or one’s preference on philosophical/spiritual beliefs.

MAGIC

My girlfriend’s father is Buddhist. A monk in fact. He recently made a visit to my house, because he was about to leave for Thailand for a few months. While talking and having our dinner that night, he saw my Lenovo S10. He couldn’t believe that a computer existed that fit such a small profile. One that can be carried in the pocket of his Monk’s robe. Furthermore, he couldn’t believe that it only costs about $300. And when I showed him a demo of Skype’s Video Chat, he was pretty much sold. To him, this was an achievement beyond anything he’s witnessed with technology. There I was walking around my house while broadcasting video wirelessly, and it was MAGIC.

So the next logical thing to do was to go get a netbook for him to use on his trip. We went to Bestbuy, and they only carried HPs and Asus Eees. We then went into Microcenter, and found an MSI Wind. He liked my S10 better, but we were short on time. The only place we could find one in Denver was to order it online. So we bought an MSI Wind U100. After installing a few programs, we delivered it to him at his temple a few days later. Then came the monk stampede.

In the beginning, there were only VAIOs

When we got there to show June’s(My Girlfriend) dad how to use the Wind, one by one, other Monks started showing up. They were amazed at its capabilities just as Chapkee(June’s dad) was.

They were more used to the big and bulky Sony VAIOs that were donated to them. Their followers have been donating these Sony VAIO behemoths, because they believed it was the best. Sure it is great for playing games on the 1920×1200 screens, but Monks don’t play games. It wasn’t well suited for their travels(Power bricks were like pound cakes), and it was just too complicated.

Immediately I understood that Netbooks were more suited for their needs. Most of these guys were past their 60s, and 1920×1200 pixels crammed into a 16″ screen was too “dense” for them. On top of that, when they saw my S10 and the Wind, they wanted it.

So after my first trip to the temple, I had a job to go order and set up another Wind and a Lenovo S10. Amazing. I never thought of these guys as the gadget type, but then it hit me. If you take away the Buddhist philosophy, it is pretty much like a Frat house full of men. And we all know how us men are with our toys…

You asked for it, You got it

So I returned a few days later with another Wind. The S10 was still in delivery. During which time, I’ve completed the set up of the second Wind. Just as the first time, they were very happy to see me and their new netbook.

I mean… I got to teach their oldest monks how to High-Five for the first time…

These Monks have been treated like saints from their followers and it was a delight to them that I would approach them like I would anyone else. Not being a Buddhist, I didn’t have any reservations that would limit my rapport with them. I was walking around with my S10 while Web-chatting with the Wind via Skype.

They COULDN’T BELIEVE THIS WAS POSSIBLE!!! It was so gratifying to see the smiles on their faces!!! While their Sonys were capable of doing the same, it was too heavy to carry around, and no one has showed them prior to this day.

There’s more to this story than Human Interest

In the back of my mind, I was thinking that if Moblin was completed, it would have been better. It would shed these machines from complications which are found in XP. But Moblin is still in development, so I stuck with XP.

So far, I’ve installed the following Apps/Technologies for them:

Skype – Allows them to chat with each other and with people around the globe for free.

Google Gears – Various apps use this, and the primary reason was for the Offline Gmail.

Open Office – Lotus Symphony to be exact. They can log their donations and write their next book.

Adobe Air – Easy access to Twitter via Twirl. These monks will soon be Micro blogging to their followers.

Remote Assistance/desktop – Easy way for me to fix their machines.

Ad-hoc network – When these books go out, they create their own network.

External USB HDD – It took awhile to teach them that backing up was a good thing.

Picasa – They can now e-mail and upload their photos while in Thailand! This one’s a win. Installed the Thai version.

Windows Live Sync – Windows Event Logger log file delivery.

Dropbox – They can lose their machines, but not their data.

JAVA and Flash – For obvious reasons

Microsoft Thai IME – They need this to type in Thai

Chrome – It is the only browser I found that you can get in Thai.

Their immediate favorite was indeed, Skype. We were walking around the temple and saying hi to each other right away. The monks were particularly impressed with the fact that Skype, if done PC-to-PC was free. Even internationally.

Besides Skype, they didn’t yet understand much. But they knew that Lotus Symphony was where they needed to go for Spreadsheets and Documents. I had all their internal documents be synced between them. I used Dropbox for this.

We’ve also spent a good amount of time on Picasa. You can link Picasa to your gmail account for easy sending and easy uploading. They found this to be an interesting feature. They immediately sent me a few pictures via e-mail. Easy.

Pondering the need for remote assistance and remote repair, I set them up with an easy access to Windows Remote Assistance. Furthermore, I used Windows Live Sync to deliver their Windows Event Log to my PC, so I can diagnose system failures when they happen. But not all of this story is happy. We did hit some hurdles.

Every parent has a favorite Child

While MSI’s Wind is a decent machine, it did have some problems.

1. The track pad’s left and right buttons aren’t buttons at all. It’s just a toggle. To the eldest Monk, this was confusing.

2. Instead of just starting up, the webcam in the wind requires that you activate it via Fn key before use. This was another unnecessary step for the Monks in order to video chat.

3. With both units, the mouse cursor on the screen would move by themselves without any user input.

Things about the Wind that I found to be superior to the S10:

1. In the closed position, the Keys don’t touch the screen. There is a clear gap. The wind will not have a Keyboard imprint on the screen like the S10 after prolonged use.

2. 3 USB ports

3. No fan noise.

4. Bluetooth was standard.

Even with all the cool features of their Netbooks that they loved, they would joke, “I’ll trade you my Wind for your S10!”

Case Study

There are many things that I’ve observed/learned during this “experiment.” Not only was this experience gratifying, it was also very educational.

1. These guys had specific needs – Sony VAIO was too much for them. It was clear to me that there is such a thing as “excess.”

2. While “Monks,” they needed technology to assist them – Monks usually don’t use any of this stuff. They aren’t even supposed to drive. But Denver is one sprawled out city. It is difficult to get around let alone wait for people to check up on them. So it was very intriguing to learn that these Monks have begun using technology to reach out to their followers. After all, there is nothing against technological advancements in their life philosophy. These guys in fact, embrace it. Even saw one of their younger monks walking around with an iPod.

3. Ad-Hoc is a must – Just as XOs were designed to form on-the-fly networks, I’ve set these guys up with the same network structure. Now, if one of them finds internet, they all have internet. Even without internet, they have automatic printer sharing, and file sharing. Since joining a WEP or WPA protected network is such a hassle, I have minimized that pain to some degree.

4. Windows XP is still a little too complicated for these fine gentlemen – They had a much easier time with Moblin on my S10. It was too bad Moblin still had issues.

5. They all liked the S-10 better than the Wind – Both systems are practically identical, so this was purely based on looks, and the fact that the S10 had two separate buttons for left and right clicks.

Overall this is a huge success. They are now able to e-mail from Thailand, send photos, and video chat with us over the net. Who knew that we could monkify the Netbooks in such a way? Actually, who knew that these guys would be able to use it in such an embracing manner?

I for one am very satisfied… for now. I still have one Lenovo S10 to deliver, and we still need more time to come to a real conclusion. But so far, I have my work cut out for me.

Here is my to do list:

1. Universal Backup – They will no doubt need a solution soon.

2. Network re-design – Their network at the temple is a mess. Thin-net is still being used in certain parts.

3. Website – Gotta put one up for them in the near future.