There’s been lots of drama with OLPC but hopefully the non-profit can work through it and make some progress with their new partner Microsoft:
The alliance between Microsoft and O.L.P.C. comes after long stretches of antagonism, punctuated by occasional talks, between the two sides. Mr. Negroponte, a former computer researcher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a new media pioneer, said he first talked to Bill Gates, Microsoft’s chairman, three years ago.
Link to News.com.
Intel plans on expanding the distribution of its inexpensive, school children-friendly Classmate PC to U.S. and European retail outlets, according to a Reuters report on Wednesday.
The Classmate will sell for $250 to $350, Lila Ibrahim, general manager of Intel’s emerging market platform group, told Reuters. Apparently Intel has already been conducting pilot programs using the devices in classrooms in the U.S. and Australia.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Intel has pulled out of the One Laptop Per Child partnership, citing disagreements with founder Negroponte.
“We’ve reached a philosophical impasse with OLPC,” Mr. Mulloy said. He added that Mr. Negroponte had demanded that Intel stop selling its own-designed laptop, known as the Classmate, in developing countries and stop supplying its chips to other laptops marketed to schoolchildren in those countries.
“We can’t accommodate that request,” Mr. Mulloy said.
This is unfortunate, however, AMD, which is the current supplier, is capable enough of handling the requirements here. It’s been really hard for OLPC to solidify orders for the low cost PC, and it needs more demand so it can scale to drive down costs. I believe part of the motivation for Negroponte to be the sole supplier of these low costs PCs stems from that.
T-Mobile is participating in a pretty neat marketing program for the OLPC where if you participate in the buy one give one program, T-mobile will give you a year’s worth of their hotspot service for free.
“T-Mobile believes in helping people stay connected to those who matter most in their lives. The Give One Get One program delivers on our unmistakable commitment to enhancing personal relationships,” said Joe Sims, vice president and general manager for Broadband Services, T-Mobile USA. “We are excited and proud to partner with One Laptop per Child, and are hopeful that our contribution will not only encourage other people to participate, but also make a positive difference.”
Here are some important updates on what’s going on with the OLPC and the Classmate PC. First, it looks like Nigeria has selected Classmate PCs running Linux for a nationwide pilot in their country. The article (via slashdot), offered by the linux company supplying the operating system, discusses how 17,000 computers will be provided in Nigeria.
Mandriva today announced that the Nigerian government has selected Intel-powered classmate PCs running on Mandriva Linux for educational use in nationwide pilot in Nigeria. Mandriva is working with Intel Corporation and Technology Support Center Ltd. to provide 17,000 Intel-powered classmate PC. The aim of this project is to improve the quality of technology delivered to students, and to help teachers and parents.
What’s OLPC up to? No updates on big wins like this but Microsoft did announce that they will be building an operating system for the OLPC. Negroponte is fine with this, as he wants to promote the open source spirit with the project.
While the news that Microsoft is developing a version of Windows for the so-called “$100 laptop” has caused some consternation, One Laptop Per Child Chairman Nicholas Negroponte has said the project could not promote openness if it blocked Windows.
The One Laptop Per Child project is beginning to market itself with a campaign dubbed “Give 1 Get 1“.
…on Sept. 24, the OLPC announced a money-raising gambit called “Give 1 Get 1.” Originally, the organization had no set plans to sell or distribute the computers in the U.S. Now it’s hoping to capitalize on widespread interest from American gadget fans to raise enough money to pay for shipments of XO Laptops to four countries that are among the poorest of the poor: Afghanistan, Cambodia, Haiti, and Rwanda.
Under Give 1 Get 1, which will run for two weeks starting Nov. 12, U.S. customers will be able to pay $399 to buy two laptops: one for themselves and one to be shipped to a child in one of those four countries. About half of the purchase price will be tax-deductible. Also, starting Sept. 24, people can simply “give” a laptop by making a $200 donation. Those who’d like to participate can sign up for e-mail alerts on the Web site www.XOgiving.org. The machines, which are being built in Taiwan, will begin shipping to U.S. customers in January or February.
This is actually really interesting. I’m sure a few of my friends will pick these up to hack and tinker with them.
Here’s the latest update on Negroponte’s One Laptop Per Child project (aka $100 laptop).
It may have once dismissed the OLPC (One Laptop Per Child) Project as a “cheap gadget,” but Intel appears to have changed its mind. The company is now involved in talks to provide CPUs for the $100 (actually ~$175) systems.
According to the EETimes, Intel’s newfound interest in the project is just fine with the OLPC design team. “Intel, like a lot of other people, is more than welcome to try to design great silicon for this project and this mission, and we’ve been working with them to help them do exactly that,” said Walter Bender, OLPC’s president.
The article goes on to discuss how the OLPC is powered by an AMD chip but Intel plans to bid with a more powerful chip.
Here’s a great article in the New York Times detailing the lack of internet infrastructure in Africa:
Attempts to bring affordable high-speed Internet service to the masses have made little headway on the continent. Less than 4 percent of Africa’s population is connected to the Web; most subscribers are in North African countries and the republic of South Africa.
A lack of infrastructure is the biggest problem. In many countries, communications networks were destroyed during years of civil conflict, and continuing political instability deters governments or companies from investing in new systems. E-mail messages and phone calls sent from some African countries have to be routed through Britain, or even the United States, increasing expenses and delivery times. About 75 percent of African Internet traffic is routed this way and costs African countries billions of extra dollars each year that they would not incur if their infrastructure was up to speed.