the one laptop per child program is worth a small distraction from all things urban. it's a cool little machine and is part of a huge non-profit effort to provide $100 laptops to children, primarily those who live in under-developed (poor) countries.
the vision is brilliant, though somewhat controversial. nicholas negroponte and crew are attempting to make the digital world more inclusive.
unfortunately, for-profit, big industry players, like INTEL, who originally ridiculed the idea are now competing with it (pdf of article).
this ugly form of competition from INTEL (and the likes) is the reason you might see an XO (the laptop's name) hanging around cafes in seattle.
to spur sales and reduce cost by ramping up manufacturing OLPC introduced a "give one get one" program. pay for two, one goes to a child in africa, for example, and you get one for yourself.
Friday, December 21, 2007
OLPC sighting at motore cafe!!!
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2 comments:
intel comes up with a cheap laptop to compete with the OLPC for developing countries and that's a BAD thing? what?
tiffany- good question. no, i'm not saying competition is bad. rather, i am questing intel's competitive behavior with respect to a NON-profit organization. in rough chronological order:
a) OLPC chooses AMD chips because they are cheaper
b) intel criticizes the idea of OLPC, but does not criticize the chip selection
c) OLPC negotiates purchase "promises" from governments of many countries. promises are used for manufacturing and cost negations with OLPC partners
d) intel joins the OLPC board (I’m not sure exactly when this happened)
e) intel develops and markets a competing product (the classmate) to the same countries.
f) said countries drop OLPC plans and purchase intel product
g) OLPC's ability to manufacture the XO at the $100 target price is undermined by intel's predatory behavior.
i find intel's competitive behavior, distasteful and deceitful.
i'm not challenging that they compete with a non-profit but i am challenging how they compete with a non-profit.
intel also promotes their cheap laptop in philanthropic terms, which i find distasteful and deceitful.
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