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Domain: radian.org

Stories and comments across the archive that link to radian.org.

Comments · 17

  1. Several Proxies by eldavojohn · · Score: 5, Informative · on A Mathematician's Lament — an Indictment of US Math Education
    I couldn't get this PDF from the frontpage link so via Google Scholar, here's some help:

    From what I can tell, they all look to be the same length and size and hopefully are not older revisions of this paper.

  2. OLPC Project derailed? by kandresen · · Score: 1 · on 2nd Generation "$100 Laptop" Will Be an E-Book Reader

    In March and April Ivan Krstic and Walder Bender, two of the most famous technologists of the project left the project, with the following feedback to the community: Maintaining Clarity: http://radian.org/notebook/maintaining-clarity and Where is Walter: http://lists.laptop.org/pipermail/devel/2008-April/012986.html

    May 13th, Ivan Krstic, the man behind the security system in the XO-machine wrote a much harder critic ( http://radian.org/notebook/sic-transit-gloria-laptopi ) against the OLPC project talking about the recent complete change in direction the company has taken, taking orders without knowing how to ensure the 700.000 machines actually end up where intended as orders are often taken to places where even no postal services go?

    - Is it true that "learning" never was part of OLPC's mission?
    - Are OLPC simply accepting orders without knowing how to deliver?
    - Are the machines ending up in the right hands?
    - How is theft and corruption prevented?
    - Does the project really need to link the interface to the underlying OS?

  3. OLPC Project derailed? by kandresen · · Score: 1 · on 2nd Generation "$100 Laptop" Will Be an E-Book Reader

    In March and April Ivan Krstic and Walder Bender, two of the most famous technologists of the project left the project, with the following feedback to the community: Maintaining Clarity: http://radian.org/notebook/maintaining-clarity and Where is Walter: http://lists.laptop.org/pipermail/devel/2008-April/012986.html

    May 13th, Ivan Krstic, the man behind the security system in the XO-machine wrote a much harder critic ( http://radian.org/notebook/sic-transit-gloria-laptopi ) against the OLPC project talking about the recent complete change in direction the company has taken, taking orders without knowing how to ensure the 700.000 machines actually end up where intended as orders are often taken to places where even no postal services go?

    - Is it true that "learning" never was part of OLPC's mission?
    - Are OLPC simply accepting orders without knowing how to deliver?
    - Are the machines ending up in the right hands?
    - How is theft and corruption prevented?
    - Does the project really need to link the interface to the underlying OS?

  4. It's all over. by EddyPearson · · Score: 1 · on Microsoft and OLPC Agree To Put XP On the XO Laptop

    The revolution got sold boys. http://radian.org/notebook/sic-transit-gloria-laptopi

  5. Re:Purity by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0 · on Microsoft and OLPC Agree To Put XP On the XO Laptop

    'We've stayed very pure,' Mr. Negroponte said.

    Aside from the fact that OLPC is a scam, of course. But I guess St. Nick means 'pure' in a "we will never be found guilty of fraud" kind of way... so yeah, I guess OLPC is "pure" in that sense. Niggerponte's project now is just a shell of what it used to be. Rather than liberating the developing world they're enslaving them to Microsoft. What a shame.
  6. Purity by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll · on Microsoft and OLPC Agree To Put XP On the XO Laptop

    'We've stayed very pure,' Mr. Negroponte said.

    Aside from the fact that OLPC is a scam, of course. But I guess St. Nick means 'pure' in a "we will never be found guilty of fraud" kind of way... so yeah, I guess OLPC is "pure" in that sense.

    As for this numbnuts:

    If Microsoft really cared about education so much, why wouldn't they just give Windows to the OLPC project for free? $3 may be a lot when you multiply it by the numbers of copies that will be sold, but that's still less than 1/30 the price of a retail copy of Windows, and their brand image would probably improve as a result.

    Well seeing as you are in an OLPC thread, doesn't that beg additional questions? If OLPC is REALLY committed to putting craptops in the hands of kiddies... why don't they provide them for free?

    If OLPC is really about getting laptops in the hands of children, why does anyone care what OS it is running? It's about the kids, right? And the education, right?

    And if image is the problem... doesn't it make Teh Lunix, Teh FOSSies, and the entire "Free Software" establishment look bad for standing in the way of getting laptops to poor kids? Makes them seem downright elitist? Richard Stallman, noted FOSSie, claimed that giving kids laptops with Windows would be just as bad as addicting them to cocaine!!! Talk about elitist, and a deranged form of it at that.

    IMO, the best chance for kids to actually get working hardware is the Intel Classmate. Not only does it cost at least as much for a more powerful machine... but it provides jobs for locals in the area, gives them valuable job skills and experience... and Intel also has enough confidence in their machine that they aren't screwing kids over by telling them to fix it themselves if it isnt shipped back within three months of reciept.

    Not only that, but OLPC isn't even interally set up to distribute any hardware. So it might take time and effort to get these "3-month warranty" craptops to kids in these inaccessible locations... and the kids will have no way of getting either support or the knowledge to fix it themselves. Not only that, but they are being further saddled with bad beta software on a defunct OS. At least if they can learn to use Windows, they might have a future.
  7. Fortunately, that's not how it is. by karmaflux · · Score: 4, Insightful · on Negroponte vs. Open-Source Fundamentalists

    Hi Bruce,

    I'm a support volunteer for OLPC. I'm not officially affiliated with them, but I've been volunteering for them since last year.

    You're misrepresenting the project. I am not accusing you of making disingenuous posts, but I suspect you're either underinformed or you've got hold of the wrong end of the stick. Yes, the XO-1 laptop is a wonderful e-book platform. However, you don't need most of the stuff it comes with on an e-book reader. For instance, you don't need a webcam to read a book. The fact is, textbooks are one small part of the ideas that constitute Sugar, which is based on constructivist education practices.

    I'm sure you've heard the "it's not a laptop project, it's an education project" quote a million times. Well, it's not an e-book project either. It's an education project, and reading isn't the only way kids learn. We're not talking about the sort of education we receive here in the States, where we listen to an orator and take notes. It's self-directed. The XO-1 is a learning and exploration platform.

    As to Microsoft, I have been assured by higher-ups at OLPC that they're not going to devote any resources to porting Sugar to Windows, or Windows to the XO-1. They just don't have the resources; they're too busy deploying laptops. Negroponte's point is that if someone wants to get it done, OLPC shouldn't stand in their way, which is entirely different from "let's drop linux." He's made other comments in the past about how Firefox wouldn't have gained the marketshare it has if it weren't for Windows. Likewise, a Sugar that is platform-ambivalent would rapidly gain mindshare in the educational world.

    Sugar is not OLPC. OLPC is not the XO-1. Microsoft doesn't control any of those three things, and I doubt they will. Hell, in current builds, Sugar doesn't even start without NetworkManager, which isn't exactly Windows-compatible software.

    You're a luminary in the FOSS world, and a geek hero. I'm sure you know that. I hope you're also aware when you start forecasting things based on insufficient information, a lot of people just take your word for it. I suggest you contact OLPC with your concerns, so they can be suitably allayed.

  8. Fortunately, that's not how it is. by karmaflux · · Score: 4, Insightful · on Negroponte vs. Open-Source Fundamentalists

    Hi Bruce,

    I'm a support volunteer for OLPC. I'm not officially affiliated with them, but I've been volunteering for them since last year.

    You're misrepresenting the project. I am not accusing you of making disingenuous posts, but I suspect you're either underinformed or you've got hold of the wrong end of the stick. Yes, the XO-1 laptop is a wonderful e-book platform. However, you don't need most of the stuff it comes with on an e-book reader. For instance, you don't need a webcam to read a book. The fact is, textbooks are one small part of the ideas that constitute Sugar, which is based on constructivist education practices.

    I'm sure you've heard the "it's not a laptop project, it's an education project" quote a million times. Well, it's not an e-book project either. It's an education project, and reading isn't the only way kids learn. We're not talking about the sort of education we receive here in the States, where we listen to an orator and take notes. It's self-directed. The XO-1 is a learning and exploration platform.

    As to Microsoft, I have been assured by higher-ups at OLPC that they're not going to devote any resources to porting Sugar to Windows, or Windows to the XO-1. They just don't have the resources; they're too busy deploying laptops. Negroponte's point is that if someone wants to get it done, OLPC shouldn't stand in their way, which is entirely different from "let's drop linux." He's made other comments in the past about how Firefox wouldn't have gained the marketshare it has if it weren't for Windows. Likewise, a Sugar that is platform-ambivalent would rapidly gain mindshare in the educational world.

    Sugar is not OLPC. OLPC is not the XO-1. Microsoft doesn't control any of those three things, and I doubt they will. Hell, in current builds, Sugar doesn't even start without NetworkManager, which isn't exactly Windows-compatible software.

    You're a luminary in the FOSS world, and a geek hero. I'm sure you know that. I hope you're also aware when you start forecasting things based on insufficient information, a lot of people just take your word for it. I suggest you contact OLPC with your concerns, so they can be suitably allayed.

  9. Have two user accounts by Ranger · · Score: 1 · on Laptops Can Be Searched At the Border
    Found this post here that makes several suggestions including:

    Have two user accounts on your machine: one real, one mostly blank, both using home directory encryption. If asked to log into the machine, do so with the blank account. You're not up against a trained opponent who knows your hard drive layout; you're not going to get asked to log into the other account. If you do, you have real plausible deniability.
  10. Related to Ivan Krstic's resignation by harlows_monkeys · · Score: 3, Informative · on Walter Bender Resigns From OLPC

    It was the demotion of Bender that prompted Ivan Krstic' to resign last month, so the damage to OLPC by their stupid demotion of Bender is not limited to just the loss of him. I wonder if anyone else will be leaving over this?

  11. Re:Isn't this illegal? by echion · · Score: 1 · on Microsoft Ties $235m IT Aid To Use of Windows

    Yeah, but they're also embracing, extending, and extinguishing that project: http://radian.org/notebook/paradox-of-choice

  12. Re:Cue the OLPC griefers by symbolset · · Score: 1 · on OLPC To Be Distributed To US Students

    it costs too much...

    It's $200, for an extremely low power laptop with an innovative daylight readable screen and mesh networking built in. It costs the governments little or nothing. It costs the kids themselves nothing. Come on. You can do better than that.

    ... isn't being used in anyway that it keeps being promoted as being.
    oh really? These examples aren't enough(PDF) for you? They're barely started so there will be more.
  13. Re:Why the waste of resources? by karmaflux · · Score: 1 · on No Dual-Boot XO Laptop, According to Microsoft

    OLPC is not using any resources assisting Microsoft. Microsoft is not paying OLPC. XO developers are still working on the OLPC's Fedora-based distribution exclusively.

    Read this: http://radian.org/notebook/paradox-of-choice

  14. Correct, they are not dual-boot by GroundBounce · · Score: 1 · on No Dual-Boot XO Laptop, According to Microsoft

    The project involves replacing Linux with Windows, and then reverting back if necessary. There is more info here (near the bottom).

  15. Not dual-boot, but a roll-back to Linux feature by whoever57 · · Score: 4, Informative · on No Dual-Boot XO Laptop, According to Microsoft
    According to the "Director of security architecture at One Laptop per Child" (Ivan Krsti), MS is not developing a dual-boot system, but the OLPC folks are requiring a roll-back feature, allowing an OLPC to be returned to Linux

    For those who can't click the link:

    To set the dual-boot issue straight: Microsoft has not been working on an actual, side-by-side dual-boot system. We're jointly making it possible to install XP on an arbitrary XO -- subject to the constraints of the Bitfrost theft deterrence system -- and then convert the machine back to Linux easily. I have made it clear that the XP port will not receive my security signoff without this Linux rollback feature, and have no reason to believe it won't be implemented.
  16. Re:Just sell the thing for $199 by slamb · · Score: 2, Informative · on OLPC CTO Quits to Commercialize OLPC Technology

    Those things ought to be in bubble-packs at the local drugstore, alongside the cheap calculators, electronic dictionaries, and other low end electronics. This wouldn't stroke Negroponte's ego, but it would get the things out there in volume. Soon enough, they'd be available all over the world, purely on price.

    They're doing pretty well on volume now. They have a brand-new factory, and last month they planned to ship 150,000, then 80,000-100,000 every month after (source).

    Where are they going? I just did a bit of hunting. Uruguay ordered 100,000 units(see wiki) and Peru ordered 260,000 (see this post, near bottom). According to the "country news" section, Mexico's also placed some order; I think 100,000 is the minimum order size. 150,000 to 170,000 individual G1G1 orders and 15,000 for Birmingham, Alabama, for a total of around 400,000 G1G1 laptops (see interview), so I believe they have solid orders for 800,000 laptops.

    Hopefully when they've had success with those 800,000, the other countries that originally intended to be part of the launch will get back on the bandwagon. So while I'm not a manufacturing expert, I would guess the difference between 1 million/year and 2 million/year isn't going to hugely affect the cost.

  17. FUD just in time for the First Production Launch! by Derivin · · Score: 5, Interesting · on OLPC Lawsuit-Bringer Has Past Fraud Conviction

    http://radian.org/notebook/first-deployment
    Ivan Krstic just posed from Uruguay, where the the first production deployment of the XO just happened. This is what the Globe should be reporting on, not a frivolous lawsuit!

    I find it interesting that this lawsuit is happening just before the first production launch and as Peru signs a deal for 260K machines! To bad that is not being picked up by major media.