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OLPC Says No Plans for Consumer Release
Gr88pe writes "The One Laptop Per Child product has clarified that they have not made a decision on whether or not to carry out a consumer release of the XO laptop, despite previous reports. From the article: 'OLPC told Ars Technica in a statement that the company has no plans for a consumer version of the laptop. "Contrary to recent reports, One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) is not planning a consumer version of its current XO laptop, designed for the poorest and most remote children in the world," said Nicholas Negroponte, OLPC chairman.' They are considering a number of plans, but have made no formal decision."
Because, quite frankly, I'm happy with my MBP. OLPC just doesn't fit into the North American market of computers of bling-bling and C2D processors.
I thought it wasn't for the really poor people. I thought the laptop was for countries that were sufficiently developed that they could focus on education as opposed to sanitation, starvation, etc.
This post climbed Mt. Washington.
One of the more interesting ideas that I have seen is to allow people to buy an OLPC for say, double the price, thus also buying one for a child oversees.
The part of it that would be of interest to me would be a system that would allow a westerner to just buy one of these for a child oversees.
Avoid Missing Ball for High Score
The One Laptop Per Child product has clarified that they have not made a decision on whether or not to carry out a consumer release of the XO laptop
So they clarified with ambiguity. Good show.
The theory of relativity doesn't work right in Arkansas.
I've heard good arguments for this (more people hacking, less incentive for a gray/black market, buy one for the price of two so the second goes to a kid), but could they be taking this position because of production? After all if they want to give a million of these away and people like /.ers buy 100,000... while that would mean money to give 100,000 laptops away to kids we just bit 10% of their production away. I seem to remember reading somewhere that based on the number they will be giving out it will be one of the top 4 laptop "brands" in the world almost immediately. Perhaps they simply can't spare the production at this time?
Comment forecast: Bits of genius surrounded by a sea of mediocrity.
When you have many people purchasing, you can order in larger quantities, and lower prices all around.
If people demand it, the market should supply it.
I say we develop a "one child per laptop" organization. It's function would be to convince governments to develop laws mandating that you can only have a child if you have a laptop.
I think plenty of people where happy with the idea of buy 2 get 1. I would love to get my hands on one or 2 of those. It seems stupid to limit your marked to begin with. Unless I am misunderstanding the article, which seems to have to different points going on. I understand that the development is not geared toward the developed world but that doesn't mean that some will not want it.
"Alcohol, cause of, and solution to, all of life's problems" -Homer Simpson
Several of the features of the Laptop initiative arent things that the average power user is going to want or need, but they are features that would be great for niche areas. One that comes to mind is journaling for camping and hiking, emergency services, etc. Im sure there are hundreds of others. I know I would have enjoyed having one when I had phone service but no power during an ice storm a few years back.
One idea I heard floating around was the to buy one for yourself, you would have to buy one towards the initiative. To me that sounds like a win win, they get more in contributions to the cause, people that want to play with one get the opportunity and production orders increase which usually drives down costs even more.
Why would they not want to sell the initial run of these things at a markup to us decadent westerners in order to get the volumes up and bring down the unit cost? Do they not understand the concept of flushing out problems by unloading overpriced units on early adopters? They really need to speak to Apple.
If you were blocking sigs, you wouldn't have to read this.
Definitely a good decision if there is going to be a shortage (at the start) of these products in the developing countries. reportedly enough for some to sell on the "gray-market"
(Bletsas acknowledges that some abuse is inevitable. "Will some parents sell their children's laptops on the gray market? Sure." ) source
Yes this is only initially, but if the children that these laptops are designed for are missing out because some random wants to play with it in his apartment along with his 2 pc's his other laptop, his pda and 3 game consoles something is seriously amiss, regardless of how much he pays for it.
My Mommy says smoking kills. Oh, is your Mommy a doctor? No. A scientific researcher of some kind? No. Well then sh
We all see the OLPC thing as a fun little toy. We all want to play with it. But for us to have a toy to play with may easily backfire into a situation where the next set of 419'ers or click-fraud farms are enabled through the use of OLPC devices.
If the use an application of these things are considerably more limited and not general purpose, then that could go a long way to prevent their abuse.
there are no poor people in first world countries that could possibly benefit from having a cheap PC. /sarcasm
If they don't *know* that this laptop would be a huge benefit to poor people in ALL countries, then they're either being threatened by the likes of Dell (hard to sell $500 POS desktops when you can get a durable $100 laptop) or are completely blind to the people who are right under their noses.
As long as I have a computer with an internet connection I will never be broke. I may be homeless, but I'll never be broke. But, I guess people don't care about the homeless people in say New York that could use a laptop to get started in developing web-sites to bring in some extra money (or even to find resources like food banks and shelters) to help them get back on their feet.
Work Safe Porn
I think OLPC is a little scared that there might be more interest in this as a consumer device than as a philanthropic project. Given the low cost, capability and hacker-friendly nature of the OLPC (at least on paper) it could be a huge success as a commercial product. Given that, I think they'd be crazy not to offer the buy-two-get-one options just to cut down on the black market that will otherwise develop...
because it is one of those bullshit "hypothetical" questions that I really hate.. but hey, this is Slashdot, so what the hell. If I show up 6 months after the first government sale with $100,000,000 will the OLPC sell me some laptops? Or will they say "no, we don't want your money".. hmmm.. let me think about this.. hmm.. I'm pretty sure they'll take my money. They might say "we require you to guarantee us that these laptops will be used solely by children" and when I say no? Will they say "no dice" and walk away or will they say "ok, the price just went up $100 per unit".
If someone nice and rich out there really wants to buy these laptops for the first world, I think they can do it. Just don't go asking OLPC for 3 units "for my grandkids" for xmas next year.. cause that's not the way electronics manufacturers sell stuff.. they sell in bulk to retailers who add their markup, add postage and handling, etc.
How we know is more important than what we know.
Your argument is a crock. If someone needs food, they are going to sell that fucking computer. Which makes giving people without food computers: pointless.
Also, if you want to know who he's talking to, read any other Slashdot post about the OLPC. He's talking to every person on Slashdot who said "you idiot, this isn't for bare-means countries in Africa, it's for countries like Libya and Brazil." in response to anyone pointing out that starving people have little use for a computer. So which is it, Slashdot? THAT'S his question.
in a laptop case. Because that is all this is. I just bought an Ipaq with very similar specs for 120 dollars. The only thing the laptop has is a bigger (but lower quality) screen...
o r.jpg
I agree that the OLPC is designed well and sounds really cool, but in practice I think most people in the developed world would be hard-pressed to find actual uses for it. Our youth shouldn't be trained on a specially-designed OS that has little relation to actual OS's when we can afford simple windows, linux, or OSX based desktops. Most adults wouldn't be caught outside using this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:OLPC-XO_in_Col
I know it's not popular to admit it, but it it is. First off -- it's not Linux's fault. Linux is irrelevant. It's about the design decisions of the OLPC. For example, using x86 chips. ARM is less expensive and uses less power mhz per mhz than any x86 chip. Using an ARM chip would probably cut total power usage by 10% (most of the power is used by the display and other chips). If they wanted to do double duty as a portable heating device, an x86 would be a fine choice. For something that needs to be industrial strength and low power, x86 is a failure.
If it can't sell commercially its not likely to be a success in its main aid mission either -- if it works that badly then it works that badly everywhere. If it can sell commercially then economy of scale will help lower the cost per unit for that main mission.
IMHO, a small but successful commercial run should be a minimum prerequisite for the major rollout.
Moderating "-1, Disagree" is simple censorship. Have the guts to post your opinion.
If they don't sell them to the people who want them, then a black market will materialize itself. Sooner or later, the people in these third world countries will decide that feeding their families for a month (I don't know how long they could actually feed their families on the value of a black-market OLPC machine) is more important than actually using it to educate their kid. If you want one of these, look on eBay. They'll be there.
Geeze you know, my kid dosen't have a laptop. Now that I think about it, I don't think that there is a single kid in his class of 30 that does.
OLPC is a great idea, but I wonder how many children in America or other developed nations actually have a laptop.
Even at 2 for one, I bet you would find a huge number of children in our own backyards getting these tools.
If they allowed consumers to purchase the laptops, they would need to develop the corporate infrastructure that would begin at the factory and end with a worker putting a single laptop in a box and shipping that box to a single consumer.
There went all the cost savings they gained by only supporting large purchases.
By only supporting large sales, they can pack, sell, and ship these computers by the container. Load the container onto a train at the factory (or truck to a train), then to a shipping port, and ship to final destination country.
Far simpler and more economical.
I wonder if the hesitancy on the part of them to release this for consumer purchase is due to pressure from AMD and the other component manufacturers. (AMD manufactures the CPU in the OLPC) They don't want to sell millions of low-end CPUs, screens, etc. in the Developed World... they are much better off with the current entry level of $500 or so for a laptop.
Personally, I would consider converting my home server to one of these OLPCs. A couple hundred MHz, a couple USB ports for storage, and low power usage sound about right.
Light a fire for a man, warm him for a day.
Light a man on fire, and warm him for the rest of his life.
And, what's to stop someone from copying this effort and go retail?
Smart. A product which would totally fail in the marketplace under normal circumstance will probably become a "must have" item simply because you can't buy it here. I'll be buying mine off eBay.
Ruby on Rails Screencast
Maybe others of us want something more durable, cheaper and capable of mesh networking out of the box.
+++ATH0
We are reviving our old programming game ChipWits and would love someone to do an OLPC version as freeware.
Channel Zilch: In Your Face From Outer Space!
how about we round up all these people who want to play with an OLPC laptop and ship them off to one of the pilot nations to train teachers or children how to use it. You get to play with it, the kids get someone to teach them, it's win, win right?
How we know is more important than what we know.
Yesterday I've read a BBC (or smth. like that) article that stated it would be possible to buy two and get one (the other one donated to some other country) - I would certainly do that. Come on - a quite usefull and supported by Linux, well designed machine. Hell I would shell out $200 for this one with no problem. Even bare without operating system (I would hack my own). This is as for me.
But here goes another story - what if I would decide to develop (here in Central Europe - why not?) software/services for this machines? I would like to get one for developement and stuff (those OS images for emulation are not suitable for Real World testing The Platform)?
For me not releasing it (even if it costs like 3x more) to general public is like creating a barrier - so kids in other countries will get this stuff. And me? Me not. I guess this laptop was intended to break the barriers - this situation - when it is not aviable for whole world creates a barrier.
Like come on - I would love to hack it and share what I did with other people.
guys, just created this account to tell you the thing is *tiny*. been playing with gen 1 for 3 weeks. you know the Simpsons episode where Homer gets so fat he can't press a single button on the telephone? That's not me. :) Yet if I type on the keyboard with my fingers so close they rub, my fingers are still too wide to fit on the keyboard. It truly is a keyboard for children. Maybe someone can post some photos next to a ruler. I've heard more than once "it's smaller than I thought".
don't consider this a regular laptop. it's fun, trust me, but physically a very small unit.
Congratulations to the OLPC foundation for recognizing the harm that letting adult men (potential child abusers) on the children's network could do. An adult man with a Children's Laptop could easily pretend to be another child and trace them physically over the mesh network, then impregnate them with his AIDS sperm. And this we cannot stand for. So kudos to the OLPC foundation for keeping these laptops away from predators.
The mission here is to give the 3rd world easy access to laptops. While it'd be cool for we well-off to have yet another cheap consumer electronics device, that's not the point and would distract resources and attention away from their mission. Since quantities would eventually be limited, even the one-for-me-one-for-third-world-kiddy idea would mean fewer where they are needed. Longer term, that's a nice idea, but for now best get them where they're needed. You could make an argument that underclasses in rich countries need them too, but if they're at Frys something has gone wrong. I'm on a low income, but even I have 5 working laptops and 2 working desktops. I don't need another PC and probably neither do you! :-)
Why is education singled out here?
Why can we not solve any of the other problems in the third world for fear of dependency, but it is okay for us to give them education? In this case, are we creating a dependency on teachers (as in the Peace Corps), or teaching supplies (as in OLPC)?
Second, why is education the only solution to the world's problems?
This is an important assertion if it is true, but you haven't made any statement of fact telling me why it is. Education is unimportant if heavy metal contamination lowers retention abilities, raises child mortality, etc, for a small environmental example. Even more directly, if the kleptocratic governments depend upon stealing resources, killing people and repressing freedom, then what does education bring to the mix? I'm not suggesting that education is worthless, or that, all things being equal, it isn't better to have more rather than less. What i am suggesting is that the notion of establishing the primacy and efficacy of granting eduction is flawed.
On a very cynical note, education is one of the hardest of services to deliver, and is impacted my multisystem flaws and problems, so claiming that education is the key may be a way to forestall admission of failure. As long as education isn't there, then shipments of food might go uneaten, or what have you. I'm not that cynical, but I'll leave it to the conspiracy theorists.
The "pull yourself up by the bootstraps" argument doesn't hold a lot of water either. In order for that to work, we've got to waive public health issues, financing issues, security, etc. There are a host of third party problems that individual people are faced with that are in extremis in the third world. These are not issues that are solved by good ole' stick-to-it-ive-ness. These are issues that are solved by revamping public health, moving government out of the business of thievery and providing for security.
Don't we want one giant media commons, where everyone has basically the same access? Isn't similar equipment the best guarantee of that?
If all of the poor people in the world run one platform, and only poor people run it, aren't they more likely to use different file formats? And if that happens, won't it be harder for us to talk to each other?
I know we don't do much talking now, but I think that's a big problem, and one we should be trying to chip away at, and not reinforce.
For the most part, this project seems pretty admirable - getting cheap technology in the hands of people who for the most part have been left out of the digital "revolution".
But there's something about it that nags at me, and I can't quite put my finger on it. Something a little condescending, a little too much hubris about it all. The way the planned recipients of these devices are described almost in cargo-cult like terms. Almost as if the Great White Fathers in the West expect to come back a year later and find groups of savages dancing around a backlit display wearing penguin masks and chanting "how-to, how-to".
Every time I hear about this project I find myself thinking, for some reason, of the British bringing the Delaware Indians diseased blankets. I know it's not fair, but that's the mental connection I make.
You are welcome on my lawn.
I think some if these children will be happy to part with their laptop for a little money.
Watch for my ebay ad!
As an open-source author, I'd like to get my hands on one, see how it feels, and maybe dream up some applications or utilities to fit on one.
And I have no comment on their lack of plans.
What if I do the same thing, and I do get different results?
I think that selling these to consumers would be a step in the right direction. No offense, but not too many 3rd world nations will buy all 1 million, is it?, laptops to give to the children. If they sell them on the open market though, parents can afford computer for there children to play and learn with. School Districts may be able to use them in class rooms for children, to replace traditional books, and reduce the cost of books.
N. A. Stuart
This will only counter the goal of the whole project. Some people will want to pay money just to have a few of these in their toy collection. As a result, some criminals will rob laptops from the children and sell them on ebay. Selling them cheap would instead make the value of a used laptop even less and also help lower cost.
I'm not sure if you're completely serious about doing that and I think its outside of the realm of possiblity for the OLPC people to fund or organize at this point.
I am very serious when I say I'd consider doing that: sign up for a year or two, have them fly me there (or i'd even pay my own airfair if i end up feeling that strongly about the potential of the project. I'm not that wholly convinced at this point.) Maybe they also get me some kind of formal certifications (like TEFL or something OLPC realted) give partner or two to work with. A small peace corps-like living stipend that gives me (or so I've read) an income about equal to those I'm working with.
When I graduate in a year and a half doing that sort of work, overseas or domestic service work, is something I'm seriously considering, it beats getting a 9-5 office hell job while i figure out my degree is useless and head back to school for a masters in something specific but equally un-employable.
And, like you said, I end up with a computer at the end of it. I could (and will given the chance) get behind buying an OLPC for 3 or 4 hundred and sending 2 or 3 computers to the programs purchasing them. The program has stated that the costs is still at about $135 per unit, so perhaps having people interested could subsidize the cost so they could sell the laptops at their $100 price point before they actually get the hardware costs down that far. This seems a better solution then buying a laptop for a child in the 3rd world since that seems to not quite mesh with the program's stated goal of selling the laptops to nations wishing to purchase them.
The OLPC issue is making it crystal clear that there is no such thing as free market self-regulation. It is obvious that the market demands machines like these. The fact that none is available shows that producers control the market, not consumers, and whoever thinks otherwise lives in delusion.
After seeing what it did for Wii and PS3, they're telling us we can't get them. In a few weeks, they'll sell them for $500 each on ebay.
It's a good funding idea in the "afluent" west as well, for all sorts of reasons.
... that represents a lot of people who not only need food and shelter but also the benefits of modern communications.
The idea that everyone is rolling in money in USA and Europe is a myth propagated by Hollywood, the media and politicians, because the reality of the situation is neither popular nor a vote winner. If anyone doubts that, just check the stats on homeless people right across the richest nations. 37 million people in the USA alone were living below the poverty line at the last count
I suspect that OLPC's caution in approaching sales in the west is more to do with the impact this might have on how his very worthwhile project is perceived abroad, rather than whether we would benefit from it too. We would, and I don't mean just us techies who want to play with the gadget. It's sad, but many anonymous people whom we pass in the street daily actually *need* this thing.
"The question of whether machines can think is no more interesting than [] whether submarines can swim" - Dijkstra
Those Sally Struthers adds didn't teach you much about Africa, did they?
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Michalis Bletsas, chief connectivity officer for the project, told the BBC that the industry should be thinking less about pushing technology designed for the Western world on the rest of the planet, and more about developing technologies specifically for the developing world. "The way to do it is not to try and deploy tried and trusted technology but to try and develop technology specifically targeted to the developing world,"
This is misguided. If the "Western" world has no contact with the platform because the "Western" world has been arbitrarily prevented from sharing the platform, what the heck is the third world going do with it? How much digital content has emerged from the third world? It's not like a $100 device is going to also come with a communications infrastructure and host high load Wikipedias. These things are strickly clients! Clients of whom?
Selling the device to "Western" consumers will multiply production volume. I'd buy one in a heartbeat at enough of a premium to fund the units they give away. Higher volume means more bargaining power negotiating component prices and, therefore, lower cost per unit. It doesn't matter if my demand drives up the price; as long as I pay more than the production cost I'm paying for the discounted units. The fact that the brilliant thinking behind this has pegged some arbitrary figure to the units ($100) is boneheaded; the only thing that matters is whether the intended third world beneficiaries can afford their share of the price, damn the cost. I guess when your busy de-Westernizing your product you can't be bothered with economics.
If you're really hard up for one of these things there is nothing to worry about. Most of the hardware will be stolen by third world dictators and funneled right back to the "Western" world via Ebay. No doubt it will then become necessary to criminalize it. Fixing reality is difficult.
Lurking at the bottom of the gravity well, getting old
I'm too lazy to read all the other replies, but isn't it obvious they should make it sellable to the general public for more than $100? All kinds of people would want to buy one for whatever reason. That would offset the cost to the poor nations so much I wouldn't be surprised if then they could be given away for free to them! Gimme a break!
Were these little devices sold to the consumer market, they'd become feature competition devices and the prices would go up.
But if they are only delivered as sponsored charity hardware, any future design changes can incorporate additional "obsolete" hardware that normally gets "dumped" by the VLSI and hardware manufacturers into secondary or tertiary markets. By shifting that inventory to charity hardware, they get a tax write off, good press, and help out a lot of people.
Win-win-win-win... there is no limit to n.
I do not fail; I succeed at finding out what does not work.
There are many, -many-, -many- places in the United States where similar democratization of technology would be of immense benefit. I'm not really miffed at the fact that they won't sell one to me. I'm miffed that they aren't working with school districts domestically to address our -internal- needs to spread education and welfare, and instead condescend that other children elsewhere need this sort of "assistance" more.
I'm not implying that they don't need to be given the chance to deal with these problems. I'm just stating that looking afar for opportunities to do good is stupid on the face of it, when there are many worthy domestic persons that need education, funding, and/or encouragement.
It's similar to my feelings around the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Want to do something -really- good? Don't just buy HIV drugs for people overseas. Buy patents, or fund disruptive biotechnology in countries everywhere, to innovate novel drugs, to bust the patent stranglehold on these medicines, and help lift the boat for the undereducated, the sick, and the weary throughout the world, including those in the first world. Highly tanned individuals dead or undereducated overseas are tragic, but similarly dead or undereducated individuals in the first would.. or, *gasp* poor white trash, are every bit as tragic.
If this world is truly a globalist, interconnected, all-singing, all-dancing capitalistic love-fest that means that everybody has superb opportunity, then by all means, let's please help everybody.
N.B.: I'm a native Kentuckian. I clawed out of crap to get where I am today, and I'm proud that I could, but my family were committed to my success. Of the eight other young men who grew up in my immediate area, one is in prison for molesting his daughter- who incidentally was born when he and his girlfriend were 15- three have been in and out of jail for various petty offenses steadily over the last decade or so, one is dead- shot in a robbery attempt, one managed to graduate high school, but has worked crud jobs, and has had many jobs lost over the intervening years.. one managed to hack some college, and is a hotel manager now.. and I managed to get out, get my schooling done, and get a good tech job, and I've since moved on to working at a university. Those are -long-, long odds. And that's one block of white children. That doesn't even take into account the obstacles that young, poor people of color have to get past, nor does it consider gender. Barefoot and pregnant isn't a joke in poor areas. It's a way of life. My own mother was sixteen when I was born. I know whereof I speak.
So really: OLPC for the third world? Super idea. How about OLPC for the ENTIRE world though. The United States is the land of the well-to-do... and the land of shit. We've got plenty of third-world inside our own borders to ignore anymore.
I think they are not sure about offering this model for sale to consumers is because of one thing... resale.
If this model is for sale to say people in developed countries, people will buy it, but also people will start selling them second hand on eBay etc. Now you have created a market for this and second hand dealers will be looking for more stock and do you know who they will go for first? Thats right, those poor people who's kids got a OLPC. One if some second hard dealer offers them a even a handful of dollars, poor are going to jump at that chance of short-term gain. Remember some of these people who have OLPC might have more immediate concerns about how to feed, clothe & house themselves.
So if they make this version available only through government programs they can ban resales of these. Anybody selling this model will be selling a product obtained illegally.
So I am pretty sure they will not sell this model. However I really hope they sell different 'consumer' model of these.
-AC
If the OLPC project won't sell one of these to me for $200, I'm sure an OLPC recipient will.
Typical elitist socialist ivory tower BS I've seen my whole life. Look at what 40 years of elitist causes have done for Africal so far.
There are plenty of people down here in New Orleans living in trailers and on the streets and in gutted (or worse, not yet gutted) houses full of mold and feces (No everyone, New Orleans is NOT back to normal, and won't be for at least 20 years, even though the TV keeps showing you the French Quarter is full of puking tourists), living in conditions worse than in many parts of Africa.
But whatever. Africa is the Elitist cause celebre even 10 years like clockwork. It's a way they psychologically deal with their guilt arising from being elitist snobs.
I absolutely agree. And make the charity markup ones A DIFFERENT COLOUR. Then a) you can tell I didn't steal it off a kid, or buy it on the black market and b) I get the credit when people see my "Donor Model" OLPC.
Cultural bias abounds. Not only does it make sense to apply the concept everywhere there is need, but it also makes sense to consider where the culture would be most receptive. Poor children in inner cities in the United States at least have a cultural context for technology. It would seem that the very idea that "computers in the classroom" could improve education is a western concept. So the project is applying this western concept to third world nations, trying to somehow "specifically target" it, and refusing to offer it where it fits in naturally?
Hey, My kids could use a boost in the schools.... Schools are not buying them laptops, why can't I purchase this as a parent for my kids to use? Sure, I don't need crank generators and such, but the pricepoint would help a lot of under privilaged neighborhood schools in even the USA.
Oh, is that a dirty little secret that folks want everyone to get better chances, but not the kids in the USA schools, because USA & Other developed countries are already ahead of the pack sooooo much that we have to hold their kids back so the rest of the world can catch up?
I don't get it... If they made it freely available, Market laws would kick in, and eventually it would get cheaper and cheaper... This is for learning, not a nintendo.
--- Relax, that mass muderer is just trying to reduce our carbon footprint, one fetus at a time...
The warranty cost alone would make it a money losing proposition to sell them in the US.
Remember, it's ok to dump whatever trash we want on the 3rd world and have no liability.
Besides, the real purpose of the project is to train the next generation of help desk/call center dones. We're not looking to educate them in anything productive, we just want to build the next ultra cheap workforce for the "service" industry.
There's absolutely no reason why they shouldn't sell to "ordinary consumers". On the contrary, selling 100k more laptops, maybe at a premium markup of $50 apiece, they will effectively lower both the risk of production, and the costs for the actual developing countries. By spreading fixed costs over more quantity, they can also sell the machines for a lower price overall. But NAAAA, we don't want that, wouldn't we?
Some people here are advocating to sell the $150 laptop for $300, but that's destined to fail too. Remember: price is subjective, so people will only buy the laptop is they think they'll have some value in it.
At $300, most people here will simply buy used Thinkpads off ebay, and at $300, many people in developing countries are likely to sell their cheap $150 machines to developed countries.
OLPC: please learn some business and economics.
Don't worry about getting one. If you want want one the market will work it out. Someone with a gun in the 3rd world will realize they can get cash for these laptops from people in the 1st world.
I think it would be nice for MY kids to carry a portable notepad, encyclopedia, communicator with them to school that is near impossible to break even when on school trips. Current laptops don't qualify ; so far a pen & pencil is superior in every way.
If introduced in the now neglected "first" world, this could spur development of a huge quantity of educational materials. (Eg. Wikipedia, but with animated examples and at different levels of difficulty (eg. for pre-schoolers to PHD's) which in turn would be also available as a basis for the third world projects that still need to develop their digital education materials (but probably cannot afford to spend millions getting this done from scratch) . OLPC needs to handle this carefully, it has lots of potential, but without the backstory (eg. the education materials) its just a green box of wires.
Sounds like the beginning of the Diamond age here...
Simply put and very direct.
I have been highly critical of the OLPC project since the beginning for precisely the very reasons you have given, and more, as it shows a sort of arrogance and complete lack of understanding of economics on the part of the major contributors to this project.
And while Ebay may be able to stop the sale of these particular computers explicitly in some sort of weird new policy specific to the OLPC project, they have no legal obligation to do so, nor is it going to stop a grey market of these computers coming from corrupt governments.
And as I've said repeatedly, if we can't possibly get an assurance that wheat, rice, and corn will actually get to the "struggling masses" due to diversions by corrupt governments and teeming gangsters using it for their own means, why do you possibly think that electronic equipment will end up in the hands of the same people (or not be subject to similar corruption)?
Many of these same governments that the OLPC project is targeted for have also shown repeated problems with similar kind of aid programs where instead of trying for a better education, these programs have a simplier goal: Simply feed the hungry and poor. Yet billions of dollars worth of aid (both private and direct government grants) get wasted or to even see the food get buried, burned, or fed to cattle in a deliberate attempt to make sure that it doesn't get to the intended target.
This isn't to say that the OLPC effort shouldn't necessarily be tried, but there is not legitimate reason not to have a western consumer version produced by perhaps a seperate group that also wants to help support financially the OLPC effort.
From what I can tell, the OLPC group has "sold their souls for 30 pieces of silver" to major manufacturers of electronic components just for a temporary price break. The only reason I can possibly see to justify this stance is that in order to get some of the parts for these computers, they had to sign a "3rd world only" agreement with computer equipment manufacturers in order to get parts. While this was talked about briefly at the very beginning of this project, I don't see that being used as an excuse currently. I also have no doubt that alternative suppliers could be found for any parts that have such an agreement if they really cared to look, even if it might result in a slight delay in production.
This is also why there desperately needs to be some sort of "open source" version of computer hardware, or based on similar freedom principles. But that is for another thread elsewhere.
Most of the posts so far are just whining assholes , saying "me, me, me, me, me !". Virtual threats, like "if they don't sell it here, it will create a black market and I'll get one off ebay" or "what good is it without first world (read MY) participation" and "I want one because .... or else".
This whole project has been designed to fulfill a purpose, and that purpose is not to provide yet another gadget for bored geeks. Would any of you complain because the Red Cross don't rush around to your house when you run out of water or food in the fridge ? These devices are being sold to governments to lend to their nations children for education purposes. You are not paying for them, you didn't pay to design them, you have no stake in them whatsoever.
It's ironic that none of you minded there being a disparity in technology between first and third worlds when it was in favour of the first world. Now it's a case of "they shouldn't have it unless we do too !". The same attitude that arose from Kyoto - why should China and India be allowed to burn fossil fuels if we have to cut down ? After all, we've only had that luxury for 200 years or more, why should they get the same chances as us ? After all if we have to use clean technology (based on our mature industries) why shouldn't they suddenly see the light and be forced to buy from us ?
Are you that scared and materialistic that everything must be equally shared out across the whole world, or not be shared at all ? Sounds a bit like (Oooer) communism !
Most of us are adults, and we don't whine when the kids get put first in the queue. Grow the fuck up !
Many people seem to be under the impression that since the laptops aren't on sale (and I could tell the recent story saying they are was rubbish) that it is somehow anti-US or something. Just keep in mind that it is all organised through governments purhasing and then distributing the machines. Think not "They are keeping westerners out" and think more "They are not completely changing their distribution system in order to cater for those in developed nations who have not only got enough cash for their own, but are willing to pay even higher costs in the hope of sending a single laptop to a child somewhere in the world, not thinking how difficult this would be to implement and how it's most effective form would be to cut the costs for the interested governments, sparking a massive international argument about which country is more needy than the others". If you want one then get your government to sign up, find a kid, then steal her laptop.
Those of us who cut our teeth on an earlier generation of personal computers will know exactly what typing on one of these will feel like, especially when you read the words "1.2mm stroke sealed rubber-membrane key-switch assembly"...
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OLPC Dimensions: W193mm × D229mm × 64mm
(from http://wiki.laptop.org/wiki/Hardware_specificatio
ZX Spectrum Dimensions: Width 233mm Depth 144mm Height 30mm
(from http://www.nvg.ntnu.no/sinclair/computers/zxspect
The world has changed and we all have become metal men.
> Education is the only solution to the problems of the third world.
Uhm, no.
There is something else called "Free Trade", the absence of which currently ensures that most of the third world _stays_ third world.
Of course, opening borders for foreign products is a Bad Thing (tm) for the employment rate, for national companies, etc., and so it isn't done.
The people who make happy meal toys don't seem to have trouble churning out a new model every week with digital sound synthesis and mechanical movement for a few cents a unit. For people that clever getting OLPC under a hundred bucks a unit should be a snap. They should hire them.
Help stamp out iliturcy.