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OLPC Says No Plans for Consumer Release

Posted by Zonk on from the us-doesn't-have-poor-folks dept.

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."

42 of 208 comments (clear)

  1. Well, which is it? by LotsOfPhil · · Score: 4, Insightful
    "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.

    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.
    1. Re:Well, which is it? by drinkypoo · · Score: 5, Insightful
      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.

      Uh, education is the only answer to problems with sanitation, starvation, etc. If someone just comes in and does things for you, then you become dependent on them. It's been shown in the past that when you give a lot of food away, people produce less food, people are healthier, people are more able to reproduce... and their ability to produce food is decreased while their need for food is increased.

      But if you instead educate people and teach them the values of sanitation, the dangers of unprotected sex, new methods of food cultivation, production, preparation, and preservation... then you have given them a gift which will benefit them every day, inform their every action, and which they can pass on to their children.

      Education is the only solution to the problems of the third world. We cannot solve their problems for them. Even if we solved every problem we would have created a world full of dependents. If that's really what you want, then by all means focus on just giving the necessities of daily life to people.

      I'm not saying we shouldn't give people food - but what I am saying is that we shouldn't give people food (or anything else) without giving them education and that education is the most valuable gift we can give them.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    2. Re:Well, which is it? by namityadav · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I agree completely. Although I am still not sure if I'll be as convinced by your statements if I replace "education" with "laptops".

      What I am trying to say is that although education is certainly the only way to solve the problems in the third-world, I am still not sure if OLPC is the best way to provide that education.

    3. Re:Well, which is it? by DragonWriter · · Score: 3, Insightful
      There is a surplus of used computers in the world, these are the computers people in poor areas need.


      No, they aren't. They aren't designed for use in rural areas with limited power and other infrastructure, the OLPC machines are. Further, the used computers aren't to one standard, the OLPC machines are, which enables national ministries of education buying them to support them more easily, and have standard software and content that works the same on all of them. Etc.

      They would be cheaper than $150 each to buy and ship,


      Not much, if at all.

      and they would be of far more use than these crappy laptops.


      Actually, they'd be far less use. They aren't designed for the use they'd be put to, they often aren't reliable to start with, they don't present a common, open platform. They don't, unlike the OLPC machines, have keyboards specific to the receiving country to accommodate national languages. In short, they are nearly, if not entirely, useless for the role that the OLPC machines are targetted for.

    4. Re:Well, which is it? by pclminion · · Score: 2, Funny

      Can you think of a better way of enabling people to teach themselves about virtually anything than giving them access to the internet?

      Teach themselves? How? The ability to learn is, itself, a learned skill. And hey, being able to read is a big help, too. I suppose the illiterate will just acquire reading skills through osmosis from the sheer volume of data on the Internet.

      The Internet, by and large, is full of junk. It consists mostly of people's opinions and ramblings. Without the ability to judge information critically, this is about as useful to a 3rd world dweller as a screen door is on a submarine. Believe it or not, your own ability to use the Internet effectively stems from your 1st world education, not some innate ability you have.

      I've got an idea. When you have a child, don't teach it to read, and don't send it to school. Also, starve it a little bit (just a little, you don't want Child Services on your ass). But provide it with a laptop from birth. Give no other assistance. Let's see how your kid stacks up against mine in 18 years.

      Why, I bet with the ingenuity he gains from the laptop, he'll be coming up with all SORTS of neat ideas to get food. And once he gets his own farm up and running and doesn't have to worry about that anymore, by God, he'll have time to teach himself arithmetic with Google calculator! Well, once he manages to teach himself how to read, first. But that part's a cinch.

    5. Re:Well, which is it? by namityadav · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Okay, here goes my karma .. but dude, CALM DOWN !! It's not like I've kidnapped your kid for ransom or something.

      The post above mine was talking about how "education" is the only answer to solving the misery in the third-world, not free food or free service for sanitation. And although I agree to his points about education, I don't think that OLPC is a synonym to "education" (YET, at least). And although I definitely approve (Not that it matters) and appreciate the OLPC concept, that does not mean that I think that OLPC is the best way to provide education at this point and time.

      It's like saying that although drinking soda is better than not drinking any liquid at all, but it's still not as good as drinking water.

    6. Re:Well, which is it? by hamelis · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Believe it or not, formalized education isn't necessary to learn most basic skills. Advanced, highly technical skills, yes. You don't learn to be a surgeon or theoretical physicist without formalized education, but you can learn to fix cars, write code, build a computer, write a novel, play the guitar, ride a bike, drive a car, almost anything else without formal (or informal) education. And, I mean.. saying that knowing how to learn is a learned skill is circular. C'mon.

      Lots of kids teach themselves to read. Through osmosis? Precisely. Did someone teach you how to talk? walk? No. Tens of millions of children learn to talk their native language every year, without any formal instruction, just by "osmosis" as you call it. They learn to walk largely the same way, with some help to avoid injuring themselves. Would kids start walking without all the fancy crap we have to help them learn? Well, humans seem to have done just fine for the first couple million years, so I'd say yes.

      Do people need to be taught to learn? Not in a joke. Humans are born learning machines: it is, simply put, what we do, what evolution has equipped us for. For you to say that children are born incapable of learning and somehow need to be taught to do so is simply ludicrous, and flies in the face of every shred of available evidence.

      You are right to say that basic needs are obviously a first priority. And a child who starts with more advantages ends up better off. But that doesn't mean that anyone needs a formalized education in order to learn, even to learn to read (which, let's face it, isn't that complex). Formalized education does not have a monopoly on learning. Giving kids laptops, and access to the Internet, however rudimentary, is vastly increasing the amount of information they have access to, and can learn by osmosis, just because they think it's interesting. It's not a panacea, but it's a fantastic idea.

  2. One of the more interesting ideas by soft_guy · · Score: 4, Interesting

    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
    1. Re:One of the more interesting ideas by Rik+van+Riel · · Score: 5, Interesting

      I've seen an early XO machine in action at the office (I'm lucky enough to have some of the XO team as colleagues) and I know I want one for my self, too.

      I would not mind buying two for children overseas - especially if the system of charitable contributions is set up so we end up with a "negative salestax" - but I do not want to miss out on one for myself either.

      The screen may be a bit small compared to what I use on my desktop, but it's got a decent resolution and can be read outside. I want to be able to sit on the deck or in the garden and edit wiki pages, browse the web, listen to music or show stuff using the built-in camera.

      The XO is also much more rugged than normal laptops. You can actually take it outside without worrying about it breaking because of dust or some raindrops. I want one :)

  3. clarification? by User+956 · · Score: 4, Funny

    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.
  4. Production by MBCook · · Score: 4, Insightful

    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.
    1. Re:Production by drinkypoo · · Score: 4, Insightful
      Perhaps they simply can't spare the production at this time?

      If that is true, then they are probably having problems with production already. Instead of giving away a laptop for each one purchased, they could use that money to improve production capacity, to do research on further cost reductions, or to pay for additional software development. It doesn't necessarily have to be a buy-two-get-one scheme to be useful.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
  5. That just seems dumb... by JoeLinux · · Score: 3, Interesting

    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.

  6. Why the hell not, by vespazzari · · Score: 5, Insightful

    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
    1. Re:Why the hell not, by afxgrin · · Score: 4, Interesting

      I was happy pledging to buy one for 3 times the price, and apparently that's not good enough. I just don't understand the logic behind restricting consumer's from purchasing one. I don't care to own a cheap laptop, i'm more interested in developing software that will operate well on these laptops. The idea is to push the hardware to the limit, as I might want to work with some of these people who will be eventually owning these machines.

    2. Re:Why the hell not, by DragonWriter · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Several reasons why not, most notably:

      1. Selling the same model would undermine the social-disapproval mechanism the project hopes will discourage a gray market in the OLPC machines; which is why the program has often said they are looking at making a distinctive derivative version of the machine for individual sale.

      2. The price point is controlled by the fact that they aren't supporting an infrastructure for individual sales/support/etc., only selling to national ministries of education in enormous lots. Paying twice the cost that governments were buying them for in bulk wouldn't be enough to support commercial individual sale and have excess "profit" to subsidize delivering one to the developing world.

  7. It's still a good funding idea... by grapeape · · Score: 4, Interesting

    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.

    1. Re:It's still a good funding idea... by stefanlasiewski · · Score: 2, Interesting

      One idea I heard floating around was the to buy one for yourself, you would have to buy one towards the initiative.

      This is similar to what the Freeplay Foundatation and C. Crane were doing with the Freeplay Lifeline Radios. Buy one for yourself, and one is donated to orphans in Rawanda.

      Apparently this wasn't popular enough, because it looks like Freeplay and C. Crane have discontinued the program. The radios were probably too large and ugly for most American shortwave consumers, I suppose.

      --
      "Can of worms? The can is open... the worms are everywhere."
  8. These guys seem to have no Goddamn clue by Rogerborg · · Score: 3, Funny

    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.
  9. Good Decision by Suriken · · Score: 4, Interesting

    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
  10. I too think it may be good by erroneus · · Score: 3, Insightful

    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.

  11. Everybody knows by KalvinB · · Score: 3, Interesting

    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
  12. Too popular? by Minimum_Wage · · Score: 2, Interesting

    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...

  13. A Question I didn't ask on the OLPC wiki.. by QuantumG · · Score: 2, Interesting

    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.
  14. Bullshit by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    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.

  15. Someone should design a PDA by rm999 · · Score: 2, Insightful

    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...

    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_Colo r.jpg

    1. Re:Someone should design a PDA by b0s0z0ku · · Score: 3, Insightful
      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.

      90% of "computing" work involves writing documents. This would do fine for the purpose. As it would for chatting, e-mail, and a lot of web browsing.

      Most adults wouldn't be caught outside using this:

      I seem to recall Apple selling quite a few clamshell iBooks. If anything, this is a bit more elegant and tasteful. I'd certainly buy one or two.

      -b.

  16. Chanel Conflict... by WoTG · · Score: 4, Insightful

    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.

    1. Re:Chanel Conflict... by DragonWriter · · Score: 3, Informative

      Probably not. The hesitancy is because OLPC sees social disapproval as a key component of discourage theft and resale, and therefore doesn't want to sell the same computers to the public; they've stated more than once that once they get rolling with the main units, they may look at a distinctive commercial derivative for individual sale.

    2. Re:Chanel Conflict... by mrchaotica · · Score: 2, Interesting
      once they get rolling with the main units, they may look at a distinctive commercial derivative for individual sale.

      What do you mean, "derivative?" All they need to do to is use a different color plastic for the case on the commercial version. That'll make it plenty "distinctive," and it's easy enough that they can sell them immediately!

      --

      "[Regarding the 'cloud,'] ownership was what made America different than Russia." -- Woz

  17. Or, put another way... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    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.

  18. Send in the clones by rawhite · · Score: 2, Funny

    And, what's to stop someone from copying this effort and go retail?

  19. You want what you can't have by coderpath · · Score: 2, Insightful

    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
  20. I've got a great idea.. by QuantumG · · Score: 3, Interesting

    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.
  21. Stupid? I would buy one... by kosmosik · · Score: 2, Interesting

    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.

  22. tiny by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    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.

  23. Focus on your Core Competancy by BillGatesLoveChild · · Score: 2, Insightful

    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! :-)

  24. idealism * reality = crime by Jump · · Score: 2, Insightful

    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.

  25. I'm there. by Chimera512 · · Score: 2, Interesting

    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.

  26. Free Market Delusion by alegrepublic · · Score: 2, Insightful

    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.

  27. Re:We have poor people in the West too by Hadlock · · Score: 2, Interesting

    *raises hand*
     
    Hi, I live below the poverty line according to my income. I'm typing this from a Powerbook in a (really fucking nice) 1200 sq ft apartment which I commute to work in a VW Jetta. I also pay for my own school (no student loans, paying out of pocket), I have $3000 in savings. I just got a promotion at where I work (movie theater!) but the pay raise hasn't come in yet. I've got Cable broadband, and it's fabulous. No handouts from my parents, doing this on my own. I had about $3000 in credit card debt at one point, but I've paid all but $300 of it off. Granted, I don't go out drinking every night or go eat out a lot, but my quality of life is far from what I thought I'd have to live like when I moved out.
     
    They say America is the land of dreams. I used to think that was crap, but compared to third world countries where people aren't even aware that they have other options, I know that in my country (the US) I have a lot of upward mobility, and by expressing a desire to move up in life, people are giving me opportunities to do so. I doubt that's happening currently in the Sudan.
     
    In two years I will go from making $12,000 a year to $22,000 this year to $45,000 a year, by being productive and focusing on what I need to do to move upward in life.
     
    The "poverty line" is a crock of bullshit in my opinion. The number of truly homeless people who refuse to get help and move on from the past tragedies in their lives is quite small. If you're unable to make $10,000 a year (what I would consider the true poverty line to be) you are most likely severely mentally handicapped.

    --
    moox. for a new generation.
  28. Make the 200% version a different colour by judd · · Score: 2, Insightful

    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.