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One Laptop Per Child and Intel Join Forces
dan the person writes "A Wired piece informs us that Intel and the OLPC project have put their bickering behind them. They have joined forces to ensure 'the maximum number of laptops will reach children'. '"What happened in the past has happened," said Will Swope of Intel. "But going forward, this allows the two organisations to go do a better job and have better impact for what we are both very eager to do which is help kids around the world." "Intel joins the OLPC board as a world leader in technology, helping reach the world's children. Collaboration with Intel means that the maximum number of laptops will reach children," said Nicholas Negroponte, founder of One Laptop per Child. The new agreement means that Intel will sit alongside companies such as Google and Red Hat as partners in the OLPC scheme.'"
Wonderful. Intel, maker of the Classmate PC, a DIRECT COMPETITOR to the OLPC (or so they say) is now teaming up with it. This is a transparent bid to relegate the OLPC to permanent second-class citizenship. With friends like these, who needs enemies?
~Eien no Inori wo Sasagete~ Searching for my Hatsumi...
that AMD processor won't last long in the OLPC machines ...
that we're going to have a lot more children discovering internet porn sooner? :O
I can just imagine the next generation of kids.
Before the US becomes a 3rd world country due to competition from India and China who can get the OLPC Laptop in special deals to make their next generation of children more competitive?
I've seen two examples of schools in my local neighborhood bragging about how their gifted fifth-grade students were using Powerpoint to give their school reports. In one case, I saw an example of it with all sort of pictures, and the GATE teacher bragged, "and one report had a video on it!!"
Of course, I'm thinking how pathetically easy it is to put together this sort of presentation, and I was struck not by the content (as I should), but by how much the teacher valued the flash over the substance of the report.
If we want to make our children more "competitive", maybe it would be a better idea to keep computers away from them as long as possible. Any idiot can learn to use a computer. I'd rather end up with educated children.
Sometimes it's best to just let stupid people be stupid.
I expect one of three things to happen:
1. The second generation of OLPC units will ship with Intel inside.
2. Intel will suck as much information as it can out of the OLPC project before going its own way again.
3. Intel will stay onboard at OLPC but do its best to bog the project down while pushing its competing solutions to the developing world.
None of those scenarios particularly appeal to me, but if I had to choose between them I'd go for the first one.
"Accept that some days you are the pigeon, and some days you are the statue." - David Brent, Wernham Hogg
It's a great idea and a noble goal. But there's still a lot of valid questions about how good an idea this specific project is. Aside from the clear opportunity for people, government and corporations to take advantage of good intentions, there's a consistent theme of imposing western/northern hemisphere values for the wrong people place/application.
It's not unlike the good intentions that led to rebuilding of "better" houses in Sumatra for instance after the great Tsunami. Modern, western style housing just doesn't make sense there. It uses and demands much more freshwater than traditional homes and no-one can afford to run them. As a result the population has typically abandoned the new homes, which remain unoccupied, in favour of traditional homes.
In fact I would argue that corporations (and governments who use money to buy these computers) will likely breed more hostility and resentment than anything by disseminating computers to people who can't afford three squares a day.
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I remember reading an article about schools in the US who have given out laptops to children. The article concluded, that laptops have been a mixed blessing, and certainly have not contributed to higher grades. In fact, they have been deemed a nuisance in the classroom by some, causing disruption and being a distraction to students (surfing porn in class, lol). Maintenance issues have also been cited as a major drawback of such programs.
Of course the OLPC is directed at very young children, children who live in third world countries and have software that is specifically designed for classroom use.
Laptops in classrooms are certainly the future, but the whole thing needs to be well thought out and isn't just a matter of handing out laptops.
Having said that, I do support the OLPC project and hope western countries will realize the benefit of these computers.
Some say he is made with ascii, others that he is eyeballed daily by millions. All we know is, he is known as the Sig
You have to remember that philanthropy is often done by people with passion. Nicholas Negroponte was the co-founder of the MIT Media Laboratory, so naturally he's passionate about computers. One thing about the nature of passion is that one who is passionate wants to instill the same passion in others. Negroponte has passion about computers (and money, which definitely helps), so let him express his philanthropy as he wants. So perhaps the question shouldn't be, "Why isn't Negroponte giving food and medicine?" but rather "Why isn't there some other rich philanthropist who is passionate about feeding kids and making sure they have decent medical care?" There's no shortage of rich men.
Also, let's face it: giving food and medicine (a) just isn't sexy to the press and so doesn't garner support easily and (b) giving food and medicine is a never-ending job. Unlike giving a kids a laptop, you have to feed them three times a day every day. Even the most passionate philanthropist would likely burn out.
Another thing you need to consider is the potential for kids to rise above their situation. Feeding kids just makes them not hungry; the results of giving kids access to the internet is unknown buy potentially unbounded.
Consider what was done in Born into Brothels: poor children of prostitutes were given cameras. Could the kids have used more/better food/medicine? Of course. But what resulted from the cameras was (a) art and, for a few children, (b) a way out of their bleak station in life from their art and notoriety is garnered. As useful as food and medicine might be, it offers no hope of escaping their bleak lives. Who knows what kids might accomplish with laptops? Wouldn't it be interesting to find out?
If you reply, do so only to what I explicitly wrote. If I didn't write it, don't assume or infer it.
You know what the worst part is? This is actually a regression from what we had 15 years ago when I was in 5th grade!
Back then, we had Hypercard -- like PowerPoint, except programmable. Not only could we have embedded videos in our stacks (if sufficiently fast machines had been available, anyway), but we could also program animations, link together our cards/slides in non-linear ways, and even build applications with it.
Between Hypercard, LOGO, and games like Number Munchers and Oregon Trail, computers were better used for education back then than they are today!
"[Regarding the 'cloud,'] ownership was what made America different than Russia." -- Woz
I guess you would also give bad grades to black kids because they had different accents? Who the hell are you?
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WHO ATE MY BREAKFAST PANTS?