Mass OLPC Production Begins

eldavojohn writes to tell us that mass production of the first XO laptops has officially started. "The commencement of mass production means children in developing nations could have the rugged, open-source laptops in hand starting this month. The OLPC has already announced orders for kids in Uruguay and Mongolia. (Residents of the U.S. and Canada participating in the Give 1 Get 1 program--which donates an XO to a child in a developing nation for every machine sold online--are expected to start getting laptops in December.)"

Comments

Re:If you work in IT, you shouldn't support OLPC

[$RANDOMLUSER]

OLPC is a thinly-veiled attempt by corporations to create the next generation of IT "professionals" they can ship in to work for a third of what you charge. They're really laughing it up that they can do this is under the guise of a humanitarian gesture and get all the tax breaks to boot. There will be no Americans in IT in 20 years.

Not with an attitude like that. You're not entitled to a high-paying job, you have to compete for it. The way to compete is to stay educated. Provide more value than "someone working for a third of what you do now".

But a nice troll, nonetheless.

Re:If you work in IT, you shouldn't support OLPC

[jay-be-em]

I remain at a loss as to why so many of my fellow Americans seem to believe
that by being born within these borders they deserve a job.

Having lived and worked in a developing African country I would much rather
see jobs go to people who work their asses off with few educational and
technical resources than to lazy Americans who don't even appreciate
the educational opportunities available here.

Fortunately not all Americans are as such, and those few will remain
competitive, by working their asses off, just as it should be, not by
being born with the national silver spoon in their mouths.

Re:If you work in IT, you shouldn't support OLPC

[xappax]

Outsourcing is shitty, but the solution isn't to keep third world kids stupid and computer-illiterate. We need to demand that US corporations take more responsibility for the local workers and towns who have carried them this far. Big business will screw over local workers as much as they can get away with, but we can reign them in as a society simply by demanding more than low, low prices. Support local businesses, boycott unethical/irresponsible companies. We don't need to resort to sabotaging the educational systems of other countries.

Geode LX-700

[Weaselmancer]

It's got a nice processor, the Geode LX-700.

That's a lot of oomph actually. I know we're all used to our 3ghz desktops, but think about how nice 700mhz(equiv) actually is. I've got a refurbished eMachines 650 in my basement. It plays divx video with no problems.

You could use one of these as a portable entertainment center easy. Or how about a router? The thing is designed for minimum power draw. Use one in your basement as a router that works the way you want it to work.

A sub $200 x86 with that kind of horsepower and power specs has hundreds of uses.

Re:If you work in IT, you shouldn't support OLPC

[Ed Avis]

I shouldn't have to compete with every twit in every 3rd world country willing to work for the cost of a soda a day.

Maybe you think that, but the person paying the wages probably thinks otherwise. Since they are paying the bills, their opinion counts. You are, of course, free to start a company employing only workers on Western salaries if you believe that's how it should be. Let whichever provides the best service win.

Re:Age of entitlement.

[kestasjk]

An "entitlement state"? Is this the new buzzphrase that makes a complex situation seem really simple?

I thought the government was paralyzing us with fear, and helping the rich get richer. Isn't "state of fear" that the current anti-government line?

The reason the western world has it better than most of the rest of the world is a complex and interesting one, that can't be boiled down to politicians telling us we deserve something or rich people paying for everything good in our lives. All that matters for your argument is that America does have a very high GDP, as does the rest of the developed world. Because we're developed we're more productive; America isn't a country of people on welfare who are all wealthy for some inexplicable reason, businesses don't thrive in the US because the government is stealing from the rich, China accepts US credit for a reason.

If you don't think we deserve this or that modern convenience then give them up. Don't write on a laptop about how "ohh we are so terrible, we don't deserve laptops and cheese graters, damn government! No Mr Bush I don't deserve this fancy car you say I'm entitled to and that you're willing to pay for at the expense of the rich, give me a horse and buggy like they probably all use in China! I'm going to help the developing world by denying myself the cell phones and cars they manufacture."


On outsourcing, while I'm writing: My experience with outsourcing is limited to freelance sites like rentacoder.com , where people across the world can bid on software projects. I found that the prices for bids quoted by people in India or Romania or China are right in line with prices I would quote. There are no coders living in tents that will write SQL server for a hundred US dollars.

A lot of the outsourcing by Microsoft and the like to India Research is often done because it lets them get more done per day; as Redmond goes to sleep Bombay is getting down to work, as Bombay goes to sleep Cambridge is putting the coffee on, as Cambridge goes to sleep Redmond is checking its e-mail and seeing what progress has been made.

If you're really scared about outsourcing rather than fight the market you should want these countries to develop as quickly as possible so that everyone is on a level playing field. India will have more IT pros, but it'll need them in their own economy.

Some background from Uruguay

[Acer500]

I'm from Uruguay (the country that has actually gone out and bought the XOs), and... it's not at all like you imagine it.

We have electricity and running water everywhere, better literacy than the US and public education for everyone (better than that of the US if Slashdot whining is to be believed !)

On the other hand, average wages are about U$ 300/month, and so a computer is a luxury item for most, and very especially for parents of school-age children like the ones which will be the recipient of the XO.

You can read at the unofficial Proyecto Ceibal blog (the Uruguayan OLPC initiative) about how this has the potential to be a nice step forward :)

http://olpc-ceibal.blogspot.com/