Intel, Microsoft Despised the XO Laptop

gregsim writes "The Wall Street Journal today reports that the new XO laptop, centerpiece of the One Laptop Per Child project, is stimulating an active response from both Intel and Microsoft. The companies evidently feel threatened by the little upstart, intended to help third-world children. (The XO runs Linux and uses AMD chips.) Microsoft has cut their software to $3 each and Intel has designed their own laptop called the Classmate to sell between $230 and $300, nearly double the XO's price. Rather than defend the relative merits of his creation, professor Negroponte is crying foul and (if the article is to be believed) not even arguing the technical merits. The initial demand for the XO has fallen well below Mr. Negroponte's projections as Intel and Microsoft have successfully argued that their entries are superior. 45,000 have been ordered through the Give One, Get One campaign. I am happy that I ordered mine — it will be a landmark model in any case."

Comments

Negroponte's Dumb Idea

[tjstork]

The thing is, Negroponte's $100 laptop suffers from the same flaw as Ford's Model T ultimately did. A used computer will probably give you more capability than a cheap new one. I think for $150, you could buy a notebook that's better than this "everyman's computer", and while you were at it, you could probably buy a used generator.

Re:Competition is good

[PopeRatzo]

Competition is good

Not when it's a fight to the death, as most MS competitions tend to be.

Re:Competition is good

[DerekLyons]

Good question, and the answer is that Negroponte's goal is NOT to get cheap laptops in the hands of poor children.

http://laptop.org/vision/index.shtml

                    "It's an education project, not a laptop project."

                -- Nicholas Negroponte

 
Correct - but the education he seeks to provide isn't school or book learning - but his particular political slant on computing and communications. That's why Negroponte cries foul rather than defending OLPC, because he knows that he really doesn't have a leg to stand on.

Re:Competition is good

[Lord Apathy]

Why ignore it? It is a good point. Africans have large families and breed out of control. Their population has gone far beyond the ability for subsistence farming to sustain. So, no, the only source of farming labor no longer holds water. The only way they could continue to support such a large population with the breeding practices that africans are used to is with modern farming equipment. Farming equipment, to be frank, the africans are just to stupid to use.

There, I said it, the africans are stupid. It needed to be said and it's the truth. An I don't mean just dumb, I mean goat fucking, out smarted by a tree stump level stupidity. I think we can reasonably assume that most /. have at least a 100 IQ. The average among the "educated" africans is 70. The average among the bushmen is in the upper 50's to lower 60's.

These people are so stupid they shit and piss in their own water supply. They use fresh cow shit for some type of cosmetic bullshit. And that is just two examples that I can think of. They need to be taught that when you are stealing gasoline not to light a match while you are covered with it.

That is what you are facing when you try to bring africa into the 21 century. Throwing a 100 toy computer at it isn't going to solve any problems. Because the base problems are still going to be there.