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Negroponte vs Intel

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the in-this-corner dept.

Yogi_Stewart_4 writes "More OLPC/Intel love — apparently Intel used 'underhanded' tactics to try to block sales' contracts of the OLPC, trying to reach the customer directly after an agreement had been reached. "They would go in even after we had signed contracts and try to persuade government officials to scrap their contract and sign a contract with them instead. That's not a partnership." Mr Negroponte cited an example in Peru where Intel sales staff tried to persuade the country's vice-minister of education, Oscar Becerra Tresierra, to buy the Intel Classmate PC."

3 of 283 comments (clear)

  1. The classmate hardware SUCKS, at least... by nweaver · · Score: 5, Informative

    IF targeting the 3rd world, the classmate sucks:

    a) There are cooling holes on it! Hello dirt and debris.

    b) The keyboard is non ruggedized, at least compared to the XO.

    c) It uses a conventional montior arrangement rather than the OLPC "behind the monitor" arrangement. This means that it has a complex, wire heavy connector through the hinge rather than just a USB and power connection.

    I don't see how the classmate could last 6 months in a third world environment.

    I question some of the OLPC's intent, but their hardware design blows away that Intel POS its not even funny.

    --
    Test your net with Netalyzr
  2. Re:Negroponte by hhas · · Score: 5, Informative

    "Classmate specs are better than XO. There is a bit of goods in XO hardware, but not all that much"

    Depends on your definition of 'better'. I don't think the OLPC hardware should be underestimated. The Classmate may have a faster processor and more storage, but it also has a shorter battery life, no 'e-book' mode, no mesh network, isn't nearly as rugged or user serviceable, and costs more. Given that a 366MHz processor and 128MB RAM is a perfectly respectable combo as long as the software is tuned for it, flexibility and longevity ought to be a more significant factor than raw [on-paper] grunt.

    There's a nice recent take-apart here:

    http://www.bunniestudios.com/blog/?p=218

    Obviously a great deal of thought and design has gone into these beasties. If only my own (much-battered) machines were built like that...

  3. Poor Documentation by ISoldat53 · · Score: 5, Informative

    I agree. The support wiki is full of holes but it seems to be getting filled out. The great advantage I see in the buy-one-give-one program was to get it in the hands of people in the FOSS community that can find such weaknesses and fix them. We can support OLPC by developing applications and providing input to the project.