Former OLPC CTO Aims to Create $75 Laptop

Posted by timothy on Thursday January 10, 2008 @07:03AM from the go-go-mary-lou dept.

theodp writes "Mary Lou Jepsen, who left her One Laptop Per Child CTO gig on Dec. 31st, has reemerged with her sights set on a $75 laptop that will be designed by her new company, Pixel Qi, which is described as a 'spin-out' from OLPC. In a Groklaw interview, Jepsen calls for 'a $50-75 laptop in the next 2-3 years' and says it's time to go Crazy-Eddie on touchscreen prices as well." This is probably good news to Bruce Perens, who thinks that the recent report of Microsoft's dual-boot XO project (with Windows as well as the Linux-based Sugar OS) is a feint driven by Microsoft's fear of "the entire third world learning Linux as children." Update: 01/10 21:22 GMT by T : ChelleChelle adds a link to an excellent interview with Jepsen in the ACM Queue, in which she discusses OLPC and some of the technologies it contains.

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the question is... by Bored+MPA · 2008-01-10 07:24 · Score: 0, Flamebait

Is this legit, or is their company funded by folks trying to undercut OLPC? Either way, vaporware is a very good strategy to get folks not to buy OLPC and to slow down the development (heh) of that market.

I haven't had my coffee, but this sort of announcement is also great cover for players (intel?, ms?) who want more time to boost alternatives to OLPC with more vendor/tech lock-in. Buyers/countries will consider waiting even longer to make a decision (the buyers aren't in a rush) based on lower price and new tech expectations.