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Negroponte Says Windows 'Runs Well' On XO Laptop
Stony Stevenson alerts us to comments from OLPC founder Nicholas Negroponte indicating his approval of Windows' performance on the XO laptop. Negroponte said in an email, "Sugar needs a wider basis, to run on more Linux platforms and to run under Windows." The full email is available at OLPC News. He was also quoted by the Associated Press as saying that Sugar "didn't have a software architect who did it in a crisp way," and cited the lack of Flash as an example. Negroponte continued, "There are several examples like that, that we have to address without worrying about the fundamentalism in some of the open-source community. One can be an open-source advocate without being an open-source fundamentalist."
Sorry, he's citing lack of Flash as an example of open source failing?!??!
The reason they went with Gnash in the first place was because the Adobe Flash player needs more CPU power than the entire damn machine had available.
How is hell is MS's bloatware supposed to fix that?
Negroponte decrying fundamentalism. That's rich.
"One can be an open-source advocate without being an open-source fundamentalist."
Nuh-uh!
Just another "DOJ fascist authoritarian totalitarian bootlicker" -- Zeio
The OLPC project has officially lost its way. I can buy Windows performance as being tangentially relevant, although I don't agree with it. But Flash?
Perhaps Nick Neg is more interested in delivering advertising to his customers than he is learning opportunities?
you can't get a little bit pregnant
I don't doubt that Windows 3.1 runs fine under VirtualBox running in Linux... Of course that might have been mentioned in the article, but who reads that anyway?
Yes it's an anecdote! Were you expecting original research in a Slashdot comment?
Is he trying to make us believe that they couldn't get a decent software architect at MIT??? I really have to wonder how many zeros were in the check that Ballmer wrote him.
Actually, what he said was "Windows, well... runs..."
If XP can't run well on the ASUS EePC, then I doubt it runs well on the XO. This letter is all hype.
Frankly, I think the OLPC project did a great job with their first release, but realize it is only a first release. I think they should diverge and release two models next time.
Model A is closer to the $100 price tag, and will sell better in certain countries. Features should be comparable to the current XO model, but flash memory, processors, etc. keep getting cheaper.
Model B is slightly closer to the ASUS in processing power and storage. Shape, chassis, etc. can all stay the same. It won't match the ASUS model, since power usage is a major concern. But if it were slightly more powerful, you might see a KDE build optimized for it, or maybe even a toned-down version of Windows.
Being able to support a more robust Linux distro, AND the possibility of Windows will be a huge selling point. If they can get a Model B at $250 a pop, they'd sell a ton of these as well.
http://blindscribblings.com - Tasty pop-culture in conceptual fashion.
Apple was willing to provide the OS for free, but were denied because it wouldn't be open source. Now Windows is OK?
Now we turn to RMS for his response...
http://blindscribblings.com - Tasty pop-culture in conceptual fashion.
Care to elaborate how exactly Sugar "sucks hard"? Seems it is fulfilling all the goals it was intended to.
How we know is more important than what we know.
The one thing I rather like about Sugar, is that the interface was designed to be accessible in countries lacking proper localization, using symbols heavily in the interface, and by representing data graphically perhaps moreso than via text in some places.
It also allows young children who can't read to interface with the computer in a meaningful way.
Sugar was also designed around mesh-networking, power-consumption, e-reader mode, etc.
Certainly there is room for improvement, but Puppy/Slack/DSL would not have been a perfect implementation either.
http://blindscribblings.com - Tasty pop-culture in conceptual fashion.
HERESY!! release him to the penguins, wildebeest and cute little devils wearing green shoes
If they had called it "One E-book Per Child" and then all people would have is praise. "Wow, they were just trying to give an e-book to every child in the world, but look at all this other cool stuff it does!"
But no.
How we know is more important than what we know.
I have been shouted down several times here for objecting to the groupthink that Intel/Microsoft had some sort conspiracy going because the Classmate could run both Linux and Windows, but customers generally only wanted windows. I was informed repeatedly that "WinTel" was out to destroy OLPC.
So, here I am again to get beaten up by all the zealots... Ready for it?
THERE IS NO WINTEL CONSPIRACY TO DESTROY OLPC.
Intel just wants to sell semiconductors, no matter what software is running on it.
Microsoft just wants to sell software, no matter what semiconductor it is running on.
Flame away, but I think this development just proves my point.
Education is a better safeguard of liberty than a standing army.
Edward Everett (1794 - 1865)
You know, it's easy to read into this and turn this into a flame war against the current OLPC Execs, but the reality is that this was probably a better solution in the long term of getting the machines into the hands of the needy children.
After all, the former head of Microsoft is a well known advocate of African public health and education. It's possible that aligning the OLPC Foundation with Microsoft also would align them with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which would be a perfect avenue to get the machines out to the people that actually need it.
If the former exec left because he didn't want to "be associated with the devil", that's pretty bad. And certainly goes against the aim of the machine to begin with.
I think people need to be less about "THIS MACHINE NEEDS TO BE OPEN SOURCE!" and more about providing help to the kids in Africa, clearly something that isn't doable with the direction they were taking.
Well, first off for such a bland-looking GUI, it's certainly slow. Xubuntu on the same hardware runs a good bit faster than Sugar/fedora. The wifi neighborhood view is nice, except that when WPA doesn't work you're left out in the cold. Once they fix the WPA issues that'll be satisfactory. The activities are ok, though the activity frame can get annoying when you accidentally hit a corner with the cursor and make it pop up.
The biggest problem is the Journal. Personally I find it far more confusing than a hierarchical file system. More often than not I find myself using the terminal which, by the way, doesn't seem to allow copy and paste.
A conventional computer isn't hard to figure out, even for the very young. Beyond basic functionality, I think sugar will hinder learning more than anything, given how tough it can be to do even very basic things.
I've fallen out with some friends because even though I'm an open source developer, and have been for the last five years, I'm still in favour of closed source for some applications.
I am both amazed and dismayed by the extent to which such issues effect people.
Not only that, but almost everyone I know who has been what I would call a rabid opponent of proprietary code haven't themselves released any open source code. They just download the free stuff and get angry about the non free code without a single opinion that wasn't borrowed from someone else.
It seems to me that the fashion is that open source == hates proprietary. This is a nieve viewpoint in my opinion.
A learning experience is one of those things that say, 'You know that thing you just did? Don't do that.' - D. Adams
You nailed it. The key insight of the OLPC was that it needed to be ultra-low power and not rely on a lot of infrastructure. e.g. it's not so easy to run out and buy a USB cable on Nahru.
Thus I always chuckle when I see comparisons to this or that better performing laptop. Of course it's possible to get cheap and faster by going to high power. And you can add more features again by adding power. They were going for cheap and low power.
I think what may have happened here is that windows is now learning to play nice with flash memory and windows CE is presumably learning to play nice with batteries.
The other thing is that the world is moving towards cloud computing. Now while their may not be a cloud available to bushmen in Nairobi. it's not unthinkable that schools might be able to serve apps locally. And MS is building that infrastructure.
So maybe Microsoft is up to the task.
The problem MS will face I suspect is that they lack an agile resizable code base like Linux and Apple have. Windows CE and Windows XP only are simmilar in their look. So this may be a complete blank sheet. Sure XP will run but will it meet the original driver of low power? I suspect not out of the box otherwise it would be Window CE instead.
But MS does have the dowry and an incentive. And the OLPC does need the cash. So it might be a successful arranged marriage. Or maybe it will be one of those Weddings where the groom tosses the bride on the funeral pyre.
Some drink at the fountain of knowledge. Others just gargle.
This wouldn't be a problem if the hardware was open, the company would just be forked and OpenXO would be available to those that want it.
As it stands this project seems doomed, maybe not from the point of view of getting a laptop to a lot of children, but the original goal was to get an enabling device to a lot of children and was a far better idea.
If Windows runs well on an XO laptop, then that makes the XO laptop the best PC in the world. Because I've never seen Windows run well on any other machine.
Maybe it "runs well" because it doesn't run at all. Probably the only way to get it to run in a "secure mode", anyway.
--
make install -not war
How true, how true. I couldn't agree more. Open source is like so many things (human rights and the lead free nonsense come to mind) where some people go overboard and just take it way too far. I mean, sure, having your kid chew on a hunk of lead isn't going to be good for them. For one thing, it's not very nutritions. But some people take this way too far, and say that something that is 98% corn syrup with only a trace of lead is just as bad.
Humbug.
I think it is perfectly possible to be an open source advocate without getting all fundamentalist about it, just like you can support human rights but not get too worked up about the occasional state sponsored rape, torture, genocide, or whatever. The important thing is that you advocate the right side on the broader issue, not that you pay any attention to any specific exceptions.
And besides, what's the big deal about open source anyway? Big deal.. It's not like it was free software, or anything.
--MarkusQ
This turns out to be a matter of taste, for users like us. And I'll defer to the folks using them with kids to decide what's better with the kids.
Anyway, a lot of what you say as negatives, I like. I don't know this for sure, but I attribute the slowness to two things about Sugar--it's in Python, and it's handling communication. The communication is a major feature. The fact that it's in Python means it's hackable.
So, for instance, you & I (and almost everyone else) gets annoyed with the frame popping up when the cursor gets near the corner. It's an easy fix in the code to stop that from happening. I can go in with a non-programmer 11-year-old, and show them how to change that! That's so cool.
I've also decided that Journal rocks (well, OK, rocks except for some bugginess). I'd switch to that over my directory tree on my Mac if it was possible.
When this constructionism project started and they were testing laptops in Cambodia I'll bet they were running Windows. Everyone needs to keep in mind that its not about the laptop or the software but the educational project. Arguably Open Source Software and the ideology of the project go hand in hand, but one is not absolutely necessary for the other.
I read the letter on the OLPC site and the article about Windows running well on the XO, but I couldn't get to the article that mentioned flash. Flash in my opinion is the scourge of the internet these days, and don't go off on a youtube rant, internet video and streaming codecs were available before flash.
From what I've read nothing has really changed, Windows on OLPC was in the works and it doesn't mean that linux will be dumped. So much for the sensationalist headlines. You have media outlets and scumbag corporate leaders who will juice this for all its worth but really it means nothing.
I will say that it appears from Negroponte's message that there may be some friction between the Sugar developers and Negroponte probably concerning the porting of Sugar to Windows. He is welcome to his view but really it has absolutely nothing to do with Open Source Fundamentalism.
If the open source developers of Sugar are balking at porting their work to Windows it should be no surprise, unless you've been living in a vacuum for the past 10 years. The Microsoft Corporation has not only been found guilty of using illegal business tactics to destroy competition in the market to maintain their ludicrous profit margins but they have also been on a non-stop PR harassment campaign specifically targeted against the same developers who wrote Sugar.
In the end it matters not, if Negroponte wants Sugar on Windows all he has to do is ask that wealthy corporation to invest some of their ill gotten gains in porting the open source code themselves. After all, its not like Microsoft's developers aren't used to leeching off the open source community to support their proprietary products. What would be interesting is seeing the response he gets to using open source code in a high profile project considering Microsoft has labeled it a cancer.
> I guess the intent is to make Microsoft happy
Exactly. If Microsoft is happy then a lot of obstacles vanish. If Microsoft isn't happy a lot of obstacles appear, deals never finalize, etc. They are the 800lb gorilla in the room and you can't ignore them.
My guess is this outcome was planned from the start. My guess OLPC got from us (us being the OS/FS crowd) exactly what they wanted. Which was exactly what Asus got. Microsoft's attention.
Both wanted XP really really cheap. Both knew that the most reliable way to get it was to wave the Linux flag and prove viability. As long as OLPC looked like vaporware Microsoft was perfectly content to allow RedHat and a bunch of idealistic volunteers to waste their time developing software to run on it. Once they shipped working hardware and showed every sign of shipping a lot of units Microsoft had no choice but to offer up XP to keep their monopoly position. OLPC knew this would happen and almost certainly planned on this outcome from day one. Had they really planned on staying with the Penguin they would have used an ARM based one chip solution and saved a lot on the 'ol power budget. The ONLY[1] reason to insist on x86 compatibility is keeping the door open to Windows.
Note that most of the same applies to Asus except they were producing in partnership with Intel as a flagship for their new low power chipsets so using an ARM wasn't an option. From day one they were including all of the drivers for XP with each unit with the expectation many/most would be reloaded after purchase. And note that just as soon as they demonstrated volume sales[2] they used that to negotiate a really sweet deal for XP. I kinda doubt even Dell got prices on XP so low they could sell Windows and Linux for the exact same price except they toss in 8GB of flash as a bone to the poor saps who buy soon to be abandoned Linux version.
[1] Remember that OLPC lacks the excuse of needing the x86 only Flash plugin since they don't ship it.
[2] To be fair, the original plan was to retail for $199. When that didn't work it probably made business sense to rethink the Linux decision since $500 machines do have the margin to cover a Windows license.
Democrat delenda est
Yes he did. Negroponte is very insightful.
Where would we be if Wheel had hid her round rock in a cave instead of showing everyone how it rolls?
Its not-like there was a fundamental tenant to not cause any long term dependence on the west other than the hardware, oh wait.
IranAir Flight 655 never forget!
Flash Player: OLPC FAQ:
Quote: "Adobe makes the official Flash plugin, but OLPC cannot ship it on the XOs because it is legally restricted and doesn't meet the OLPC's standards for open software. Instead, the XO ships with Gnash, an open source Flash plugin that can play some (but not all) Flash content. As shipped on the XO, it cannot play YouTube videos. Skilled users can rebuild it to include that functionality."
The Sugar distribution's exclusion of Flash, and only shipping a crippled version of Gnash, is all about open source politics, not technical performance limitations.
Test your net with Netalyzr
My guess is this outcome was planned from the start. My guess OLPC got from us (us being the OS/FS crowd) exactly what they wanted. Which was exactly what Asus got. Microsoft's attention.
If true, then idealistic hardware and software designers need to remember this example the next time they are approached by someone like Negroponte. I have no problem with helping kids but it's starting to sound to me like the open source talent was cynically used to attain this end.
Unless you are a small kid going to school, your opinion doesn't count. If Sugar isn't for you, then install something else. It's not like the XO is DRM'ed and you can't install anything else.
If you want Puppy Linux, by all means do it. But, unless you are a trained educator, you shouldn't be the one who decides what experience the kids should have.
Sugar seems fine for them for now.
http://www.dieblinkenlights.com
This seems doubtful to me, but it's classic ./ paranoia of the type I'm constantly guilty of.
The truth is, who knows what's going on in Negroponte's head? He isn't being all that forthcoming, even with the recent statement. From what he has said, he seems to think that availability of Windows will end up in more XO's being distributed.
So maybe countries are demanding it, and you can imagine that any country thinking of buying into the XO is going to have Microsoft/Intel Classmate reps on their other shoulder, saying "but does it run Windows? This one does".
The funny thing about this to me is that lots of developing countries are skipping generations of technology, like going straight to wireless phones without ever having laid copper Ma-Bell style.
And here they have a chance to skip the horrors of Microsoft and go straight to Linux (which the developed world is coming around to), but instead they think they want XP. These are probably the same countries buying Camel cigarettes now that we've stopped smoking. Oh well.
The G1G1 was largely a disaster in logistics and customer support. Reportedly things are going much smoother in the actual countries outside the US.
WPA has been working for me - but only with the 703 releace candidate build (which kindly removed all my Activities, including Browse because it was a "clean" release. Whatever -- it was easy enough to restore them.
Returned Peace Corps IT Volunteer
Hidden essids still don't work from the GUI (lack of GUI handles, not lack of ability) check the OLPCNews.com/forum for detailed instructions (also I think wiki.laptop.org has some), but essentially:
/sbin/iwconfig etc0 mode managed essid ESSIDNAME /sbin/dhclient eth0
open a terminal
su (sudo doesn't exist)
(wait a few seconds usually)
it'll then try for a DHCP IP and either work or not.
Yeah, it sucks, but hey -- it's probably not a common use case for their actual target market.
Returned Peace Corps IT Volunteer
Doesn't anyone remember reading Negroponte's "last word" column in the first few years of _Wired_ magazine? He was always wrong, every month. He even published a book as monument to his wrongness, _Being Digital_ (which could have been called "0" for its return value).
He also helped start the OLPC project, which couldn't get anywhere while he was "helping".
Why does anyone listen to him anymore, just because MIT was fool enough to give him money for a Media Lab once upon a time (a long long time ago)?
--
make install -not war
From the Urban Dictionary http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=fartknocker
A generic insulting noun, coined by Butthead of MTV's Beavis and Butthead.
While they were watching the premier of GWAR's "Saddam a Go-Go" video, Beavis got in Butthead's line of view of the TV. Butthead shouted "Move it, fartknocker!"
I'd like to see Nicholas come to my house and install XP Home on my XO with the 1GB hard drive plus all the right educational applications. Sorry, as a OLPC donator who gave one and got one to support a good cause, the recent development taken with the history of the foundation showed the management to be completely and totally inept. Negroponte had a good vision, and was influential in the trend for the ultra-low-end mini laptops, but he's no manager, businessman, salesman, technologist, and ultimately no real visionary, lost in his ever growing big head. Regrettably the hardware is solid, the overall design innovative, but the argument about OS is simply CHILDISH.
It's time for FOSS community to take over the project to help educate the children in developing countries without the fundamentalist control of its founder. It's time to scrap OLPC.
True; and Walter Bender (whose recent departure and the hubub around it caused this Negroponte email in the first place) said that most of the failings of the Gnash implementation were due media codec licenses, not failings of gnash itself.
That being said, if you really need flash, install it! It works! It's even listed in the laptop.org wiki, as well as multiple threads and howtos at OLPCNews' forums; including a good tip on improving flash video performance: http://olpcnews.com/forum/index.php?topic=845.0
(sidenote: I just got back from a trip and used a custom mplayer build to watch movies for the whole flight - woot)
Returned Peace Corps IT Volunteer
Open-source advocates can be as magnanimous as they wish. As long as the other side denies their right to exist, there will be conflict.
OLPC, eee and Classmate can warm up to Microsoft all they want. As long as they keep showing off open source platforms as the launching point for hot new tech, the kids will get the picture: Open Source is where the action is.
Help stamp out iliturcy.
If they'd want to use WinCE, then they should have used ARM too. Most WinCE devices are ARM.
Engineering is the art of compromise.
Putting Windows on the OLPC is the worst possible outcome I can imagine. It's like - colonialism all over again. It's like donating baby milk formula to the third world instead of promoting far healthier breast feeding. It's like Monsato donating seeds, but not allowing the next generation of seeds to be used. It's like giving a man a fish instead of teaching a man to fish. It's like selling marijuana on the school grounds. It's like force feeding indigenous peoples our culture instead of respecting their culture. Words fail me, I am so incensed. It's like selling arms to 3rd world dictators. It's like selling booze to the indians.
People - what are you talking about? It is not a question about running Flash, or about hey Windows might actually run OK, or about "education" or "not being a fundamentalist". Remember not too long ago we were debating the very concept of giving computers to people who have no food? Then Peru demonstrated the the OLPC could really make a difference - that first version - with all its flaws and sticking keys included. And now Negroponte has sold out. Reading the FA was like reading for the first time that Patrick Duruseau was supporting MSOOXML - he was "gotten to", and now Negroponte has been "gotten to".
We had a chance to do something wonderful for the poor people of 3rd world nations - beyond the convenience of mesh networking and the ability of downloading eBooks. Something far more precious than that - giving Linux to people who had never even seen Windows, and setting them free!!! Free from lock in. Free from industrial colonialism. ...and with Windows on the OLPC, what will we have? Mediocrity. People who will be forever running behind the first world nations, always playing catch up for the rest of their lives. Linux could have given them the ability to leap frog ahead! A real opportunity to develop their own technology, to find their own way forward. Children are incredibly adaptable. Give those children Linux, and a few software tools, and there is no telling what could come from it. Give them Windows, and you condemn them to slavery, to worst that our "advanced" culture suffers from. Putting Windows on the OLPC is simply promoting Windows. We have been so far unable to free ourselves from the Monopoly, and now we are going to invite 3rd worlders to share our failings. I am no fundamentalist. I don't even use use Linux. I develop software on WinXP Pro. Hooked like everybody else, a large part of my skills is knowledge of the Windows API, but I dream someday of being free. I still work in C/C++ anyhow, and so far have been able to resist .Net. I am still "portable". I still have a bit of integrity left, even after 20 years developing software for Windows. ..and I know instinctively, that putting Windows on the OLPC is the worst possible thing we can do. I am posting anonymously tonight because I have had a few beers, so I am not sure that I want what I just said to be an indelible record on the internet forever. Generally I very careful about anything I post. I have recently discovered that it can be a very liberating experience to post anonymously. Perhaps when we moderate, we should have more consideration for ACs if they have something worthwhile to say. There may be others like me that are afraid to fully speak their mind without anonymity.
I've seen company after company get burned trying to deal with M$ over the last 15 years, from IBM to DrDOS to
The Bayless "Freeplay" radio began with many of the same ideals as OLPC. But it is tough to hold your ground when the OEM giants see opportunities in the same market.
It would be easy for OLPC to go the same way as the Simputer.
You can't hold the line on costs. Your sales projections are unrealistic.
You have a solid platform for development but not much else. The mass-market alternative is leaping ahead of your own technology and is compatible with an enormous library of existing software.
I would have no problem if they could somehow make the XO do everything it does now and more but put Windows as the underlying OS. But that is just not even an option and Negroponte wants Sugar taken apart so the apps run on Windows. That means the whole software design goes out the window and last decades version of a user interface is what kids will get.
That is just wrong. Kids don't need all that crap the Windows desktop brings with it. But I also find it difficult to believe that Windows can be a better OS under any GUI when self support is a design goal of the project. Microsoft can't pawn off support to OLPC or it will drown them. Hey, maybe that is the plan?
LoB
"Anyone who stands out in the middle of a road looks like roadkill to me." --Linus
I generally share your annoyance at the misuse of words.
You can be an open source fanatic, but you cannot be an open-source fundamentalist.However, you can be an open source fundamentalist, and it might be exactly what he meant. A fundamentalist is someone who stresses strict and literal adherence to a set of basic (fundamental) principles (see Merriam-Webster's second definition - the one that doesn't specifically refer to modern American Evangelical Christianity). So, an open-source fundamentalist would be a person who stresses strict adherence to the basic principles of "open source." I suppose what principles those are is somewhat debatable, but if they include the idea that all software should be open source (or at least a preference that it should be if not a mandate), then his use of "fundamentalist" could be appropriate, if what he means is that they advocate strict adherence to these principles.
A "fanatic," on the other hand, is a person "marked by excessive enthusiasm and often intense uncritical devotion." An "open-source fanatic" would be someone who is very enthusiastic about open source, and is uncritically devoted to it, not necessarily someone who advocates strict adherence to its basic principles.
Stop. Think about the meaning of the words you are using. Select correct words. Continue.Exactly.
However, since you're pointing out flaws in others' vocabulary, I hope it will not be rude of me to point out a flaw in your own: an open source fundamentalist without the hyphen between open and source would be a "source fundamentalist" who is open. With the hyphen, "open-source" modifies fundamentalist. Without it, "open" modifies "source fundamentalist."
You're not supposed to hide SSIDs. If you break the implementation of the AP, don't blame a client for not connecting.
If this was done deliberately, see this for why it's "worse than no wireless security at all".
They can still have Linux, any motivated kid can get it, adapt it, and create. But not everybody wants to deal with software, they want it as a tool to create something else. There is so much software out there for Windows, it just makes sense people will want to use programs that have been used and refined over the years. Sometimes it's better to buy a hammer, than make one yourself.
The key to getting out from under the Windows umbrella is developing standards, continuing to increase availability of Linux software, and being first into new technologies. The fact that most low cost laptops are launching with Linux is a major step forward. Things won't change overnight, but there is significant progress being made.
D6 63 0D 70 89 81 BB 8E 7B 7C 5F 5D 54 EA AB 73
I'm sorry, but interesting as Sugar is, it's not what has created all this interest in the OLPC. What has greated the interest is that the OLPC is cheap, has cute hardware, has some really interesting technologies on it, and that its software is fully open and can be modified.
...), and it doesn't even let the thing be a decent Windows machine. And the only reason to run Windows over Linux is to run Windows applications, and they won't run well and they sure as hell won't integrate with Sugar.
Putting Windows on the OLPC and Sugar on Windows negatively affects many of those issues: it makes the thing more expensive, it eliminates many of the interesting technologies (power management, mesh networking,
The only thing that might make a tiny amount of sense is to offer Windows Mobile, because you'd actually have a chance of running Windows Mobile apps on the OLPC. But what Windows Mobile apps would be of any interest to an OLPC user? What relevant Windows Mobile apps don't already have superior Linux equivalents available?
I think Negroponte is losing it. Get the passionate, good people back that left and put the OLPC back on track. Forget about Windows.
Really? I'd be kinda surprised if an 11-year-old can figure out the Sugar code. I looked at how feasible it'd be to modify BlockParty here. Basically, there are no quality bars for Sugar code - some of the shipped apps have no comments or other documentation whatsoever. What's more, they use advanced APIs and techniques. Python doesn't really improve the readability either, as you have the same problem you have when reading any large Python codebase - there are no type declarations to help you find your way around.
Good: UI tools provided to configure behaviors ("Control Panel")
Bad: must use a text editor to modify a config file
Ugly: must edit the source code of the application itself That makes perfect sense, but I still think it's wrong (in this context).
It's a DIY thing. Being able to futz with the code makes what you've done more personal and gives you a whole lot more understanding of what's going on. It also shows you that you can mess with things beyond the 10 options a pop-up box might give you. You can walk an 11-year-old through the process, but is there any chance an 11-year-old would discover how to do it without your guidance? Depends on the kid. This kid, no, they've never done any programming at all. Being "walked through the process" is how you start to get familiar with almost anything, whether you're walked through by a book, teacher, or another kid.
One botnet node per child.