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Why OLPC Struggles Against Educators, Big Business

Posted by Soulskill on from the santa-is-not-a-capitalist dept.

afabbro writes "The current issue of BusinessWeek has an expansive article of the history of OLPC and why it has, to date, been a flop. Among the reasons: no preparation for the educational systems expected to use it, uncertain pedagogical theories, poor business management, competition from Microsoft/Intel, and no input from education professionals in designing the software. As BusinessWeek quotes one educational expert, 'The hackers took over,' and the applications are too complex for children to use. To date, 370,000 laptops have been shipped — a far cry from the original 150 million planned to be shipped by end of 2008."

2 of 261 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Because it is a stupid idea? by trybywrench · · Score: 0, Troll

    Just a suggestion, but maybe using 3rd world children to carry out jihad against the technology industry isn't a great plan. this.

    I've long thought that was the original goal, "How many kids can we get to use Linux" instead of "How many kids can we help learn". Ugh i need to quit reading this story.. it angers the blood.
    --
    I came to the datacenter drunk with a fake ID, don't you want to be just like me?
  2. OLPC is the fourth fail by argent · · Score: 0, Troll

    All laptops suck.

    When you buy a laptop you have these there basic choices:

    1. Windows. An OS that sucks, on decent hardware.
    2. Mac OS X. A decent OS, on hardware that sucks.
    3. Other UNIX. A decent OS, on decent hardware, but no applications.

    OLPC adds a fourth category:

    4. OLPC. An OS that sucks, on hardware that sucks, and no applications.

    It's a hat trick!