It seems that a lot of recent OLPC stories are being drummed up to try and discredit them, and it is a bit sickening. Sadly, OLPC's "drummed up" the base of these stories all on its own. Other companies may try to apply spin to them, but in the end, OLPC itself is the source of the issues. Why in the world did they choose to annoy and frustrate the very people who believed in them enough to donate $400? It's a real mystery.
All OLPC needs to do is... subcontract those services out to a logistics company
Yes, I agree, that's one way to get "corporationy" — unless you can name a logistics co-op/commune, that is...
I think OLPC *did* think that it subcontracted out for those services - Patriot for data and address handling, and Brightstar for packing and shipping logistics. (Given that both are on the board at OLPC, I suppose their participation was a foregone conclusion.) Unfortunately, it is starting to appear that it didn't choose well, especially on the part of Patriot and the kind of communications it set up between the two (almost none at all, it seems). and didn't supervise well once it had made its choices.
OLPC seems unwilling to admit to this or even address it publicly.
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Sadly, OLPC's "drummed up" the base of these stories all on its own. Other companies may try to apply spin to them, but in the end, OLPC itself is the source of the issues. Why in the world did they choose to annoy and frustrate the very people who believed in them enough to donate $400? It's a real mystery.
Yes, I agree, that's one way to get "corporationy" — unless you can name a logistics co-op/commune, that is...
I think OLPC *did* think that it subcontracted out for those services - Patriot for data and address handling, and Brightstar for packing and shipping logistics. (Given that both are on the board at OLPC, I suppose their participation was a foregone conclusion.) Unfortunately, it is starting to appear that it didn't choose well, especially on the part of Patriot and the kind of communications it set up between the two (almost none at all, it seems). and didn't supervise well once it had made its choices. OLPC seems unwilling to admit to this or even address it publicly.