And since a human has to program the machine, the machine cannot be a better musician than the person or persons who programmed it.
This must mean that the people who created cars must run pretty fast.
Computers have a very fast raw processing power. The fact that someone comes up with an algorithm does not mean that he can run it in his head at the same speed as a computer would. For that reason, the computer might be able to do much more (in our timescale) than the human who created it. If you don't believe me, go to Matlab and ask it to graph some complicated function.
I'm not denying that computer programmers cannot come close to replicating a human being's creative process at this point. However, I don't see a priori reason as to why this will always bee impossible, as you seem to suggest. I think creativity is just a set of processes that we don't understand... yet.
First of all, I have lived and worked in social projects in Mexico. It is not an exaggeration to say that laptops would definitely be exposed to mud on a daily basis.
However, I think there is an even more important aspect that highlights the difference in nature between OLPC and Intel's alternative. OLPC understands that in a third world country, it is impossible to rely on teachers and parents to instruct the kids on how to use the computer. It is a tool for kids to explore alone, or while playing with other fellow kids. For that reason, the UI was redesigned and made simple, and the network is automatically set up for instant communication with other OLPC laptops.
On the other hand, Classmate is designed for classroom environments. With a central computer in the classroom, you can control what the Classmates can see or even whether they can function at all. Parents can set up schedules for the kids to use the computers. In a third world country, teachers barely know how to read (not exaggerating, unfortunately). Further, there is no way a regular classroom (say, in Mexico), will have one computer for the teacher per classroom. Therefore, all of these features from Classroom will be left unused in a third world country situation.
I am not claiming that the OLPC laptops are 'better'. I might be very biased because of school pride, but it really seems to me that Prof. Negroponte has certainly aimed for poor countries in a way Intel has not. Ironically enough, Mexico has bought several Classmate PCs and no OLPC laptops. No wonder we will never cease to be a third world country.
You cannot really expect students to be compiling their own kernels. And not because they aren't curious enough. Even with Windows, most teachers have difficulties with doing simple tasks, even installing software.
The current configuration in Mexican is:
MS Windows 2000 or XP
MS Encarta
MS Office XP
Some Flash-made applications made by national companies, which are mostly donated.
Hard disks are cloned so that a PC is exactly the same as the other. So installation will actually just based on one manually installed computer. Nevertheless, the problem here is to provide something at least with similar functionality to what is already had. No one will want to migrate if they have no warranty that the quality provided will be the same. And by quality I mean having the same functionality (encyclopaedia, if possible to provide WINE to migrate the flash applications wrapped in an exe).
This is not a project to try to change the way schools work but rather modify Linux to work with it.
"If we weren't all crazy we would go insane" (Jimmy Buffet rules)
"Send the pain below!" (I like Chevell too)
"Mean people suck!" (it's true)
These are 'sample passphrases' provided in the article. However, there are two main things that I consider make of this a not-so-good idea:
a) Being that these are actual phrases, is it that easy to remember the exact punctuation, capitalization, and even grammar used? Hell, even for case insensitive passwords, you still have to remember exactly how it is written. For instance, what if I wrote: "Mean people suck!" (It's true), or "Mean people suck!" (it is true)??
b) Most textboxes where one is to input one's password are actually shadowed, so that you can't actually see what you're typing. How fun would it be typing your passphrase and not knowing exactly where you were at once you have something like ********************?
I do agree with that. It doesn't matter where you say it but what you say.
However, it cannot be forgotten that just the words we say are not 100% the message we want to transmit. Face expressions, tone and body language are some add-ons that give us more information about what the other is saying.
That's why I think it is a bit harder to communicate using an IM than in real life. I'm not saying it can't be achieved, but it's more difficult and more prank-prone than other communication means.
However hey... you've got the smileys:P ??|
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This must mean that the people who created cars must run pretty fast.
Computers have a very fast raw processing power. The fact that someone comes up with an algorithm does not mean that he can run it in his head at the same speed as a computer would. For that reason, the computer might be able to do much more (in our timescale) than the human who created it. If you don't believe me, go to Matlab and ask it to graph some complicated function.
I'm not denying that computer programmers cannot come close to replicating a human being's creative process at this point. However, I don't see a priori reason as to why this will always bee impossible, as you seem to suggest. I think creativity is just a set of processes that we don't understand... yet.
First of all, I have lived and worked in social projects in Mexico. It is not an exaggeration to say that laptops would definitely be exposed to mud on a daily basis.
However, I think there is an even more important aspect that highlights the difference in nature between OLPC and Intel's alternative. OLPC understands that in a third world country, it is impossible to rely on teachers and parents to instruct the kids on how to use the computer. It is a tool for kids to explore alone, or while playing with other fellow kids. For that reason, the UI was redesigned and made simple, and the network is automatically set up for instant communication with other OLPC laptops.
On the other hand, Classmate is designed for classroom environments. With a central computer in the classroom, you can control what the Classmates can see or even whether they can function at all. Parents can set up schedules for the kids to use the computers. In a third world country, teachers barely know how to read (not exaggerating, unfortunately). Further, there is no way a regular classroom (say, in Mexico), will have one computer for the teacher per classroom. Therefore, all of these features from Classroom will be left unused in a third world country situation.
I am not claiming that the OLPC laptops are 'better'. I might be very biased because of school pride, but it really seems to me that Prof. Negroponte has certainly aimed for poor countries in a way Intel has not. Ironically enough, Mexico has bought several Classmate PCs and no OLPC laptops. No wonder we will never cease to be a third world country.
You cannot really expect students to be compiling their own kernels. And not because they aren't curious enough. Even with Windows, most teachers have difficulties with doing simple tasks, even installing software.
The current configuration in Mexican is:
MS Windows 2000 or XPMS Encarta
MS Office XP
Some Flash-made applications made by national companies, which are mostly donated.
Hard disks are cloned so that a PC is exactly the same as the other. So installation will actually just based on one manually installed computer. Nevertheless, the problem here is to provide something at least with similar functionality to what is already had. No one will want to migrate if they have no warranty that the quality provided will be the same. And by quality I mean having the same functionality (encyclopaedia, if possible to provide WINE to migrate the flash applications wrapped in an exe).
This is not a project to try to change the way schools work but rather modify Linux to work with it.
"If we weren't all crazy we would go insane" (Jimmy Buffet rules) "Send the pain below!" (I like Chevell too) "Mean people suck!" (it's true) These are 'sample passphrases' provided in the article. However, there are two main things that I consider make of this a not-so-good idea: a) Being that these are actual phrases, is it that easy to remember the exact punctuation, capitalization, and even grammar used? Hell, even for case insensitive passwords, you still have to remember exactly how it is written. For instance, what if I wrote: "Mean people suck!" (It's true), or "Mean people suck!" (it is true)?? b) Most textboxes where one is to input one's password are actually shadowed, so that you can't actually see what you're typing. How fun would it be typing your passphrase and not knowing exactly where you were at once you have something like ********************?
What about K Menu :)
I wonder when "Typing" will become a sport. I mean, it does involve physical activity and endurance. :) Lines of people typing to reach the goal ;)
Please please you have to add the capability to use those 1337 search bars available only for MS Internet Explorer.
I do agree with that. It doesn't matter where you say it but what you say. However, it cannot be forgotten that just the words we say are not 100% the message we want to transmit. Face expressions, tone and body language are some add-ons that give us more information about what the other is saying. That's why I think it is a bit harder to communicate using an IM than in real life. I'm not saying it can't be achieved, but it's more difficult and more prank-prone than other communication means. However hey... you've got the smileys :P ??|