My dad was a dairy farmer. I never had a computer growing up. He decided to buy one for the family for Christmas when I was in 8th grade cause he realized computers were the future. Our family never had video game consoles, no cable TV (and only 4 stations over the air on a clear day)... and we all picked up on it pretty quickly.
I think *you* underestimate the ability of children to learn, which is the whole point of this project. I've worked with children (and the mentally handicapped, which is a differnt story but the same argument applies) as a summer camp counselor over the course of three summers - they can be pretty ingenious and a lot smarter than we try to give them credit for.
Point and click is intuitive. There is no reason to gimp their experiance by giving them a "custom" UI that isn't mainstream (non-Windows/OSX/KDE/Gnome). A touchpad directly translates to a screen. A press directly translates to an action. This isn't difficult. It mirrors real life. Kids are smart, don't underestimate their capabilities to figure things out quickly. By giving them a UI thats almost toylike and doesn't translate to any mainstream OS they will (hopefully) be using by the time they are adults in a more modern society (that is the goal, yes?) they are a step behind where they should be...
As to the commit level, it doesn't matter. Any additional cost is unwanted and detrimental. Especially when there is no added value over what currently exists.
Maybe, maybe not. The official Wiki says that Windows will be an option: OLPC is working with Red Hat on a Linux kernel for the machine, but we are opening up the design; it is inevitable that there will be several variants of Linux to choose from, as well as some version of Windows, and perhaps an OS X offering.reference
And check out GNUWINCE for a POSIX environment for Windows CE.
Again, CE will run blazing fast on this device, it runs on cell phones and blackberries, and already has Word/Excel/Powerpoint/Paint. For $3 I would think a lot of governments would give it some serious thought, and Microsoft would give it some serious discounts.
The college I graduated from (University of Alabama in Huntsville, Aerospace Engineering program) has a greater than 90% placement rate in its engineering program (and CS program as well...). I can't speak for **all** American universities but the one I am familiar with has a very high placement rate.
Theres a couple of different ways... the straightforward way is Fedora Core; no it isn't RHEL. I never said RHEL, I just said Red Hat, of which Fedora Core is a product of.
The second way is CentOS, which is RHEL - the corporate logos.
According to the CIA factbook there are 32.7 million children below the age of 14 in Mexico (one of the pilot countries). This $3 per laptop means an additional $96 million dollars to procure what some already consider an extravagent "toy." it would be totally against the best interests of this project to add this cost. And making up for it would mean making it a $97 dollar laptop.
That whole paragraph is irrelevant. It says nothing about the number of actual purchases, it just infers a potential market [Which has NOT committed to 32.7M units]. The only meaningful metric is the cost of the OS license relevant to the cost of the machine, or that a Windows license is 2.0% of the cost of the machine, before any volume discounts (you really aren't so naive to think Dell pays multiple hundred dollars for a Windows license on a $299 Dell box, with LCD, are you?) and before any kickbacks from Uncle Bill, who remember has a charity who likes to do work for the less fortunate especially in third world countries, not that Mexico necessarily meets that definition but some of the OLPC countries do. And if the OLPC project doesn't have a margin to cover a 2.0% rise in cost I'd be extremely concerned.
But even if MSFT licenses it for free (e.g. BSD style or something) who is going to write the applications? The window manager? etc. Currently all of the OLPC software is a mixture of C and Python running in a GNU/Linux environment. It would be very non-trivial to port it to Windows and make the deadline of shipping these next year.
C and Python are not the problem. I have both running on my machine here at work. Both are highly portable. What graphics / sound toolkits are you using? those would be the problem. Did they pick a cross-platform toolkits? My guess is no, by the way you are talking... And the window manager is there. Are you saying kids are too dumb to figure out how to click on a 'start' button? My 2 year old can do that...
Overly-aware cars lead to a false sense of security, which leads to drivers not paying attention to driving. Now, **some** amount of technology - rear-view cameras in the dash, for instance - are good as they augment your vision in areas where you cannot possibly see. Take for example the removal of stop signs Ejbay and Ipswitch. Drivers are forced to be more alert and people are safer because of it.
Peter: "Everybody I've got bad news. We've been cancelled."
Lois: "Oh no Peter! How could they do that?"
Peter: "Well unfortuantely Lois, there's just no more room on the schedule. We just gotta accept the fact that FOX has to make room for terrific shows like Dark Angel, Titus, Undeclared, Action, That 80's Show, Wonder Falls, Fast Lane, Andy Richter Controls The Universe, Skin, Girl's Club, Cracking Up, The Pitts, Firefly, Get Real, Freaky Links, Wanda At Large, Costello, The Lone Gunman, A Minute with Stan Hooper, Normal Ohio, Pasadena, Harsh Realm, Keen Eddy, The Street, American Embassy, Cedric The Entertainer, The Tick, Louie, And Greg The Bunny...."
Lois: "Is there no hope?"
Peter: "Well I suppose if ALL those shows go down the tubes we might have a shot."
It is a funny statement on so many levels, if you think about it for a few minutes. Its just something I found on Engadget that made me chuckle. If you can't see past a bit of humor then you are someone that is so polarized that any statement in Microsoft's favor will automatically enrage you into calling that person a shill.
Who's going to write the kid friendly GUI? Office tools? etc...
My two-year-old can go to start and find Notepad and bang on the keyboard and write Grandma a 'note.'
Windows CE already has office tools... Word, Excel, Powerpoint.
Not sure what 'etc' is.... Remote Desktop Protocol? Already there. Drawing tools? There too. Media players/recorders? Yup.
Which even under the guise of "corrupting minors" would still cost them a pretty penny and probably get them in a world of legal trouble.
Free download on MSDN. Just like all the other little goodies like their robotics toolkit, Windows CE SDK,.NET/DirectX/the other 1,000 SDK's they have/etc.
In short, I just don't see it being anything more than an intellectual exercise.
The hardware is a lot beefier than the cellphones CE presently runs on. I'd assume they have loftier goals.
... with the best IDE, period. Microsoft Visual Studio, Express Edition. DirectX is also a free download along with many hours of free video and online training sponsored by Microsoft. (I'm not a shill but I don't stand for inaccuracies)
Licensing cost is like $7 last I checked and I remember in high school (9 years ago now) seeing it run on a Phillips Nino PDA, mine which was a 75 MHz processor. Granted Windows CE (now Mobile) is beefier now but I don't think there is any reason it can't run almost out of the box on the OLPC. With **plenty** of room to spare.
I use plenty of complex software - and write plenty of it. I just refuse to touch Emacs. And like the poster above me said, it is far from the best piece of software out there (RMS fanboy, are we?). I use vi under linux. It works. But a port of Visual Studio for Linux would work so much better...
Ever notive how many meaningless pages you get in Google searches? By page 3 or 4 you are down to trash... ad-ridden meaningless link pages. Search results beyond 100 are mostly meaningless. live.com does a better job of filtering out the garbage, probably because it is less popular and hasn't been 'gamed' as much as google.com has.
Eclipse is buggy as hell in a C++ environment, not to mention sloooow. (even my Java friends who are evangelists for the program will concede it is not worth it for a C++ developer) KDevelop - depends upon what you are building with. There are issues depending on your coding convention (extensionless headers, Qt builds, etc). I refuse to touch Emacs with a 39 and a half foot pole.
That being said I do my linux development under vi. But under windows I use VS. VS excels beyond any open-source replacement to date.
Slashdot Mirror
My dad was a dairy farmer. I never had a computer growing up. He decided to buy one for the family for Christmas when I was in 8th grade cause he realized computers were the future. Our family never had video game consoles, no cable TV (and only 4 stations over the air on a clear day)
I think *you* underestimate the ability of children to learn, which is the whole point of this project. I've worked with children (and the mentally handicapped, which is a differnt story but the same argument applies) as a summer camp counselor over the course of three summers - they can be pretty ingenious and a lot smarter than we try to give them credit for.
Point and click is intuitive. There is no reason to gimp their experiance by giving them a "custom" UI that isn't mainstream (non-Windows/OSX/KDE/Gnome). A touchpad directly translates to a screen. A press directly translates to an action. This isn't difficult. It mirrors real life. Kids are smart, don't underestimate their capabilities to figure things out quickly. By giving them a UI thats almost toylike and doesn't translate to any mainstream OS they will (hopefully) be using by the time they are adults in a more modern society (that is the goal, yes?) they are a step behind where they should be ...
As to the commit level, it doesn't matter. Any additional cost is unwanted and detrimental. Especially when there is no added value over what currently exists.
Maybe, maybe not. The official Wiki says that Windows will be an option: OLPC is working with Red Hat on a Linux kernel for the machine, but we are opening up the design; it is inevitable that there will be several variants of Linux to choose from, as well as some version of Windows, and perhaps an OS X offering. reference And check out GNUWINCE for a POSIX environment for Windows CE.
Again, CE will run blazing fast on this device, it runs on cell phones and blackberries, and already has Word/Excel/Powerpoint/Paint. For $3 I would think a lot of governments would give it some serious thought, and Microsoft would give it some serious discounts.
Agreed. I watch House and Family Guy religiously, along with NFL. I catch Office and Scrubs when I remember it.
The college I graduated from (University of Alabama in Huntsville, Aerospace Engineering program) has a greater than 90% placement rate in its engineering program (and CS program as well...). I can't speak for **all** American universities but the one I am familiar with has a very high placement rate.
Theres a couple of different ways ... the straightforward way is Fedora Core; no it isn't RHEL. I never said RHEL, I just said Red Hat, of which Fedora Core is a product of.
The second way is CentOS, which is RHEL - the corporate logos.
So yes, free as in beer and lobbying.
According to the CIA factbook there are 32.7 million children below the age of 14 in Mexico (one of the pilot countries). This $3 per laptop means an additional $96 million dollars to procure what some already consider an extravagent "toy." it would be totally against the best interests of this project to add this cost. And making up for it would mean making it a $97 dollar laptop.
... And the window manager is there. Are you saying kids are too dumb to figure out how to click on a 'start' button? My 2 year old can do that ...
That whole paragraph is irrelevant. It says nothing about the number of actual purchases, it just infers a potential market [Which has NOT committed to 32.7M units]. The only meaningful metric is the cost of the OS license relevant to the cost of the machine, or that a Windows license is 2.0% of the cost of the machine, before any volume discounts (you really aren't so naive to think Dell pays multiple hundred dollars for a Windows license on a $299 Dell box, with LCD, are you?) and before any kickbacks from Uncle Bill, who remember has a charity who likes to do work for the less fortunate especially in third world countries, not that Mexico necessarily meets that definition but some of the OLPC countries do. And if the OLPC project doesn't have a margin to cover a 2.0% rise in cost I'd be extremely concerned.
But even if MSFT licenses it for free (e.g. BSD style or something) who is going to write the applications? The window manager? etc. Currently all of the OLPC software is a mixture of C and Python running in a GNU/Linux environment. It would be very non-trivial to port it to Windows and make the deadline of shipping these next year.
C and Python are not the problem. I have both running on my machine here at work. Both are highly portable. What graphics / sound toolkits are you using? those would be the problem. Did they pick a cross-platform toolkits? My guess is no, by the way you are talking
Overly-aware cars lead to a false sense of security, which leads to drivers not paying attention to driving. Now, **some** amount of technology - rear-view cameras in the dash, for instance - are good as they augment your vision in areas where you cannot possibly see. Take for example the removal of stop signs Ejbay and Ipswitch. Drivers are forced to be more alert and people are safer because of it.
Peter: "Everybody I've got bad news. We've been cancelled."
Lois: "Oh no Peter! How could they do that?"
Peter: "Well unfortuantely Lois, there's just no more room on the schedule. We just gotta accept the fact that FOX has to make room for terrific shows like Dark Angel, Titus, Undeclared, Action, That 80's Show, Wonder Falls, Fast Lane, Andy Richter Controls The Universe, Skin, Girl's Club, Cracking Up, The Pitts, Firefly, Get Real, Freaky Links, Wanda At Large, Costello, The Lone Gunman, A Minute with Stan Hooper, Normal Ohio, Pasadena, Harsh Realm, Keen Eddy, The Street, American Embassy, Cedric The Entertainer, The Tick, Louie, And Greg The Bunny...."
Lois: "Is there no hope?"
Peter: "Well I suppose if ALL those shows go down the tubes we might have a shot."
It is a funny statement on so many levels, if you think about it for a few minutes. Its just something I found on Engadget that made me chuckle. If you can't see past a bit of humor then you are someone that is so polarized that any statement in Microsoft's favor will automatically enrage you into calling that person a shill.
Who's going to write the kid friendly GUI? Office tools? etc...
.NET/DirectX/the other 1,000 SDK's they have/etc.
My two-year-old can go to start and find Notepad and bang on the keyboard and write Grandma a 'note.'
Windows CE already has office tools... Word, Excel, Powerpoint.
Not sure what 'etc' is.... Remote Desktop Protocol? Already there. Drawing tools? There too. Media players/recorders? Yup.
Which even under the guise of "corrupting minors" would still cost them a pretty penny and probably get them in a world of legal trouble.
Free download on MSDN. Just like all the other little goodies like their robotics toolkit, Windows CE SDK,
In short, I just don't see it being anything more than an intellectual exercise.
The hardware is a lot beefier than the cellphones CE presently runs on. I'd assume they have loftier goals.
$3 for Core, $15 for Professional
Chances are for several million units, like any other vendor deals would be made. If not distributed for free (see earlier posts)
... with the best IDE, period. Microsoft Visual Studio, Express Edition. DirectX is also a free download along with many hours of free video and online training sponsored by Microsoft. (I'm not a shill but I don't stand for inaccuracies)
Licensing cost is like $7 last I checked and I remember in high school (9 years ago now) seeing it run on a Phillips Nino PDA, mine which was a 75 MHz processor. Granted Windows CE (now Mobile) is beefier now but I don't think there is any reason it can't run almost out of the box on the OLPC. With **plenty** of room to spare.
Right tool for the right job. Sometimes it is open source, sometimes it is not.
Tell that to all the Dell users that were getting uppity because they had to purchase their computers with a Microsoft Windows license :)
Reference from How the Grinch Stole Christmas, the animated movie.
I use plenty of complex software - and write plenty of it. I just refuse to touch Emacs. And like the poster above me said, it is far from the best piece of software out there (RMS fanboy, are we?). I use vi under linux. It works. But a port of Visual Studio for Linux would work so much better ...
Red Hat lobbies... are they overcharging? Is free too much?
Their total equity funding is $184M. That would make Gates a major player...
= 49
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/061127/nym218.html?.v
"index the world's information" so we can make contextual advertisements - Google.
That's all, folks. Seriously. Do as much research as you want. Advertisement is what makes the big $$$'s.
Ever notive how many meaningless pages you get in Google searches? By page 3 or 4 you are down to trash ... ad-ridden meaningless link pages. Search results beyond 100 are mostly meaningless. live.com does a better job of filtering out the garbage, probably because it is less popular and hasn't been 'gamed' as much as google.com has.
Eclipse is buggy as hell in a C++ environment, not to mention sloooow. (even my Java friends who are evangelists for the program will concede it is not worth it for a C++ developer) KDevelop - depends upon what you are building with. There are issues depending on your coding convention (extensionless headers, Qt builds, etc). I refuse to touch Emacs with a 39 and a half foot pole.
That being said I do my linux development under vi. But under windows I use VS. VS excels beyond any open-source replacement to date.
An advertizing company with a search engine [and other tools] to drive traffic to its advertizements.
It's probably in Microsoft's interest to NOT adopt OD import/export, otherwise they'd be shooting themselves in the foot - at least at the moment.
they are
Note under 'Contributers:' "Microsoft (Funding, Architectural & Technical Guidance and Project co-coordination)"
Cascade Investments, LLC, Invests in Pacific Ethanol.