i thought you all might find this interesting. yesterday, i sent and email to olpc and received a response today.
my comment:
This is nonsense. The OLPC program is supposed to be about helping children in underdeveloped nations learn and grow, right? Instead, you're forcing them to stagnate in the mire that Microsoft creates. Where we (the first-world nations) could be striving to help the tech-illiterate develop an understanding of how computers work, we're dooming them to a future at the mercy of a company that has made it clear that they only care about one thing: Microsoft. Now, you're not giving them the chance to learn how computers work, you're forcing them to develop under the oppressive yolk of Microsoft.
Not only that, but Microsoft should have had to pay for the privilege of subverting this new potential-customer base into more sheeple.
I was planning to defer my charitable contributions from other organizations to the OLPC program... but you've just told me (and everyone like me) that you don't want my money, that you value lining the pockets of a money-grubbing software giant over the well-being of developing nations.
The Salvation Army, Minnesota Public Radio and the Red Cross will all be very glad to know that your cause doesn't need or want my money and support.
response:
Thank you for your concern about One Laptop per Child.
Any software developed by or for OLPC is released under GPL v2. The open source community remains a critical success factor in the one laptop per child mission and we are *extremely* grateful for all their past and future contributions.
Microsoft is developing a version of its XP operating system that runs on the XO laptop. OLPC will continue to develop its Linux-based OS and distribute it on all its XO laptops. Future distributions may include both open and proprietary software; however, the choice of what to use will remain the child's and the default will remain open source.
other denominations? how will this pan out for the catholic church (which is already distinctly different in their holding mary in a much higher position than other christians)? could this create a rift in the near-theocracy that we have going in the us? what kind of societal problems might this statement spawn?
the recent pressure to revert masses to latin and now this? another radical new pope? i bet the catholic powers that be are glad they didn't make the same "mistake" that they did with john paul ii (choosing him at a young age).
did you notice how i did not indicate that ALL high school graduates are lacking intelligence? did you notice how my statement is one that does not presume much because it does not state that "all X are Y" but only that "some X are Y", and my second statement is one that we both know to be true (unless you can assure yourself that everyone - with a diploma - you've ever met meets your arbitrary criteria for intelligent). you, sir, have gone far out of line by assuming that i condemned your point as fallacious.
and because i'm picky about it: perhaps you should not refer to your temporary nemesis as "pal"? further, you most certainly would not apologize to this adversary.
graduation does not always equate to being smart; i remember meeting several people that graduated from high school who were unable to read above an arbitrary third grade level. at the new alumni dinner (gathering to celebrate the new graduates at my college), i recall asking some other students in-depth questions about their majors (subjects i had also studied on my own time), and about 50% didn't understand my questions. i think it's a horrible fallacy to assume that someone has intelligence in any given field just because they have a piece of paper.
really? i've been gravitating to gnome for the same reason: customizing shortcuts. with kde, binding the "menu" key to open a konsole defaults back to worthless (and so on), but gnome behaves just right every time.
i went on over a dozen fligts (us and international) with pliers, needlenose, tweezers and a crescent wrench in my backpack before someone at amsterdam gave me guff over everything except the tweezers. they asked if they were job-related items, i told them that i had forgotten they were in my bag when i left... about four flights earlier. after 6 security personnel bothered me and they all talked, i was dismissed with "don't try this again"
keep in mind, amsterdam, not the us. this kind of bs knows no boundaries
while at college, one of my friends and i would often debate about various philosophical issues (he later chose political science for a major and i was a philosophy major). when i would try to tear down his theories, he occasionally punctuated his rants against me with "who gave aristotle his degree? where did kant get his phd?"
largely, i think various fields seem to find themselves stuck in circular dependencies when searching for new ideas. life on mars is a great point: this doesn't contain carbon, it can't be remnants of life.
i'm not saying that everyone should be labeled "expert", but i do think that many of the ideas that get ignored because they're "implausible" should be given a second glance. as one great literary character once said: Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth.
if libraries go the way of the dinosaur, we can certainly expect that the first first-world-nation to dispose of them will be the first to lose footing in the future. the evolution of the internet has helped to spread information and knowledge a lot more swiftly than in the past: this is excellent. does this mean that the internet can replace libraries? can a food-processor replace a knife?
the whole idea of knowledge/information being power is almost a cliche, but that doesn't change its truth value. jean-francois lyotard discusses this in his essay http://www.amazon.com/Postmodern-Condition-Knowledge-History-Literature/dp/0816611734/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1204514280&sr=8-1"the postmodern condition", and i think it is something that the "powers that be" and the media should be examining (if this article is any indication of their feelings)
if this is the case, it may be worth my time to reinstall vista and see what it has to offer. i've often been frustrated at the difficulty of switching from 3d apps to firefox or elsewhere.
it's hard to do anything politically productive when much of the population is busy looking at porn, watching jack-ass, playing halo and, to stay on topic, pirating music
church/religion. for most of america, the amorphous "church" is a necessary part of their lives: they meet up with friends, their kids meet other kids, various family social events, etc. there's lots of community and support, it feels good/right (depending on who you ask) and there's no cover charge.
do people feel like they're wasting their time? a few do, most don't - unless it's football season, and that seems to be twisting to support the american theocracy ideal.
>But, the whole reason to GO to a University, is to get the skills/education to make
>more money when finished, than you would have if you had not gone.
funny, that's what i used to think. now that i have a couple of degrees, i finally realize that there is more to life than money. THAT is why one gets a bachelor's degree - to learn that there is more to life than just making money.
who really benefits from the folding@home project? do we get to reap these benefits... or does some larger company get this new discovery that we have to pay to receive?
maybe it's just me (and most of my computer-savvy friends), but i would rather strive for the possible discovery of something that will change humanity forever. i'm sure seti@home is a waste... now, but remember when everyone thought the earth was flat? remember the wright brothers?
even in 1995 (and obviously, plenty of times before), this had already been addressed; however, the premise is intriguing, especially if the general public is finally becoming aware of it
http://imdb.com/title/tt0667998/
Slashdot Mirror
my comment:
This is nonsense. The OLPC program is supposed to be about helping children in underdeveloped nations learn and grow, right? Instead, you're forcing them to stagnate in the mire that Microsoft creates. Where we (the first-world nations) could be striving to help the tech-illiterate develop an understanding of how computers work, we're dooming them to a future at the mercy of a company that has made it clear that they only care about one thing: Microsoft. Now, you're not giving them the chance to learn how computers work, you're forcing them to develop under the oppressive yolk of Microsoft.
Not only that, but Microsoft should have had to pay for the privilege of subverting this new potential-customer base into more sheeple.
I was planning to defer my charitable contributions from other organizations to the OLPC program... but you've just told me (and everyone like me) that you don't want my money, that you value lining the pockets of a money-grubbing software giant over the well-being of developing nations.
The Salvation Army, Minnesota Public Radio and the Red Cross will all be very glad to know that your cause doesn't need or want my money and support.
response:
Thank you for your concern about One Laptop per Child.
OLPC maintains a firm and unequivocal commitment to open source software. Having an open system is fundamental to OLPC's mission, please see: http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Core_principles/lang-en
Any software developed by or for OLPC is released under GPL v2. The open source community remains a critical success factor in the one laptop per child mission and we are *extremely* grateful for all their past and future contributions.
Microsoft is developing a version of its XP operating system that runs on the XO laptop. OLPC will continue to develop its Linux-based OS and distribute it on all its XO laptops. Future distributions may include both open and proprietary software; however, the choice of what to use will remain the child's and the default will remain open source.
Best Regards,
OLPC
the recent pressure to revert masses to latin and now this? another radical new pope? i bet the catholic powers that be are glad they didn't make the same "mistake" that they did with john paul ii (choosing him at a young age).
oligarchy is what you mean. an aristocratic system actually addresses the needs of the lower classes, an oligarchy just walks on them
this is only the genesis of our discontent...
1. passport 2. toothpaste 3. toothbrush 4. goatse desktop background 5. clean underwear
you seem pretty broken up about that experience; want to talk about it?
and because i'm picky about it: perhaps you should not refer to your temporary nemesis as "pal"? further, you most certainly would not apologize to this adversary.
graduation does not always equate to being smart; i remember meeting several people that graduated from high school who were unable to read above an arbitrary third grade level. at the new alumni dinner (gathering to celebrate the new graduates at my college), i recall asking some other students in-depth questions about their majors (subjects i had also studied on my own time), and about 50% didn't understand my questions. i think it's a horrible fallacy to assume that someone has intelligence in any given field just because they have a piece of paper.
really? i've been gravitating to gnome for the same reason: customizing shortcuts. with kde, binding the "menu" key to open a konsole defaults back to worthless (and so on), but gnome behaves just right every time.
OMG PONIES!!!!!!
surprisingly, that didn't hurt as much as i thought it would
i went on over a dozen fligts (us and international) with pliers, needlenose, tweezers and a crescent wrench in my backpack before someone at amsterdam gave me guff over everything except the tweezers. they asked if they were job-related items, i told them that i had forgotten they were in my bag when i left... about four flights earlier. after 6 security personnel bothered me and they all talked, i was dismissed with "don't try this again"
keep in mind, amsterdam, not the us. this kind of bs knows no boundaries
largely, i think various fields seem to find themselves stuck in circular dependencies when searching for new ideas. life on mars is a great point: this doesn't contain carbon, it can't be remnants of life.
i'm not saying that everyone should be labeled "expert", but i do think that many of the ideas that get ignored because they're "implausible" should be given a second glance. as one great literary character once said: Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth.
are you suggesting that we should open discussion about the potential ban on firearms?
i would assume that it requires less "overhead" and allows for swifter transfer
now now now, banning young children from airlines would be akin to banning people like you from slashdot.
if libraries go the way of the dinosaur, we can certainly expect that the first first-world-nation to dispose of them will be the first to lose footing in the future. the evolution of the internet has helped to spread information and knowledge a lot more swiftly than in the past: this is excellent. does this mean that the internet can replace libraries? can a food-processor replace a knife? the whole idea of knowledge/information being power is almost a cliche, but that doesn't change its truth value. jean-francois lyotard discusses this in his essay http://www.amazon.com/Postmodern-Condition-Knowledge-History-Literature/dp/0816611734/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1204514280&sr=8-1"the postmodern condition", and i think it is something that the "powers that be" and the media should be examining (if this article is any indication of their feelings)
It is from their foes, not their friends, that cities learn the lesson of building high walls. ;)
- Leonard Nimoy
if this is the case, it may be worth my time to reinstall vista and see what it has to offer. i've often been frustrated at the difficulty of switching from 3d apps to firefox or elsewhere.
it's hard to do anything politically productive when much of the population is busy looking at porn, watching jack-ass, playing halo and, to stay on topic, pirating music
do people feel like they're wasting their time? a few do, most don't - unless it's football season, and that seems to be twisting to support the american theocracy ideal.
Hey, Karl... one order for Communism with a side of Lenin!
>more money when finished, than you would have if you had not gone.
funny, that's what i used to think. now that i have a couple of degrees, i finally realize that there is more to life than money. THAT is why one gets a bachelor's degree - to learn that there is more to life than just making money.
marketing. "what do you mean you promised something we can't deliver?"
who really benefits from the folding@home project? do we get to reap these benefits... or does some larger company get this new discovery that we have to pay to receive?
maybe it's just me (and most of my computer-savvy friends), but i would rather strive for the possible discovery of something that will change humanity forever.
i'm sure seti@home is a waste... now, but remember when everyone thought the earth was flat?
remember the wright brothers?
even in 1995 (and obviously, plenty of times before), this had already been addressed; however, the premise is intriguing, especially if the general public is finally becoming aware of it http://imdb.com/title/tt0667998/