Otaku, Cedric's weblog

I think it's interesting how someone with a computer background thinks that one of the world's pressing problems is for kids to have a laptop.

If you were to ask the World H ealth Organization I'm sure they could provide you with a much more compelling list of problems that we should be addressing.

Next up, One Ipod for every child, brought to you by Steve Jobs.

Something I learned while working in the hospital world - non profit doesn't mean people don't make money. ...It just means they can't carry profit over each year.

So, at the end of the year - it's bonus time!

As always, I have no clue.

But noone knows if Intel is pressing it's classmate laptops in key 3rd world markets with cross financing them, just to stop a potentially threatening project (OLPC).

"What's the worst that can happen? More computers at a more affordable price?"

The worst thing that can happen is, some countries go with the Intel solution, the OLPC project goes belly up and Intel stops delivering more classmate PCs. Or OLPC goes belly up and countries have to buy a - then much more expensive- Intel laptop.

But as always, I have no clue.

lumpynose, one of the world's most pressing problems is for kids to have education. Computers can help with that. When people have education, they can start to help themselves instead of relying on handouts or criminal activity.

That's how the poor stay poor in Argentina, for example, they can't read or write. I imagine it's easier to write programs to help kids to learn to read and write, than it is to overcome the safety problems (Europeans and Americans get kidnapped; even Argentinians do in the worst parts) for foreigners to work there.

hi cedric,

i second Stephan Schmidt. I don't know intel's plans but I guess Negroponte is suspecting them of derailing this project.

Time will tell (2 more years) if Intel is really interested in this.

BR,
~A

lumpynose: are you yourself poor and in a “third-world” country? Because the only people I ever hear ask this sort of question are middle- or upper-class people in wealthy countries. The people in poor countries who spend substantial (for them) sums of money for the privilege of using an internet café’s facilities, conversely, do not seem to have any trouble putting computation machines to useful service.

Have you heard the saying “give a man a fish”?

Hi Cedric,

I think you are kind of missing the point of Negroponte's argument. You're looking at it from a very short sighted point of view. The OLPC project is reliant upon large numbers of machines (the $175 price tag is expected to drop to the $100 range within the next few years depending on demand). OLPC is building a program, not just laptops, to support a different approach to education. Intel is trying to sell more chips.

Intel's approach is not to build a cost effective, self supporting program. It is to drive the competition out of the market, and in order to do this, they are selling their machines _at a loss_. Intel cannot sustain this approach, and hopes to drive out OLPC (a sustainable approach) to increase it's market share. Ultimately, Intel will have to raise it's prices (even higher still, to compensate for early manufacturing losses), whereas OLPC will decrease it's prices.

This is why Negroponte is mad. Their approach harms the longevity of ANY laptop education program.

Thanks,

Scott

Did you watch the 60 minutes piece?

He showed leaked memos from Intel discussing why they need to destroy OLPC.

I am all for many OLPC programs, but Intel doesn't seem innocent here.

Cheers,

Dion

Sorry, but lumpynose is right. This is one of the most misguided ideas ever.

I'd really love to read a detailed explanation of how sprinkling a few laptops around is going to produce 'educated' and 'productive' people in the third world.

Ah yes, technology cures everything, right? I know we're mostly 21st century tech nerds here, but come on - are we really *this* out of touch with reality?

Last week's Economist ran an article about local fisherman in India, and how mobile phones have greatly helped their profitability. On days when fishing hauls were high, fisherman flooded their nearest market with fish (having to throw out extra supply) while markets 5 miles downshore had a shortage. Mobile phones are now used to direct the fisherman to the market where the price is highest. The result is greater profit for the fisherman b/c they aren't throwing fish out and less expensive food for the locals b/c they don't have interruptions to the supply chain.

So yes, more technology can increase world wealth (at the expense of no one) in unimagined and unique ways. No, I can't imagine how laptops are going to help the poor. I don't think Ward Cunningham imagined what wiki software would do to the Internet. But once the technology was created the people used it in unique and imaginative ways.

http://www.economist.com/finance/displaystory.cfm?story_id=9149142

I used an OLPC laptop. It was terrible. The keys are microscopic and so is the screen. The open source geniuses decided to make the whole thing based on python so it is dog slow.

But I guess it doesn't matter, because it has WI-FI! Yes, kids out in the African desert can access WI-FI all they want. Supposedly Bill Gates had plans for a similar device a number of years ago that would have used the cell phone infrastructure instead of WI-FI, which when you think about it makes so much more sense because many third world countries actually have quite good cell phone coverage.

The competition should drive costs down. Inexpensive PCs means wider adoption. Wider adoption means success. Yeah...everybody wins!

If OLPC has a superior product at a lower price, then they will sell more. Yeah...OLPC wins!

If Intel drives out OLPC by being successful, then why would they just drop it? They were successful, right? Yeah...Intel wins!

If no one buys it because access to clean water and nutritious food are more important/desirable...then we at least are reminded that technology is not the solution for all the world's problems. Yeah...we are reminded!

Econ 101 - Microsoft started to give out internet explorer for free and drove Netscape out of the business - this is an illegal. You kill the competition by offering your product at very low price or free and destroy your competition. After that, you create monopoly. It is plainly illegal.

If Intel is giving out these laptop below the cost [ selling old slow CPU ] they can write-off the loss and get tax-break.

It is unfair for OLPC.

Cédric,

If free competition was always yielding better products, you wouldn't be writing "linux, how I hate thee" posts :-). Even in Economy there's no Silver Bullet.

Of course there are more important problems facing the third world. But Negroponte is probably not an expert on resolving the helth-care crisis or education problem or job issues or labor laws in these countries. If he is trying to build $100 laptops, great. Perhaps his target audience will be lower middle class people, who are not struggling to survive on a dollar a day. Perhaps his target audience will be students who go to awful public schools. It will certainly help reduce the digital divide if not the economic one in the short term.

I also agree with many points made by different users above. People will find ways to use the technology to their advantage if it is accessible to them. Would you have thought of selling a cell phone to a beggar in Bangladesh. Well, it is helping them get out of abject poverty now. Nokia made the largest sale of phones on a single day anywhere in the world in the history of the company on Diwali, the most sacred hindu festival, last year. It is the biggest cell phone market in the world with the most competitive rates in the world.

I am not sure what is the motive behind Intel's move, but if they are able to create cheeper laptops, more power to them. If OLPC doesn't survive as a viable non-profit org, who cares as far as the target audience receives the goods. Perhaps if Intel increases the price in the future, the business opportunity will create itself again or OLPC can re-invent itself and create a $50 palmtop with similar functionality.

I love this quote from the article:

Negroponte says. "At all. They have no schools, they don’t even have trees under which a teacher might stand…"

Shouldn't he be planting trees first? What's the point of a laptop if you can't see the screen for the glare. The article also mentions that two of the most popular features of the computer are the digital camera -- and as a light source.

The whole idea was always for Negroponte to get fame, a fuzzy feeling, and especially lots of charity dollars for himself.

I'm moving to places like Ecuador where I'm going to hire smart kids, with mathematical and english skills and train them to get real programming jobs, and get rich off of their labors.

Cedric reminds me of James Taggart of Atlas Shrugged.

where can you buy one?