Big Fish Little Fish Intel and OLPC

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Permalink Reply by Kelley Irish on January 4, 2008 at 9:25pm

Hee are a couple of articles discussing the issue.

http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,140988-page,1/article.html
http://www.xbitlabs.com/news/other/display/20080103234404_Intel_Qui...

"Intel spokesman Nick Jacobs confirmed that the company and OLPC had parted ways, but declined to comment further on the matter. In an e-mail, OLPC President Walter Bender said other factors also contributed to the breakdown in the relationship with Intel, including "a complete lack of cooperation by Intel on software, learning, etc."

It was predicted that an Intel version of the OLPC could be launched at this year's CES show, due to kick off in Las Vegas within days.

I would like to see some of the features on the OLPC included in some laptop compters that cou;d be offered in the US, UK and others. Regular Laptops have proved problematic in school sitations. The electrical port in the back often pulls away from the mother board, yje batteries only last a couple of years and are expensive to replace, and many get dropped and cannot be replaced by shrinking school budgets.

I am hoping the OLPC highlights the need for a more child friendly laptop! I have a OLPC coming so soon I willbe ale to see how it works with kids

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Permalink Reply by Sylvia Martinez on January 5, 2008 at 12:31am

I'm not sure I believe that either side is telling the full story. Intel salespeople in countries where the XO is under consideration were also rumored to be spreading fake stories about XO problems even after Intel joined the board. Another rumor is that Intel failed to make a new chip for the XO as they promised and the announcement scheduled for CES this week was going to be laughed at. Negroponte can ask for the moon and Intel can say no, that's no reason to quit out of an agreement and pretend they've been horribly insulted.

It just all smells of press manipulation. We'll probably never know the real story. My guess, it has to do with money, not insults or personalities.

So maybe there is a kernel of truth somewhere out there, but I doubt that it will make a big difference in the long run.

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Permalink Reply by Kelley Irish on January 5, 2008 at 7:37am

Isn't it amazing how Adults can act like children??? Isn't the sandbox big enough for everyone to play in?

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Permalink Reply by Sylvia Martinez on January 5, 2008 at 10:33am

Well, that's insulting to children ;-)

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Permalink Reply by Kelley Irish on January 5, 2008 at 7:11pm

Here is the latest article on the Intel pull out

http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,2243814,00.asp

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Permalink Reply by Kelley Irish on January 6, 2008 at 9:43am

For those of watching the relationship between INTEL and OLPC this is from http://hardware.slashdot.org/hardware/08/01/06/0654212.shtml


"The New York Times has an article that sheds some light on why Intel left the OLPC board: 'A frail partnership between Intel and the One Laptop Per Child educational computing group was undone last month in part by an Intel saleswoman: She tried to persuade a Peruvian official to drop the country's commitment to buy a quarter-million of the organization's laptops in favor of Intel PCs. Intel and the group had a rocky relationship from the start in their short-lived effort to get inexpensive laptops into the hands of the world's poorest children. But the saleswoman's tactic was the final straw for Nicholas Negroponte.'"

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Permalink Reply by Sylvia Martinez on January 6, 2008 at 11:40am

The NY Times article may be the most balanced piece yet on the subject. You have to register at the NY Times to read it, but it's worth it to have an NY Times login.

For those of you interested in OLPC XO stuff, I've written a new blog post on "Top Ten Checklist for XO Reviews". In it, I link to one of the worst XO reviews I've ever read, from The Economist magazine.

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Permalink Reply by Kelley Irish on January 6, 2008 at 4:27pm

I just finished the article from the Tmes. Then I went to the INTEL site and voiced my displeasure at their marketing methods. I realize my one voice is meaningless to them-but I do think when people act in unethical ways that they should be aware the world is watching..

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Permalink Reply by Kelley Irish on January 7, 2008 at 8:13pm

Hopefully with so many people dicussing what has happened with the OLPC the issue of " kid friendly laptops" is being discussed! Perhaps after both sides see the kind f press they are getting it will give them some things to think about.

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