One Laptop Per Child and Intel Join Forces 143
dan the person writes "A Wired piece informs us that Intel and the OLPC project have put their bickering behind them. They have joined forces to ensure 'the maximum number of laptops will reach children'. '"What happened in the past has happened," said Will Swope of Intel. "But going forward, this allows the two organisations to go do a better job and have better impact for what we are both very eager to do which is help kids around the world." "Intel joins the OLPC board as a world leader in technology, helping reach the world's children. Collaboration with Intel means that the maximum number of laptops will reach children," said Nicholas Negroponte, founder of One Laptop per Child. The new agreement means that Intel will sit alongside companies such as Google and Red Hat as partners in the OLPC scheme.'"
I have a bad feeling about this (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:I have a bad feeling about this (Score:4, Insightful)
Intel knows that if this effort is successful, their future customers will be using these devices.
LinuxBIOS and Open Specifications for Intel? (Score:5, Informative)
Sing the Open Firmware Song! (Score:1)
Open Firmware is the only firmware standard in existence to have its own song. Download or listen to Mitch Bradley singing the Open Firmware Song (278k) [sun.com].
-Don
I have a very good feeling about this.... (Score:2)
Three possible scenarios... (Score:3, Insightful)
1. The second generation of OLPC units will ship with Intel inside.
2. Intel will suck as much information as it can out of the OLPC project before going its own way again.
3. Intel will stay onboard at OLPC but do its best to bog the project down while pushing its competing solutions to the developing world.
None of those scenarios particularly appeal to me, but if I had to choose between them I'd go for the first one.
Easy solution (Score:5, Funny)
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Re:Easy solution (Score:4, Funny)
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Re:Three possible scenarios... (Score:5, Insightful)
If the XO ran Windows -- any version -- it would be worse than useless for the purpose of the OLPC. The whole point is to have software designed for education, wrapped in an operating system that's completely user-modifiable (to encourage the students to creatively hack it). This is fundamentally incompatible with Windows.
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Yea it's like the real world: you're free to develop products that work within it, but you can't change laws of physics. This should be pretty distressing for a child.
But I say we take this further. If Vista is useless since you can't have a kid recompile it, how useless is a hardware yo
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Anyway, my point is this. I don't claim to be 'grown
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They would have never have thought you could get a computer into the size of a watch.
Secondly, there is more to computer and technology group than coders.
I don't know what your background is specifically, but something that electronic engineers learn in their very first year of classes is a little thing called the transistor and boolean algebra. Thats kind of pretty much where our modern electronics stem from at the moment.
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The first transistor was created in 1947 according to a quick google search.
Thats 60 years from the first transistor to what we have now. Thats not a long time especially considering that we will retain our knowledge of how they worked. I'll admit, we will lose a lot of stored knowledge yes, but surely you would have to admit that it would not take 60s years again.
Now assuming progression of any sort, that gap widens and, without any further
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1) Optical storage contains a lot of data that would be unaffected by an EMP, and I imagine people would be able to come up with a rudimentry way to read it pretty quickly. Also information stored on paper would be unaffected.
2) I think you overestimate the power of an EMP. An EMP doesn't eliminate the existance of electrons or prevent wires from ever carrying current again. Many basic electric devices could still function or function aga
OLPC is a project - Classmate is a device... (Score:3, Informative)
Negroponte was probably right to use Geode when the the first OLPC unit was designed, but looking
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(Disclosure: I worked on Geode documentation for National Semiconductor in 2000. AMD has the descendants of my documents online.)
Intel or no Intel (Score:1, Flamebait)
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Firstly, this project has nothing to do with water supplies or diarrhea. The fact it doesn't save children from these horrors has nothing to do at all with the design or intent of the OLPC. You created what is known as a strawman argument, arguing that the OLPC is useless because it doesn't do something it was never intended to do. Strawmen arguments are logically flawed reasoning and as such
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Gar (Score:3, Funny)
Their plan all along? (Score:1, Interesting)
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So i guess (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:So i guess (Score:4, Informative)
After that it is hard to say - I think AMD processors are more suitible for OLPC for now, but what will future bring - who knows.
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I think AMD processors are more suitible for OLPC for now, but what will future bring - who knows.
I'm really surprised they went with AMD. They are using the Geode line, which is basically a souped-up 486. Intel don't have a direct competitor since they sold their XScale line off, but I don't understand why they went with Geode rather than an ARM9 core of some kind. Going x86 limits them to two suppliers (only one really at that performance level), while a large number of companies produce ARM chips. Additionally, ARM chips are in pretty much every single mobile phone, and so they are used to huge
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I've been looking at this issue, and basically using a PC-compatible architecture makes so many things easier, especially when you're talking about desktop apps, driver support, etc. etc. etc. Linux on ARM is a confusing mess to get working for people used to PC's. I've got a Geode board here running an OLPC image, which is a basically a Fedora I can telnet into and get work done using standard tools. Replicating this aroun
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Are you talking end users or developers? End users don't see any difference. Most stuff already works with arm, so apparently developers don't see much of a difference.
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All of the stuff I've seen involves setting up cross-compilers, building firmware images, burning those images to target boards, debugging with JTAG's, etc. With a PC-based system you ssh in and hack.
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Hard core high performance (per watt especially) SOC.
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Re:So i guess (Score:4, Funny)
Does that mean US parents can buy them now? (Score:5, Interesting)
India and China who can get the OLPC Laptop in special deals to
make their next generation of children more competitive?
Re:Does that mean US parents can buy them now? (Score:5, Insightful)
Before the US becomes a 3rd world country due to competition from India and China who can get the OLPC Laptop in special deals to make their next generation of children more competitive?
I've seen two examples of schools in my local neighborhood bragging about how their gifted fifth-grade students were using Powerpoint to give their school reports. In one case, I saw an example of it with all sort of pictures, and the GATE teacher bragged, "and one report had a video on it!!"
Of course, I'm thinking how pathetically easy it is to put together this sort of presentation, and I was struck not by the content (as I should), but by how much the teacher valued the flash over the substance of the report.
If we want to make our children more "competitive", maybe it would be a better idea to keep computers away from them as long as possible. Any idiot can learn to use a computer. I'd rather end up with educated children.
Re:Does that mean US parents can buy them now? (Score:4, Insightful)
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I had the same problem in pen & paper days. Some of my teachers were more worried about the presentation and neatness of handwriting than they were about what I actually wrote.
Well, I don't know if I'm willing to go this far. There's a difference between neatness and flash. If I was a teacher and had to squint at chicken scratches trying to understand what a student wrote, I'd make neatness count as well. Part of education is learning to be organized and have reasonably clear penmanship (another ite
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I guess you would also give bad grades to black kids because they had different accents? Who the hell are you?
Uh.... no.... but I would give bad grades in a speech class to someone who mumbled. This isn't about different styles of writing, it's about legibility. I wouldn't care if someone puts a horizontal line through their Z or not, but there's no excuse of total sloppiness to the point that you can't read it.
Too many people give excuses about their writing. Anyone can write neatly, and above the ag
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Your grade turned into a search algorithm?
Re:Does that mean US parents can buy them now? (Score:4, Funny)
Which might explain why they're not giving out these things in US. It's all a conspiracy for US to gain intellectual supremacy over the world.
Good point. I hope OLPC is designed on education (Score:2)
to education. My wife is a high school English teacher. Do you know how well an
outlook calendar "maps" onto a class schedule? It doesn't. However, that doesn't
stop the all too stupid administration from expecting teachers to use it because it's
"a calendaring tool we have already paid for".
The great potential about the OLPC Linux distribution is that only applications
relevant to education need be written, packaged, and included.
Re:Does that mean US parents can buy them now? (Score:5, Insightful)
You know what the worst part is? This is actually a regression from what we had 15 years ago when I was in 5th grade!
Back then, we had Hypercard -- like PowerPoint, except programmable. Not only could we have embedded videos in our stacks (if sufficiently fast machines had been available, anyway), but we could also program animations, link together our cards/slides in non-linear ways, and even build applications with it.
Between Hypercard, LOGO, and games like Number Munchers and Oregon Trail, computers were better used for education back then than they are today!
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Uhm yea right... Powerpoint is also programmable (VB), but the UI is just good enough that you don't need to do it. I mean there's no much to *program* in a *presentation* right, let's be fair...
Next thing you'll claim graphical UI is a step back from the superior command prompt (since it's harder).
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That's exactly my point! Hypercard wasn't just for presentations, with programmability hidden away as an afterthought. And that's exactly what made it good!
Old days were better (Score:2)
Not only are the same "old school" goals at work on OLPC but one of the members, Seymour Papert is involved with OLPC. He promoted constructionist learning which was the concept behind LOGO and LEGO/LOGO (see "Mindstorms") and influenced intelligently designed software of that time.
Number Munchers and Oregon Trail were among a long list of wonderful MECC software designed BY EDUCATORS for the Minnesota
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Of course the OLPC is directed at very young children, children who liv
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good news for the RIAA (Score:3, Funny)
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does this mean... (Score:4, Insightful)
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Yeah, imagine a whole generation of kids growing up without the unhealthy guilt our prudish society indoctrinated into us!
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I just realized something: each baby when born is looking and sucking his mom's boobs few times each day. This sort of perversion should be really unnatural and stressing for the child.
Imagine the terrible kinds of effects this has on its poor baby psyche. Those mothers are monsters!
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Cost cutting measure? (Score:5, Funny)
OLPC guy #2: Guess it's time to sell some more ad-space. Where are we on the phone list?
OLPC guy #1: Looks like we're doing to the "I"s.
OLPC guy #2: Start dialing.
Computing for everyone... (Score:4, Insightful)
It's not unlike the good intentions that led to rebuilding of "better" houses in Sumatra for instance after the great Tsunami. Modern, western style housing just doesn't make sense there. It uses and demands much more freshwater than traditional homes and no-one can afford to run them. As a result the population has typically abandoned the new homes, which remain unoccupied, in favour of traditional homes.
In fact I would argue that corporations (and governments who use money to buy these computers) will likely breed more hostility and resentment than anything by disseminating computers to people who can't afford three squares a day.
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From my experience, kids who have laptops spend their day browsing the web or chatting... not learning. Every class that has computers turns out to be a wast
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Back when I was in elementary school, the classes that involved things like Hypercard and LOGO weren't a waste. Perhaps the problem lies not with the concept of putting computers in the classroom, but with the dumbass teachers who think MS Office is the ulti
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Teaching with technology isn't better than older methods of teaching reading or math, but I would say that children are more familiar with technology. The l
OT: housing in Sumatra (Score:2)
How so? In particular, how exactly do Western-style homes require more fresh water?
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For starters, you're talking about houses that are built on the assumption of a centralized water supply system, which doesn't currently exist to any meaningful degree. The same can also be said for the new schools and nurseries. In addition to assuming water will be supplied, the builders assume an availability and usage rate of water that while reasonable in North America or Europe for instance (and we use LOTS of water, btw) is simply unr
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Hint: My screen name is Mr. Chaotica. ; )
What, you mean in the specific fixtures used and the design of kitchens and bathrooms? Even so, why should having unusable kitchens and bathrooms cause abandonment of the entire house? All they'd have to do is shut off the main valve and cap the drains (to avoid unpleasant sewer gases) and it'd be fine. The result -- having to carry in all
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No one in the developed world is forcing developing nations governments to choose to spend their own money to buy into the OLPC project. It's not like the US Marines are landing on the beaches of Brazil and distributing XOs at gunpoint.
All OLPC does is work with countries that decide the
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I'd refer you to the history of Eritrea and Ethiopia, Uganda, or countless others. It's not uncommon for regimes, or even benevolent governments to have priorities different from the populace (this even happens in North America, but since we're talking about 'developing'). And if you don't think governments can be coerced into buying specific products through purely economic methods, you haven'
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No doubt, government decision makers can have different ideas of what is useful than the people, and even when they don't, both government decision makers and the people can be wrong at the time they make decisions and those decisions can
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You dismissed it. Unduly, I feel, but whatever. I raised it again, but as less of a caricature. Whenever any product goes from A) to B) dollars are spend and margins can be made. And in such cases, whenever there's a possibility of someone making a buck, there's also a probability of it. If you want me to provide evidence that it
Notice someone missing? (Score:2)
Since the OLPC is running a FOSS OS core, and Intel is part of the OLPC now, I guess this leaves Windows out in the cold.
Not that I mind that or anything, but I find it interesting - after all, Intel and MSFT had teamed up to build the OLPC former competitor, yes?
As for AMD, I suspect that they and Intel will have to put their differences aside (w/o all the sniping commentary from AMD over a charity team-up announcement, at least as shown on the CNET version of TF
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Actually, Intel's Classmate PC is designed to run either Windows or Linux, and on all of the reviews I have heard thus far Mandriva Linux was the installed OS.
Additionally, although it's unlikely to work well within the system's constraints, Microsoft is also at least evaluating the OLPC, and is one of 1500+ developers signed up with them.
Finally (slightly off topic), now that Intel has sold off the ARM division, I don't know that they have a low-enough wattage CPU at this time that could be a viable repl
One VM per child? (Score:1)
Waits to be flamed (Score:3, Interesting)
But at the same time I feel like it's a waste of money compared to better causes, like I dont know, FEEDING or MEDICINE for kids. Granted I grew up poor, and I wish I had a laptop when I was in high school and younger would have been able to kick start my career even earlier. But even then if it came to me having a free laptop, or seeing the kid down the street who eats government peanut butter on bread (no jelly) every day and no medical insurance. I'd gladly give it up to feed him/her for a while.
From a small thinking perspective this project is great, from the big picture it's just diverting funds that could have been better used. For those about to flame me, Yes we should go to Mars! But we should we get things straight down here first.
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Re:Waits to be flamed (Score:5, Insightful)
You have to remember that philanthropy is often done by people with passion. Nicholas Negroponte [laptop.org] was the co-founder of the MIT Media Laboratory, so naturally he's passionate about computers. One thing about the nature of passion is that one who is passionate wants to instill the same passion in others. Negroponte has passion about computers (and money, which definitely helps), so let him express his philanthropy as he wants. So perhaps the question shouldn't be, "Why isn't Negroponte giving food and medicine?" but rather "Why isn't there some other rich philanthropist who is passionate about feeding kids and making sure they have decent medical care?" There's no shortage of rich men.
Also, let's face it: giving food and medicine (a) just isn't sexy to the press and so doesn't garner support easily and (b) giving food and medicine is a never-ending job. Unlike giving a kids a laptop, you have to feed them three times a day every day. Even the most passionate philanthropist would likely burn out.
Another thing you need to consider is the potential for kids to rise above their situation. Feeding kids just makes them not hungry; the results of giving kids access to the internet is unknown buy potentially unbounded.
Consider what was done in Born into Brothels [kids-with-cameras.org]: poor children of prostitutes were given cameras. Could the kids have used more/better food/medicine? Of course. But what resulted from the cameras was (a) art and, for a few children, (b) a way out of their bleak station in life from their art and notoriety is garnered. As useful as food and medicine might be, it offers no hope of escaping their bleak lives. Who knows what kids might accomplish with laptops? Wouldn't it be interesting to find out?
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Guest I just never saw it from that angle before, and I agree.
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Are you sure it's a no-brainer? After all, which is better: having to support a large population [effectively] permanently on welfare, or creating a small population that can support themselves?
While it might be morally distasteful, the pragmatist in me says that the latter situation is actually better!
Bill Gates? (Score:2)
I think you said Bill Ga&%@***NOTHING TO SEE HERE - MOVE ALONG - SLASHDOT MINISTRY OF TRUTH***
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Why? All that would do is create an excess of useless (i.e., uneducated) people who would then just suck more and more welfare. That's a waste of money! It's much better to have educated people, who could actually figure out how to eventually support themselves, even if you end up with fewer of them because the rest starved.
Yes, I agree, this isn't the nicest way to look at it,
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Also, by the way, your whole argument is moot anyway because the OLPC project is focusing on "developing" countries -- those that are slightly beyond the "basic survival" phase of development. The children under consideration do have food, water, and shelter; just not cable TV and malls.
I am from Uruguay, the first OLPC country. They _do_ have access to cable TV (paid or unpaid) and malls, but the issue is that poor kids don't get the same opportunities in life that we get.
We have virtually universal alphabetization, but differences in education are huge, nonetheless.
Poor kids don't get to finish high school, and seldom get a college degree.
Public education is not bad, but middle class kids can buy books, get private teachers, have internet, and also get extra curricular activities.
This k
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Then deal with them. The OLPC project will continue without you, I'm sure.
Not everyone has to be involved in everything done by every private charity on Earth.
Please, feel free to give to organizations providing those, instead.
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You know, growing up in this world isn't about being comfy, having everything given to you, or everything being absolutely fair. Those are concepts that don't exist.
"No pain no gain".
Truth is if developed countries just keep sending tru
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I've
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Unfortunately, you can't actually eat money, or plastic, or semi-conductors, or even rocket fuel. To feed the kid down the street, you would be much better served by getting the corn used to make ethanol, and feed it to people instead.
Meanwhile, learn some old wisdom. "Give a man a fish, you feed him for a day. teach a man to fish, you feed him for a lifetime." The end result of the programs started in the 1930's her
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We need to have both systems. One that can help people, then charities like OLPC to help them break out of their social bubble and hopefully better their position in life.
Where I think welfare failed is because it did promote income wi
monopoly (Score:1)
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