I don't think that those who purchased a XO on the B1G1 initiative or who are developing in the XO environment on hardware or on a virtual machine should be concerned.
On the link below, after getting thru the writer's comments about Intel, his comments on the Intel Classmate are interesting but I do not know first hand if his hardware comments are accurate.
http://www.theinquirer.net/gb/inquirer/news/2008/01/04/intel-quits-olpc-huff
An article about OLPC's response to the Intel resignation.
http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,2243814,00.asp
The OLPC CTO also resigned as it appears the XO hardware development is now etched in stone and as we already know RTP.
http://www.theinquirer.net/gb/inquirer/news/2008/01/02/olpc-cto-flies-coop
And, as we also know, Linux, once stable, is all about drivers and open source apps, so the sky's the limit.
Just a couple of untimely hits to OLPC that I think will have no more effect than the Nigerian 419 cons trying to sue OLPC for patent infringement before the XO was released... duh?
http://www.theinquirer.net/gb/inquirer/news/2008/01/02/nigerian-court-stops- olpc
More likely future news, IMHO, will be some philanthropic type stepping up to the plate and funding a few hundred thousand units.
Move along now; nothing more to see here; get back to your code whacking.
73, Alan VE4YZ
-----Original Message----- From: amsat-bb-bounces@amsat.org [mailto:amsat-bb-bounces@amsat.org] On Behalf Of Keith N4ZQ Sent: January 4, 2008 5:28 PM To: amsat-bb@amsat.org Cc: amsat-florida@amsat.org Subject: [amsat-bb] OLPC Troubles
AMSAT OLPC owners might find this interesting...
From BBC News .
One laptop project dealt big blow
Intel has pulled out of a project to put cheap laptops in the hands of children in the developing world.
Citing "philosophical" differences, Intel has withdrawn its funding and technical help from the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) project.
OLPC aimed to boost learning in poorer nations via a custom-built laptop intended to cost no more than $100.
Intel's withdrawal is a blow to OLPC which has found few nations willing to buy large numbers of laptops.
Intel joined the OLPC in July 2007 and was widely expected to work on a version of the projects laptop that used an Intel chip. Many expected this machine to be unveiled at the CES technology fair which opens in Las Vegas on 5 January.
The first versions of the OLPC or XO laptop were powered by a chip made by Intel's arch-rival AMD.
The green and white XO machine was designed specifically for children, was ruggedised to cope with conditions in developing nations and could be kept powered using a hand crank.
Intel spokesman Chuck Molly said it had taken the decision to resign from the OLPC board and end its involvement because the organization had asked it to stop backing rival low-cost laptops.
The chip maker has been promoting its own cheap laptop, the Classmate, in many of the same places as the OLPC.
"OLPC had asked Intel to end our support for non-OLPC platforms, including the Classmate PC, and to focus on the OLPC platform exclusively, " said Mr Mulloy . "At the end of the day, we decided we couldn't accommodate that request."
He added that the use of AMD chips in the first XO laptops had not influenced its decision.
Cost breakdown of OLPC laptop So far the OLPC has yet to comment on the split.
Prior to Intel's involvement, OLPC founder Nicholas Negroponte criticized the chip firm for what he called its attempts to undermine the project's work.
He said Intel was selling its Classmate at a loss to make the XO laptop less attractive.
While Dr Negroponte's initial aim was for a laptop costing only $100 the final versions that have been trialled in Nigeria and Uruguay cost $188 (#95).
Costs were supposed to be kept low by governments ordering the XO laptop in shipments of one million but large orders for the XO laptop have, so far, not materialized.
In a bid to boost the numbers of laptops available OLPC ran a "Give One, Get One" program in the US from 12 November to 31 December.
This allowed members of the public to buy two XO machines - one for themselves and one for a OLPC project elsewhere.
OLPC said the success of this had helped it to launch programmes in Haiti, Rwanda, Ethiopia, Cambodia, Mongolia, and Afghanistan.
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Alan wrote:
I don't think that those who purchased a XO on the B1G1 initiative or who are developing in the XO environment on hardware or on a virtual machine should be concerned.
On the link below, after getting thru the writer's comments about Intel, his comments on the Intel Classmate are interesting but I do not know first hand if his hardware comments are accurate.
http://www.theinquirer.net/gb/inquirer/news/2008/01/04/intel-quits-olpc-huff
It appears the writer used a Classmate with Windows XP. Looking at an overview of the reference design it does not really have the RAM and storage for Windows XP.
I think the XO is a neat and ground breaking device. Did I get one? No, I realized that it is does not meet my needs and would end up in the closet or given away to a child in a few months. I am not the target audience for the device and wonder if people are just buying it for the "Gee-Wiz" factor. The XO is the "in" techie thing to own. The XO can do any computer task put to it while other hardware, like the Classmate, are just do-little stripped down versions of a real laptop.
I think there is a coming shift from laptops as desktop replacements to laptops as portable devices. It looks like Apple will get into the market next month. OLPC may have pioneered this and got other companies to look at this market. Unfortunately pioneers are sometimes not the winners because they stumble and can not recover. Others learn from the pioneer's mistakes and are successful. The de Havilland DH,106 Comet comes to mind as an example.
I was looking for a small portable computer for years but was disappointed. They either ran operating systems that were a pain to develop for (WinCE) and/or very expensive. My favorite was the HP95 as it was small and ran DOS but it had limits. It is too old now.
I recently got a Asus Eee PC and it fits my needs better than the XO. There is a growing list of Mods for the computer. I still have Radio Programs that need Windows so I put Windows XP on a 4GB SDHC card in the external slot. I added a SDHC Card Reader internally to hold a 8GB SDHC for a KDE based linux distribution. I will end up with two linux products and Windows XP on the machine without any USB "Wings".
An article about OLPC's response to the Intel resignation.
This reminds me of a divorce. It did not look like a good marriage going in and now the finger pointing has begun.
The OLPC CTO also resigned as it appears the XO hardware development is now etched in stone and as we already know RTP.
http://www.theinquirer.net/gb/inquirer/news/2008/01/02/olpc-cto-flies-coop
To me if hardware really is etched in stone then it is a concern. I see some new technologies coming out that could improve the hardware at cheaper cost. Older technology gets obsoleted and generally more expensive as the years go by. In a few years some new 16 GB memory technology may be 20 US Dollars while the 1 GB Flash used in the XO may cost 50 to 100 US Dollars. This has happened to RAM memory as higher Capacity DDR memory costs less than the older PC100 memory. PC100 Memory prices increased as the volumes went down.
And, as we also know, Linux, once stable, is all about drivers and open source apps, so the sky's the limit.
Just a couple of untimely hits to OLPC that I think will have no more effect than the Nigerian 419 cons trying to sue OLPC for patent infringement before the XO was released... duh?
http://www.theinquirer.net/gb/inquirer/news/2008/01/02/nigerian-court-stops- olpc
This could be some bother as it drains energy and resources from what should be applied to the OLPC project. From what I read it does appear the people bringing the lawsuit against OLPC are just trying to get money or some other gain. They should not win. SCO tried similar methods in the US courts so does that mean all US companies are con artists as well?
Nigeria has a bad reputation on corruption which results in the easy path to Nigeria Bashing for groklaw and other commentators. There is a tendency to look down upon foreign courts as being below your own court system's high standards of justice. The added comments detract from the arguments and make it appear the commentators are biased against Nigeria and are only making the comments to bash Nigeria.
73 Eric
participants (2)
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Alan -
Eric A, Cottrell