Road-testing the $100 laptop's 'appropriate technology'
,----[ Quote ]
| The problem is that it's awfully tough to say no to more options, more
| features, more faster, more better, more slimmer (e.g., the new MacBook Air).
| We like the idea that we can use our all-powerful, expensive computer to edit
| a movie, record an album or create a podcast, even though the chances of this
| happening are quite low. Computers are advertised as limitless creativity
| machines, while appropriate technology forces consumers to confront the
| limitations of a new device before it's unboxed. To confine buyers to a set
| of six choices (like the Eee PC 701) is tantamount to a Bulgarian supermarket
| under Communism.
`----
http://www.thestar.com/sciencetech/Technology/article/295647
I Got My OLPC XO Friday.
http://www.earobinson.org/?p=73
Unpacking an XO laptop
,----[ Quote ]
| Okay, so on Friday my XO laptop showed up at my door, and being the
| resourceful person that I am, I had the foresight to have my camera charged
| and ready when the blessed event occurred. It seems to be en vogue to show
| snapshots as the box is opened, so here’s a step-by-step addition to my
| family.
`----
http://kmandla.wordpress.com/2008/01/20/unpacking-an-xo-laptop/
Same processors in the aircrafts.
Linux-Based In-Flight Entertainment
,----[ Quote ]
| I was lucky enough to witness a couple of reboots on a flight from Atlanta.
| The boot spew also indicates that they use an AMD Geode processor.
| ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
`----
http://mark.santaniello.com/archives/401
Quote for the day:
"To me, Bill [Gates] is the great white shark that looks at minnows with no
more consciousness than we look at a plate of food. The shark has no soul. The
shark knows no boundaries. All it has is an appetite. When the shark gets
hungry, it thinks “I’m hungry”, so it eats."
--Mitch Kertzman, former CEO of Sybase
Yesterday:
OLPC in Ethiopia
,----[ Quote ]
| Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi has confirmed (last November) his
| commitment of giving 50,000 laptops to Ethiopia. The importance of the
| funding is its exemplary nature - it is model for other European countries
| and the EU itself to follow.
`----
http://olpc.tv/2008/01/20/olpc-in-ethiopia-2/
OLPC Heralds Era of Low-Cost Computing
,----[ Quote
| Critics of the One-Laptop-Per-Child (OLPC) Project like to point out that it
| has not yet lived up to its goal of putting US$100 notebooks in the hands of
| millions of kids in poor countries, but that's a short-sighted view
| considering the impact it's already having on the computer industry.
|
| OLPC's XO laptop and the dream of the $100 notebook PC have driven down the
| cost of computing and highlighted the issue of the lack of computing
| resources in developing nations.
`----
http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,140697-c,notebooks/article.html
One Laptop Per Child Gets The Green Light in India
,----[ Quote ]
| India may have been a late starter in adopting the powerful computer-based
| education program One Laptop Per Child (popularly known as OLPC), a
| brainchild of MIT professor Nicholas Negroponte to bridge the technology
| divide between rich and the poor children in the developing world.
`----
http://www.govtech.com/gt/216153?topic=118264
Birmingham City Schools will be first in nation to get $200 XO laptops
,----[ Quote ]
| Birmingham city schools will be the first in the nation to receive laptop
| computers designed for children in third-world countries under an agreement
| completed over the weekend, Mayor Larry Langford announced Monday.
`----
http://blog.al.com/spotnews/2007/12/birmingham_city_schools_will_b.html
Birmingham might buy thousands of XO Laptop computers for students in grades
one through eight
,----[ Quote ]
| The machines don't run Microsoft Office, Photoshop or any other standard Mac
| or Windows programs, instead using a free, open-source version of GNU/Linux,
| with a simplified graphical interface designed for children called Sugar. The
| laptop has a 500-megahertz processor and 256 megabytes of DRAM (dynamic
| random access memory) with 1 gigabyte of flash memory. The laptops have Web
| browsers and their own Wi-Fi system, the ability to connect to the Internet
| wirelessly. Each is on a "mesh network," meaning all the laptops can see each
| other, without any setup, even if there is no wireless connection nearby.
`----
http://www.al.com/news/birminghamnews/index.ssf?/base/news/1195463987242670.xml&coll=2&thispage=1
One laptop per child finds way into India
,----[ Quote ]
| The one laptop per child (OLPC) project, a brainchild of MIT professor
| Nicholas Negroponte, will soon find its way into Indian homes.
`----
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Infotech/Hardware/One_laptop_per_child_finds_way_into_India/articleshow/2583239.cms
$100 laptop program still eyes India
,----[ Quote ]
| The so-called $100 laptops for children may make it to India after all.
`----
http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/ptech/10/25/100.laptop.india.ap/index.html
OLPC makes its entry into India - finally!
,----[ Quote ]
| When the OLPC first made news, a prominent official in the HRD ministry of
| the Indian government had gone on record snubbing the OLPC project ($100
| laptop), even making a preposterous claim that work was under way to create
| India's own $10 laptop. But as things have worked out, OLPC has already made
| an entry into India in the form of a pilot project in a rural primary school
| in a village in the state of Maharasthra.
`----
http://linuxhelp.blogspot.com/2007/11/olpc-makes-its-entry-into-india-finally.html
Intel: doing the dirty on OLPC
,----[ Quote ]
| Intel’s agreement with the OLPC Foundation included a ‘non disparagement’
| clause, under which Intel and One Laptop promised not to criticize each
| other, according to Nicholas Negroponte in the latest article in the Wall
| Street Journal.
|
| Still Intel tactics have violated that repeatedly to kill OLPC efforts in
| Nigeria, Libya, Pakistan, India, China and Intel is also still trying to pull
| those tactics in Mexico, Brazil.
| This is simply disgracefull of Intel, scandalous.
|
| But Negroponte has signed an agreement saying that he is not allowed to
| criticize Intel, so he is not allowed to talk about these shameless tactics
| even though Intel is the one violating the agreement.
|
| So only independant voices on the Internet can get those messages of truth
| out about Intels tactics.
|
| In Nigeria, Intel came and donated 3000 laptops to counter OLPC efforts, then
| sells 17 thousand Classmates to Nigeria at a loss.
|
| Then Microsoft corrupted Nigerian officials with 400 thousand dollars to
| install Windows XP on those instead of Mandriva Linux.
`----
http://www.p2pnet.net/story/14124
Poor Kids' Laptop Cranks Up
,----[ Quote ]
| Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates earlier this year told the Microsoft
| Government Leaders Forum, "Geez, get a decent computer where you can
| actually read the text and you?re not sitting there cranking the thing
| while you're trying to type" (see Bill Gates Mocks $100 Laptop).
`----
http://www.redherring.com/article.aspx?a=17302
One Laptop Per Child - Production Delays Caused By Microsoft, Intel?
,----[ Quote ]
| I sincerely hope that no matter what the people who are running the
| OLPC project decide, that their project will continue and not get
| bogged down in a play of corporate greed and ambitions.
`----
http://www.lockergnome.com/nexus/blade/2007/04/28/one-laptop-per-child-production-delays-caused-by-microsoft-intel/
Negroponte says Intel should be "ashamed of itself"
,----[ Quote ]
| He is furious that Intel's CEO Craig Barrett called the One Laptop a
| gadget. The Negroponte initiative is caught in the middle of a vicious
| fight between AMD and Intel, he said.
`----
http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=39733
,----[ Quote ]
| That software effort does not have the support of Mr. Otellini, who
| is concerned about incurring Microsoft's wrath, the executive said.
| The two companies have a long history of tension over who controls
| the hardware and software direction of the "Wintel standard." Intel
| has said it is supporting both operating systems.
`----
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/16/technology/16chip.html?ex=1177560000&en=2ef52cee6b1fb0e3&ei=5099&partner=TOPIXNEWS
Lessons from Africa: How to Kill Your Own FUD
,----[ Quote ]
| So, even as Microsoft claims superior quality over Linux, they act as if they
| don't even buy their own FUD. If they really believed that Windows was
| superior to Linux, they wouldn't have to bribe people with “marketing help”
| to get them to choose Windows.
`----
http://www.linuxtoday.com/news_story.php3?ltsn=2007-11-09-030-26-OP-MD-MS
Linux wins Nigerian school desktops back from Microsoft
,----[ Quote ]
| "We are sticking with that platform," said the official, who would not give
| his name.
`----
http://www.computerworlduk.com/management/government-law/public-sector/news/index.cfm?newsid=6124
http://tinyurl.com/27ycq9
[Mandriva CEO:] An open letter to Steve Ballmer
,----[ Quote ]
| Wow! I’m impressed, Steve! What have you done for these guys to change their
| mind like this? It’s pretty clear to me, and it will be clear to everyone.
| How do you call what you just did Steve, in the place where you live? In my
| place, they give it various names, I’m sure you know them.
|
| Hey Steve, how do you feel looking at yourself in the mirror in the morning?
|
| Of course, I will keep fighting this one and the next one, and the next one.
| You have the money, the power, and maybe we have a different sense of ethics
| you and I, but I believe that hard work, good technology and ethics can win
| too.
`----
http://blog.mandriva.com/2007/10/31/an-open-letter-to-steve-ballmer/
Not Such a Harsh Toke, Actually
,----[ Quote ]
| This is socially, economically, politically and otherwise innovative. It is
| good for democracy too in some of the few remaining places that good thing is
| having trouble getting hold. We regard that thing too lightly, I fear.
|
| The Gates | Otellini axis directly hurts us deeply. To me, it is a
| particularly American shame.
`----
http://fussnotes.typepad.com/plexnex/2007/11/not-such-a-hars.html
EC says Intel influenced bids for computer projects
,----[ Quote ]
| The third type of allegation, however, was new, and sounded like a variety of
| predatory pricing. “In the context of bids against AMD-based products for
| strategic customers in the server segment of the market,” the commission
| press release said, “Intel has offered CPUs on average below cost.”
`----
http://legalpad.blogs.fortune.com/2007/08/03/ec-says-intel-influenced-bids-for-computer-projects/
Negroponte says Intel should be "ashamed of itself"
,----[ Quote ]
| He is furious that Intel's CEO Craig Barrett called the One Laptop a
| gadget. The Negroponte initiative is caught in the middle of a vicious
| fight between AMD and Intel, he said.
`----
http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=39733
|
|
