Comments on: Negroponte’s “$100 laptop” plans: yeah, right! http://www.saidia.org/2007/05/08/negropontes-100-laptop-plans-yeah-right/ Yes, Tobias Eigen blogs. Thu, 11 Mar 2010 15:18:17 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.1 By: Edward Mokurai Cherlin http://www.saidia.org/2007/05/08/negropontes-100-laptop-plans-yeah-right/#comment-1090 Edward Mokurai Cherlin Fri, 20 Jul 2007 20:45:28 +0000 http://www.saidia.org/2007/05/08/negropontes-100-laptop-plans-yeah-right/#comment-1090 You have been misinformed. The increase in cost is not so that the OLPC XO laptop can run Windows. It is to provide more space and faster processing for educational content. This is not a unilateral decision by One Laptop Per Child. They discussed it with the countries that plan to purchase the Linux version of the laptop, and got agreement. It appears that eight countries will take deliveries of XOs in the first year, and not one of them has ordered Windows. Although Microsoft is working on putting Windows on the XO (and so far has not shown any results in public), the main version of the XO continues to run exclusively Free Software: Open Firmware, Red Hat Fedora Rawhide 6, and no proprietary drivers. It is in fact the only computer product in the world to run exclusively Free Software. I write for OLPC News, and I can assure you that our journalistic standards are of the shoddiest. :-) Almost everything you read there is unsourced opinion. So don't believe this just because I say so. Or anything else you read on the Net. Go see for yourself. Talk to the people doing the work, not the armchair theorizers. You have been misinformed. The increase in cost is not so that the OLPC XO laptop can run Windows. It is to provide more space and faster processing for educational content. This is not a unilateral decision by One Laptop Per Child. They discussed it with the countries that plan to purchase the Linux version of the laptop, and got agreement. It appears that eight countries will take deliveries of XOs in the first year, and not one of them has ordered Windows.

Although Microsoft is working on putting Windows on the XO (and so far has not shown any results in public), the main version of the XO continues to run exclusively Free Software: Open Firmware, Red Hat Fedora Rawhide 6, and no proprietary drivers. It is in fact the only computer product in the world to run exclusively Free Software.

I write for OLPC News, and I can assure you that our journalistic standards are of the shoddiest. :-) Almost everything you read there is unsourced opinion.

So don’t believe this just because I say so. Or anything else you read on the Net. Go see for yourself. Talk to the people doing the work, not the armchair theorizers.

]]> By: Small Price Laptop at saidia.org http://www.saidia.org/2007/05/08/negropontes-100-laptop-plans-yeah-right/#comment-2376 Small Price Laptop at saidia.org Fri, 14 Sep 2007 15:13:54 +0000 http://www.saidia.org/2007/05/08/negropontes-100-laptop-plans-yeah-right/#comment-2376 [...] I am fairly skeptical about the OLPC project, and have referred to it as a “dam project with bunny ears” in my own blog. The cost of entry is very high, and it isn’t possible to buy one - maybe that’s my [...] […] I am fairly skeptical about the OLPC project, and have referred to it as a “dam project with bunny ears” in my own blog. The cost of entry is very high, and it isn’t possible to buy one - maybe that’s my […]

]]> By: This email confirms that you have paid OLPC Foundation $847.90 USD using PayPal. at saidia.org http://www.saidia.org/2007/05/08/negropontes-100-laptop-plans-yeah-right/#comment-7870 This email confirms that you have paid OLPC Foundation $847.90 USD using PayPal. at saidia.org Wed, 21 Nov 2007 00:17:55 +0000 http://www.saidia.org/2007/05/08/negropontes-100-laptop-plans-yeah-right/#comment-7870 [...] I complain alot about the OLPC project, but at the end of the day I am excited about the devices and am pleased that my children will finally get to have one - and in the process help to make sure that some kids (hopefully in Africa) also get to have them. I am also pleased at least to perceive that Nicholas Negroponte and his OLPC Foundation appear to be coming back to earth and are developing realistic plans for deploying millions of these laptops in the third world. Perhaps I will even stop calling it a dam project with bunny ears. [...] […] I complain alot about the OLPC project, but at the end of the day I am excited about the devices and am pleased that my children will finally get to have one - and in the process help to make sure that some kids (hopefully in Africa) also get to have them. I am also pleased at least to perceive that Nicholas Negroponte and his OLPC Foundation appear to be coming back to earth and are developing realistic plans for deploying millions of these laptops in the third world. Perhaps I will even stop calling it a dam project with bunny ears. […]

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