[lug] One laptop per child

[Tom Tromey]

>>>>> "Daniel" == Daniel Webb <lists at danielwebb.us> writes:

Disclaimer: I'm not on the OLPC project, I don't speak for Red Hat,
etc.  Also I'm somewhat lazy and haven't read the OLPC web pages and
whatnot :)

Daniel> Also, the fact that they aren't going to sell them to the
Daniel> general public makes me very suspicious.  If they want the
Daniel> Free software developers (who made their OS and app software)
Daniel> to help develop stuff that will work well with this laptop,
Daniel> then the Free software developers need to have one of these
Daniel> laptops!  What the heck are they thinking there?

At the Red Hat Summit last year someone asked Negroponte about selling
them in the US -- and also about the possibility of US school
districts (or states) buying them.  My recollection is that he didn't
rule it out entirely but preferred to concentrate on their main
mission.

Daniel> Their model strikes me as more cathedral than bazaar.  I agree
Daniel> that the core system should be well-defined and consistent,
Daniel> but if it isn't hackable they're missing a lot of the point.

My impression is that they want to design a new UI which targets their
(unusual) hardware and (unusual) audience.  So it is a little more
cathedral-y.

There is a developer program though and I think Google had a few OLPC
boxes to ship out during this last Summer of Code.  So, it's possible
to get one somehow.

Daniel> A big problem I see is the problem of kids' families selling
Daniel> them or theft.

Negroponte addressed this in his talk as well.  As I remember his
primary approach to solving this is moral suasion -- making the
machines very distinctive and hopefully shaming people into not buying
them.

Negroponte's talk was excellent.  At first he seemed a bit cold but he
grew on me; his passion is evident and the whole OLPC story is
fascinating.  If you get a chance to see him talk about it live, I
recommend it.

Tom