OLPC Project Rollout Begins In Uruguay 248
Acer500 writes "The One Laptop Per Child project became a reality Thursday in Uruguay, as the 160 children of school number 24 in the humble town of Cardal received their XO computers. The learning tools came directly from the hands of president Tabaré Vazquez. It has become a matter of national pride that Uruguay is the first country to realize the project's goal. The target is that by 2009, every school-age child in Uruguay will have one, and an initial 15 million dollars have already been allocated to the project.
From the newspaper articles: 'The happiness of having a PC in their hands, some of them for the first time, had the kids in ecstasy, which didn't wait to turn on their computers, introduce their personal information (required the first time they're turned on), choose the screen colors, and start experimenting with them. What initially made them more enthusiastic was the possibility of taking photographs and filming each others with the included webcams.'" More information below.
According to the unofficial blog of the Uruguayan project, named proyecto Ceibal, the infrastructure for wireless is not yet in place but will be provided in the next few days by the national telco ANTEL. No photos of the event have been posted online, but you can see an institutional video on Youtube. One interesting point is that it has not yet been decided that the XO will be the laptop of choice for the entire project. Two other companies want to be considered: Intel, with their Classmate PC, and Israeli-manufactured ITP-C. In a press conference, Intel manager for the southern cone Esteban Galluzzi went as far as to compare the XO to a Pentium II, and stressed that the Classmate is able to run Windows XP. As advisor and local guru Juan Grompone stated, 'who will ultimately benefit from this is education?' This will be an interesting test to see if the OLPC project meets its intended goals of 'learning learning'. Let's hope this project is the means that will foster among some of the children the desire to learn and to tinker."
english translation - courtesy of the fish (Score:4, Funny)
The Web in the air of Cardal
Near 40 niños of the Italy school they received its computers of the hand of several authorities of the government. In one week the niños podrà n to accede to Internet from all the points of the city
In the middle of great expectation and much alegrÃa of the niños, president Tabaré Và zquez next to a great retinue of authorities left inaugurated the experience pilot of the Ceibal Plan in the Italy school n 24 of the city of Cardal (in Florida), the one that in the prÃximos dÃas quedarà connected to Internet by means of mbricas connections inalÃ, in order that the students can accede to the Web from their homes.
In a brief speech during the act, Và single zquez refirià to "the importance" of the Ceibal project and asegurà that "cumplirà with the cronogram of arriving itself at 2009 to all the schools from paÃs". The agent chief executive prefirià to yield its time to one of the niños, that articulà words that moved to the presents.
To I finish of the act, Và zquez was consulted by the present journalists on if to raÃz of cuts in the RendiciÃn de Cuentas it were going to be all the money for the plan. Và zquez asegurà that was not going to lack the money. "the USS 15 anticipated million està n in the budget", asegurà the conductor of the Uruguayan government.
Under the glance of many parents, some from the windows or accommodated in algÃn rincÃn of the halls class, about 40 niños of 3 and 6 año received their computers X-O. DonaciÃn of Nicholas Negroponte is of 200 units. The rest of the students of that school of cardal recibirà its computers in these dÃas.
AlgarabÃa to have a PC in its hands, some for the first time, dejà won the boys, who did not hope to ignite his mà quinas, to introduce their personal data (the first time that ignite it is necessary to put the one name and to choose the colors of the screen) and to put themselves to experiment with the X-O. What mà s entusiasmà was to be able to remove photos and to film themselves with webcam that come including.
The niños by this week podrà n to sail in Internet from the Italy school, where instalà a servant to provide itself with conexiÃn in the classrooms, that in the prÃximos dÃas extenderà to the rest of the city so that the niños can be connected to the Web dese its homes. For mbrica it utilizarà tecnologÃa of conexiÃn inalà - it does not need cables that proveyà ANTEL with colaboraciÃn of UTE.
One of that mà s divirtià giving the PC was the minister of EducaciÃn and Cultura, Jorge Brovetto. Ademà s of this jerarca, también was present the minister of Industry, Jorge Leprosy asà like the minister of GanaderÃa, José Mujica, next to their wife LucÃa Topolansky.
También participated in the act the director of EducaciÃn of the MEC, Luis Garibaldi, the president of the ANEP, Luis bal YarzÃ, the president of the LATU, Miguel Brezhner, the Intendant of Florida, Juan Giaccetto asà like industralists of INTEL and Microsoft, that lanzarà n its own pilot in the department of PaysandÃ.
ProducciÃn: Cecilia Pérez and Pablo Solari, envoys of the Observer to Cardal
(It observes)
http://babelfish.altavista.com/babelfish/tr [altavista.com]
Re:english translation - courtesy of the fish (Score:4, Funny)
*fires up Steppenwolf's Magic Carpet Ride and re-reads post*
Wow, mannnn! It's like colors and stuff!
Re: Better Translation - World Lingo (Score:5, Informative)
The Web is in the air of Cardal
About 40 children of an Italian school received its computers by the good will of several authorities of the government. In one week the children should be able to connect to Internet from all the points of the city.
In the middle of great expectation and much joy of the children, president Tabaré Vázquez stood next to a great retinue of authorities of School #24 of the city of Cardal, which inaugurated the pilot program of the Ceibal Plan in the Italian school (in Florida). In the next few days it should be connected to Internet by means of wireless connections, in order that the students can accede to the Web from their homes.
In a brief speech during the act, Vázquez talked about "the importance" of the Ceibal project and assured that "she will fulfill herself the deadline of 2009 to cover all the schools of the country". The agent chief executive preferred to yield his time to one of the children.
At the end of the act, Vázquez was consulted by the present journalists on the matter of cuts in the budget, and if she were going to be able to supply all the money for the plan. Vázquez assured that she was not going to lack the money. "the US$ 15 million are predicted in the budget", assured the conductor the Uruguayan government.
Under the gaze of many parents, some from the accommodated windows or in some corner of the halls class, about 40 children of 3rd and 6th year received their computers X-O. The donation of Nicholas Negroponte is of 200 units. The rest of the students of that school of Cardal will receive its computers in the next few days.
The chance to have a PC in its hands, some for the first time, excited the boys, who did not hope to ignite their machines, to introduce their initial preferences (the first time that boot the machine it is necessary to put the machine name and to choose the colors of the screen) and to prepare to experiment with the X-O. What further it excited them was to be able to take photos and to film themselves with on-board webcam.
Later this week, the children should be able to connect to the Italian School, where an official arrived to provide the school with connection in the classrooms. In the next days this coverage is supposed to extend to the rest of the city so that the children can connect themselves to the Web from their homes. For this, wireless connection technology will be used, supplied by ANTEL with the collaboration provided with UTE.
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Indecent translation! Babelfish goes illegal! (Score:2)
That sounds fishy!
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ANTEL: Administracion Nacional de TELecomunicaciones (Government owned telephone company)
UTE: Administracion Nacional de Usinas y Transmiciones Electricas (Government owned electricity company)
ANEP: Administracion Nacional de Educacion Publica (Public schools administration)
LATU: Laboratorio Tecnologico del Uruguay (Technological Laboratory of Uruguay [Equivalent of NIST in the USA])
And the next day (Score:2)
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"And in breaking news, it appears that Uruguay is now the #1 place to outsource technology jobs."
Which way to go, Intel or AMD? (Score:5, Insightful)
Lets see. OLPC is a little less than $200 per laptop, or the Classmate PC at about $400 per laptop. Multiply it by 2 million children... more than a 400 million dollar savings! I wonder which way the more cash strapped countries are going to go?
I would love to get my hands on some of these to see how well they work as a learning tool. The price point puts them in line with many other learning tools on the market for children. The open source platform makes them much more expandable. And, as they become more widely used, the software available for them will become much more diverse and powerful. I wonder if the Intel proposed alternative includes an Operating System in the price.
InnerWebRe:Which way to go, Intel or AMD? (Score:5, Interesting)
-XO has a 1200x900 screen which can be flipped around (tablet style) and converted into ultra-high resolution grayscale for displaying text. The refresh rate can automatically adjust (down to 0hz) to save battery power. The Classmate PC has an ordinary 800x480 LCD.
-XO has a camera. Classmate doesn't. This article shows that the kids obviously like the camera.
-XO has a large trackpad that can be used as a graphics tablet. Classmate has a standard trackpad.
-XO operating system interface was designed from the ground up for this purpose. Classmate uses Windows XP Embedded.
-XO promotes the concept of Free software. Classmate has a freakin' Trusted Computing Module installed!
true, but... (Score:3, Insightful)
"-XO operating system interface was designed from the ground up for this purpose. Classmate uses Windows XP Embedded."
They are effectively promoting their PC as a 'real' one (vs.a plaything of the XO) because it can run XP, while the XO doesn't.
The XO is clearly a more interesting concept, though. I wish they would mass-market it in the west too. I wouldn't mind paying $200 for it, even if just to see how it ticks.
Re:true, but... (Score:4, Interesting)
And there in is the reason the XO is a superior solution. All the criticism of the OLPC XO and the benevolent offers of "superior" Windows based machines with $3 OS licensing fees is based off the need of a few greedy thugs to build their markets. The objective of OLPC is not to build a market for Microsoft and Intel to sell their products and introduce developing nations to the proprietary software licensing treadmill, its about instilling the ability to learn at an early age so these children will grow up with the ability to improve their living conditions. As Negroponte has already stated "An educated and creative population is, without a doubt, the best path to global health, wealth, and peace."
While I'm sure a more expensive Windows based machine could be used for the same purpose, the initial experiments that led up to OLPC used Windows based laptops, the XO and its software were designed from the ground up to serve the specific purpose of "learning learning" while the so called superior solutions being pushed by multi-billionare corporate CEOs and the like are designed to help themselves break into new markets where their current products are simply too expensive.
These wealthy individuals who lack the knowlege and experience of the people who developed and run the OLPC should simply STFU and let the professionals do their job.
Check out the specs! Pretty cool... (Score:2)
Re:Which way to go, Intel or AMD? (Score:5, Insightful)
It's purely FUD that says you need a 1000MIPS processor for an EDUCATIONAL machine.
Having not seen either LCD I can't really say which is better. I like the XO design mostly because it's supposed to be easier to read in grayscale mode. That and it uses a lot less power which is kinda important for these tasks.
Tom
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To my knowledge TPM is not used for DRM sorts of thing but for anti-theft purpose since a kid carrying a mobile laptop is so vulnerable to thieves and robbers in the street.
Then I'm afraid you don't understand what TPM is or what it does. TPM does nothing at all to discourage or prevent laptop theft.
Your remark about CPU speed also misses the point. OLPC is about cheap hardware with low power consumption and no moving parts to break. 366 MHz is enough for plenty of tasks if you don't have a bloated OS with a bunch of eye candy, virus scanners, etc.
Re:Which way to go, Intel or AMD? (Score:4, Insightful)
While I agree the CMPC has a faster processor and, most probably, can run Office much faster than the XO can run OpenOffice, it also draws far more power and batteries will be either heavier, more dangerous (the XO does not use Lithim on purpose) or last less. I suspect a 366 MHz Geode is quite enough for what they are aiming.
Really, the XO's screen is not as easy to define - it's a very different kind of LCD and it is not directly comparable to the one in front of me. The extra pixels will not make fonts smaller, unless you are using a horridly primitive font management technology. What happens with mode DPI is that your fonts get better defined.
Since the XO was designed for a very specific purpose, what OS it does run is not very important. But I think a Unix-like core is a better choice for a rugged device where running MS Office is not one of the requirements.
The fact there is a TPM indicates it can be used for just about anything TPMs are used for. While not alarming per se, not having a TPM means it cannot be used at all. As they say, "better safe than sorry". And since the notebooks are unable to pass for a common notebook - the form-factor is very characteristic - and thus its black-market value is very low, the risk of it being stolen should very small.
I see the CMPC being used in other settings, but, dollar for dollar, the XO seems a much better value unless your requirements demand something it cannot do.
Re:Which way to go, Intel or AMD? (Score:5, Insightful)
Actually, the OLPC is using a 500mhz Geode... but that doesn't really matter. The XO runs software that was specifically designed for its hardware - the software will run great on it. The Classmate will be running software designed for modern desktop PCs - for that, a 900 MHz processor and 256 megs of RAM will be dog slow.
This comment displays an utter misunderstanding of the concept of "resolution". When text resolution is increased, the text doesn't get smaller - instead, each letter is represented by more dots so that it's clearer and easier to read. It's true that Windows users occasionally have trouble getting their fonts to be larger because of poor software design, but the XO won't have this problem. As a closing thought, laser printers tend to print at 600dpi - about 36 times the resolution of a common computer screen - is the text 36 times smaller?
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According to the specifications [laptop.org] is uses LX-700, which runs at 433MHz (more info here [amd.com]). Not far from 500MHz.
Re:Which way to go, Intel or AMD? (Score:4, Insightful)
The Geode, obviously.
What you thought higher frame rates while playing Halo2 makes the Celeron the clear winner? Think again. The Geode uses 40% less power than the Celeron, your CMPC will be a dead paper weight while the OLPC will still be doing its job.
And once again, how much power does the CMPC display consume? The OLPC is
The OLPC runs linuxBIOS and linux which enables significant power savings features which are not available in an off the shelf BIOS + Windows/linux install.
WTF? I suggest you improve on your knowledge of TC, its claimed "that it will make computers safer, less prone to viruses and malware, and thus more reliable from an end-user perspective", it doesn't stop a thug from stealing it.
Unfortunately one of the side effects of TC is that the hardware and software makers get to decide what is trusted and prevent end users from doing something with their hardware and software such as say running linux or open office because they deem them as not being trustworthy.
Really I have no idea why anyone is even bothering to argue in defense of the anti-OLPC solutions, and yes they are anti-OLPC. If you look at the specs on the Classmate PC it is rated at 4 hours of use on its batteries, the OLPC is rated in DAYS. The OLPC XO is designed for a purpose, the supposed superior offerings from people who are used to marketing products in energy rich societies are not even close to what is needed in hardware and software for a project like OLPC. The only reason they are even trying is because their over inflated marketing egos have them believing they are the end all be all of technology solutions for the planet. They need to grow up.
OLPC better than cheapie laptops. (Score:5, Informative)
That said, I can't believe they are distributing the XO to kids already. The software is not done at all. IMO the software is barely usable thus far. Work on the software is progressing pretty fast, and in fact that is why I have an unit, but I would not yet be distributing them with the software in it's current state. I hope they have easy access to the units being distributed so they can be updated as needed.
Intel making a play.... (Score:4, Insightful)
A lot has been said about the OLPC project sticking to open platforms, which may partially be a cost issue and partially an idealistic one. The real question is what is really best for the project? Sticking to open platforms, and open source or completely custom solutions, or a system that allows the use of windows xp?
I say windows and not os x, not because it's particularly better, thats an argument for a different time, but for the next question - is it better that the platform be completely open and/or custom, or that it corresponds to the most used operating system? The system that is used by a large quantity of consumers, the largest perhaps, and the platform that is the target of choice for people trying to make money of these consumers.
The real question is what is better for the students in this country. Not what is better for Microsoft, Intel or indeed Linux and the Open Source movement. Is it enough to give these students a computer, or should we be giving them a computer that gives them the potential to learn the systems in use by a majority of the world?
I guess the other side of the coin is this - if computing technology is about to find it's way into the hands of a lot of people who previously had no access to it, is that going to swell the marketplace such that what was previously a huge market share advantage could well be diluted by the choices made by this project? Every child in Uruguay is a lot of people - and its only a start. When other countries continue, the choice of operating system to learn might not seem quite as trivial as it may right now.
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Re:Intel making a play.... (Score:5, Insightful)
From a practical standpoint: The OS was designed with ease of use in mind. From the demos I've seen, it does exactly what it's supposed to. Windows and all the other major operating systems are intended for general use, with loads of hardware and software to support, and as such have a huge array of things the OLPC devices will rarely need.
From an idealistic standpoint: I think it's great to provide the kids with a neutral OSS system tailored to the laptop, where they can decide for themselves later on which OS they will use. The point of the project is to provide EVERY child with a laptop. Hooking every child to a certain, commercial OS from the youngest years onward is not something a government should be doing. The kids will learn Windows, OSX and whatnot soon enough, as you did too. Not necessary at this stage, which is about giving children access to technology, not preparing them for cubicles.
Re:Intel making a play.... (Score:5, Interesting)
The OLPC project hasn't just been sold as an educational tool to politicians, it's also been sold as an economic one.
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That's interesting as an insurance (you can always make your own in case something happens with the current manifacturer).
But would you spend $300 making it on your own, or $150 buying it. Since those are targeted to poor countries, I somehow don't think they can make use of existing skill
Re:Intel making a play.... (Score:4, Insightful)
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The smart move to make, in developing and under developed countries is to use the money to industrialize, namely: opening mines, building factories, building dams, building power plants, building roads and railroads, these all have very much higher returns for the whole economy
Of the things on this list, building factories and power plants are directly required for building their own versions of the OLPC. Mine construction is driven by demand, and producing more things locally drives this demand, and transport infrastructure have the same impetus. The idea isn't that they will specifically create factories to manufacture OLPC machines, they will create factories (and the other infrastructure) that can build OLPC machines, but will also be used for building other artefacts of a
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The thing with open systems is this : it is a matter of practicality, not a matter of idealism.
There is a whole body of open software available. If you can run a C compiler on your platform, then you can run a whole lot of software (which might need tailoring).
Choosing for something closed that runs now is short sighted. Yes, it has a short term advantage, but a long term disadvantage. My experience has taught me with several kinds of closed systems, that they might solve short term problems, but you have
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Re:Intel making a play.... (Score:5, Insightful)
On the other hand (Score:2)
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Re:Intel making a play.... (Score:4, Insightful)
Food for thought: If you give an OLPC to each child in the developing world (lets exclude 1st world for a moment), the majority of computer users world wide will be running Linux.
Also, I think one of the project goals was to distribute laptops which would have easy to modify "guts". These things are supposed to be a breeze to do simple programming on, and I think that will be far more valuable to these children than learning how the Start menu works. Once you establish certain computing concepts it becomes far easier to transition to other environments.
This also excludes the whole discussion of whether or not its valuable to put them on XP, especially given that XP is no longer the "current" MS OS. Soon, 1st world users will not be able to buy systems with XP; why would we sling it off onto 3rd world users?
Not to mention the security debacle it would be; how would you deploy security updates?
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should we be giving them a computer that gives them the potential to learn the systems in use by a majority of the world?
The same could be said about Vista. Why doesn't the world stick with XP? Or MSDOS? Or even Multics?
Any reasoning based on the premise that because it's been used yesterday and today it should be used tomorrow and so on forever is bogus. Every change starts somewhere and the OLPC is going to be distributed to sufficient people to create their own market.
The OLPC has been designed
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Of course, that be linux had some advantages for the big people behind. Was free (cost of the whole thing was important, and maybe more importan
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I find it interesting that Intel immediately jump in with "the ability to run win xp" as a major advantage. Leads me to ponder.
Here's what I ponder:
"ability to run" != "comes with"
Buying XP licenses for all those machines will about double their price, depending on how much of a volume discount MS is giving them. Maybe if MS is really, really generous, it'll only add 50% to the price. If the budget is fixed, that means somewhere between a third and half less machines are going to be distributed to children.
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Remember the $3 "starter" licenses that MS announced - with XP Starter Edition and a stripped down MS Office. It'd be nice if Microsoft priced themselves out of the computer market in most of the world, but unfortunately they've decided not to. Not that a *nix system isn't obviously better than an intentionally crippled version of windows, but...
OS is growing (Score:2, Interesting)
Also, other South American countries which are on very friendly terms with Uruguay (such as Venezuela) are too pushing OS into the public offices. In Venezuela's case, the law is in place a
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Seeing as these are mostly being sold in second and third world countries where there aren't millions of people leaving school in order to work 9-5 in an office where they sit in front of a Windows PC all day, I wouldn't think that's a particularly big deal.
What should they get? (Score:2, Insightful)
We're talking about young students here. What system will be in use by a majority of the world a few years from now? (hint: it won't be XP)
In my opinion, it is almost always a mistake to teach skill in particular technologies over teaching the fundamental ideas that allow you to think on your own and adapt to changes.
Are they CONTRIBUTING yet? (Score:5, Funny)
Come on, children! THOSE LAPTOPS WERE FREE FOR A REASON! ~cracks whip~
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One of these little hackers in training already contributed a rewrite of ed:
#!/bin/sh
while
I don't want to be pessimistic... (Score:3, Insightful)
Don't misundertand, this isn't the arguement that we shouldn't travel to space, or not do other things, because somewhere in the world is a child is starving. No, my concern is for accomplishing the goal of this project, which I assume is, to help them prosper. You know, teach a man to fish instead of just giving him one fish.
Computers are excellent at doing many types of tasks, but lousy at others. People aren't poor because they don't have a laptop. In fact, I think most studies have shown that laptops actually have little or a negative impact on helping children learn. No, people are poor, in our current world and time, are poor because they don't have opportunity. Opportunity to exchange their own effort, work, or goods with other people.
Why? Because either someone prevents them, by means of a gun and or a system that makes it impossible to be free to do such exchanges. Sometimes I think people toss that word around like it's some etheral ideal that everyone knows they are supposed to say they value, but then go right on and act in contray ways. No, freedom is a very very very important ideal, an ideal that cannot be replaced by a 100 dollar laptop.
The main problem is porn. (Score:3, Funny)
Most of the failures reported so far are due to children using the computers to browse porn. If porn wasn't illegal and taboo for adults, then children wouldn't be so interested in it. I think porn reform is needed first before computers can be introduced to schools.
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Fear of porn is definitely going to set back education by years, but waiting for things to change is just going delay education further. Just give the damn kids the computers, and (optionally) yell at them if you catch them with naked chicks on the screen.
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Re:I don't want to be pessimistic... (Score:5, Insightful)
You're right that giving someone a laptop might have little effect on helping them learn. But, that's because we're thinking of a laptop just as a laptop, as a way to surf the net and type an essay.
All of these things will actually help kids learn:
All of those things can be fulfilled by a series of networked laptops for kids, at a much lower cost than doing things the dead-tree way. People will have to make some serious investment on the software side of this project for it to work. But, it could work. And if it does, it will seriously turn the world upside-down. Not because they have a laptop, but instead because they have access to textbooks, communication, and unfiltered information.
IMO forget about the children (Score:3, Insightful)
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You're not going to fix brain drain by denying children education. You'll just have a couple more uneducated people.
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The problem now is that only the richest educate their children well, and those children seek economic stability elsewhere. When the majority of the populatio
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Hopefully, these countries have budgeted textbook creation as part of their operating costs for the OLPC project. If not, you're right, it will fail just like it has in the U.S.
You ARE being overly pessemistic and this is why (Score:4, Insightful)
They allow people to communicate, simple but for most who earn a $1 a day or less this was previously impossible.
They are spurring innovation in Banking, micro-finance, and enabling new kinds of transactions
Text messaging, SMS, is still the cheapest way to get a message across - be it a pricing report for harvested crops, or a simple message to a family member in an isolated village.
True that developing countries are plagued by tyrants, corrupted governments, and other nasty people, but when people are given the power to communicate they can mobilize and share information, get organized, and that is real power.
Access to the internet is the obvious next step. "FREEDOM" just doesn't materialize, people have to fight for it, and in order to do that they need the tools. Even if there is one OLPC laptop in a village, that single laptop will open MANY doors to many people who previously had no opportunity or voice.
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Fret not, as Nicholas Negroponte has stated "It's an education project, not a laptop project."
This is not some new hair brained lets throw laptops at 3rd world countries plan as many try to make it out to be. If you do a little research into the project you'll find that it was started years ago with various test implementations using standard laptops running Windows software. The OLPC is an extens
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Having hackers, Brazilian or not (I am Brazilian), is a good thing.
When can the rest of the world buy them? (Score:3, Insightful)
That's nothing! (Score:2)
Edu soft needed too (Score:4, Insightful)
It would be fabulous to release that as open source, if only the programmers and others involved in making it can be somehow reimbursed or have their living expenses paid for which might not be a bad idea either. Also, it would be probably very cheap compared to first world rates. I'm thinking computers can be much more useful in education and maybe this will even result in a computer-based, self-paced learning curriculum in many languages.
Maybe a lot of geeks here wish that sort of thing was available when they were in grade school. If it could be released as open source then talented kids could learn in more depth or follow their interests, or even learn in more than one language at once, so instead of the problems that come from skipping grades there could be perhaps ordinary lessons plus self-paced directed or inquiry-based learning. Not just browsing wikipedia but enough for a child to learn from.
A similar thing written at adult level would also be fabulously useful. It appears some of this idea is in the encyclopedia of life that just won funding based on a "wish" speech at TED. The first thing needed is linux hacking for elementary school kids. Maybe before that an auto-restore, auto-backup extra partition?
Webcams? (Score:5, Funny)
COOL! We're raising a new generation of myspacers!
Go, Uruguay, go!!
Where's that cheap one..? (Score:2)
What?? Where is India's $10 laptop?!
Scary (Score:2)
And for some reason they kept poking the screens with their mischievous little fingers, as if trying to reach for something and pull it out. They just had the machines for one hour or so.
At first I thought "yugh, fingerprints".
Then "god damn it, the glass".
Then "jesus christ they'll wreck the matrix..!".
So, let the bets begin: how many days do you give em before they any of those:
1. can it work under water?
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That video was disturbing. First, why did every shot consist of like 15 kids crowded around one tiny laptop? Isn't this supposed to be "one laptop per child"? Second, why did every shot focus on giant external mice? Aren't these things supposed to have awesome touchpads? Wouldn't that increase the price from $150 to like $160?
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This end may not always be a bad thing. I'm sure allot of slashdotters (I would certainly be included in this group) got their start into learning about computer hardware by asking just such a question as a child.
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Maybe you didn't read their tagline: "ONE laptop per child". One. Not a couple of hundred.
When I was a kid and took apart something, it could officially be called garbage. I gained knowledge all right (that I better not do that again).
Only a PII? O RLY? (Score:4, Insightful)
I know why Intel spreads the myth that you need power to use a computer. They're in the business of pushing high end processors that most people don't need.
Tom
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A more powerful computer will be more useful. The "myth" that you're spreading is that no-one will ever want to do anything unexpected with their computer - computers are general purpose tools, and you rarely know everything that you might want to do with one when you get it.
But... that doesn't change the fact that the XO is probably strictly better th
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Most of the time my E6600 sits here at 1.6Ghz even with firefox, audacious, etc going. For MOST of my tasks the box is just plain too fast. Of course, as a software developer I do put it through it's paces. Point is for most people who read webpages, listen to music, watch a movie, whatever, processors are VASTLY overpowered for what they do. Not ever
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I was amazed to see it could reasonably run XP, IE7 and a java applet inside it.
Why The Third World Focus? (Score:3, Interesting)
When it comes to technical leadership, it is sort of like the airline safety instructions you get - if the airmasks drop down, secure your own first so you can help others without losing your ability to do so. Think about it while you go to mod me down.
You're not very bright are you? (Score:2, Insightful)
I would accuse you of being selfish if it wasn't so clear that you are just horribly misinformed (and dare I say ignorant).
Carry on.
Re:Why The Third World Focus? (Score:5, Insightful)
The OLPC project is trying to make the world a better place, not make the United States more dominant.
On the other hand, uneducated farmers working 60 hours a week to feed themselves in Cambodia don't help the US economy much - do they?
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Helping children in Uruguay is cheaper.
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This isn't funded by Western governments, but by people who want to bring low cost, low power devices to non US kids. What's your problem?
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Yay, Webcams (Score:5, Funny)
What could possibly go wrong?
The "advantage" of windows xp (Score:2)
OLPC does support XP (Score:3, Interesting)
About the project in Uruguay (Score:5, Informative)
I have seen many interesting comments here. Many of them are part of a discussion that exceeds uruguayan experience, as they are the technological apsects (using XO, Classmate, ITP-C...? [blogspot.com] using laptops or desktops...?), educational aspects (which contents to use, if all the children will be interested) and, obviously, economical aspects (is it worth spending so much money?... how much will the project really cost?). I just would like to make some comments:
- Not only the educational aspects of the project have to be analyzed. The project also changes the "digital gap", taking into the information society many children and their families.
- The technologies used are not as important as the agreements we have to do for using these technologies. License costs and their renewals, as well as intelectual properties of the contents generated must get up in the table.
- The real effect of a project like this will not be seen in the next days, months, neither in a few years. Maybe in 10 years we will be able to start doing a comprehensive analysis of results. Now we are making "futurology", so it is normal having different views. What is important in this step is the conviction and honesty of stakeholders to try to make things as good as possible.
Regards, Pablo Flores
</sarcasm> (Score:2)
Re:I'm disgusted (Score:5, Insightful)
Not so fast, let's see how this works out first, OK?
Education is the greatest basis for fighting poverty in a 3rd world country. Think better educated people -> more efficient entrepreneurs / companies -> more money in the local economy -> more taxes -> better healthcare and services etc. Uruguay could possibly have just made the first step to become the next India (IT-wise)!
BUT the greatest thing is that with more literate & educated people, the less likely they will endure another dictator [imdb.com]. And that should happen *everywhere* else, not just in Uruguay! Without education, you could wait forever for all poverty to be solved.
Isn't the idea that instead of constantly giving them fish, we *teach* them to fish?
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I may have lost some things in translation due to regional dialects.
Two wrongs don't make a right. (Score:2)
Re:I'm disgusted (Score:4, Insightful)
You shouldn't spend *any* time on slashdot until all poverty is solved throughout the whole world.
Fun aside.
If the 14 people at OLPC uses there time on educating the childen of the world,
then that is what they have chosen to do and not for you or everyone else to decide.
If you would like to start the "one house per child" project then go ahead,
don't wait for anyone to start it for you.
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Anyone can tell the article is obviously dealing with igniting your ma's quinas. It's simple english
Re:Go (Score:5, Funny)
Regards,
E. Schrödinger
A new meme (Score:2, Funny)
PS to parent, how's the cat? (Betcha never heard that before)
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Nature Magazine and linux bios (Score:5, Informative)
There's also an interesting interview [fosdem.org] with Ron Minnich of LinuxBios, who points out that the OLPC will be a major roll out for OLPC in end user hands (rather than embeds). He says that LinuxBios enables such insanely better power management than traditional bios that it's going to knock everyone's socks off. It will wake instantaneously and conserve power.
Even when operating this thing is miserly: 2 watts.
One of the suggested alternatives in the Nature Article put forward by a prominent nay sayer in India (who will not be going forward with OLPC) are that set-top style web-based apps are a better idea. I Don't actually see how. All the set top boxes currently are more expensive, don't have a screen, the screen will be too far away for it's resolution, and they don't have Key boards. So the OLPC looks pretty good.
The OLPC will automatically detect networks. I wonder if Ron Minnich managed to slide in his other project which is BPROC/Clustermatic which is used at Labs like Los Alamos to create high performance self configuring clusters with minimal cluster operating system overhead. Such a system could provide some incredible computing horsepower despite the low performance of the individual nodes.
Another thing I wonder about is printers. In the developed world anyone who can afford a computer can afford or get access to a printer so paper has never really been factored out of computing. INdeed computers if anything, are an organized way to generate more not less paper docs. In the countries using OLPC, printers won't be available. We may see the rise of paperless computing finally.
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No, really, ask Wikipedia ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uruguay [wikipedia.org] ), most people are surprised to learn that Uruguay is very different to the typical first world stereotype of "third world", "south american" and "latin" people.
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Not, you're not.
Uruguay is a pretty decent small country, of rather modest means, but not Third World in any meaningful sense.
Cheers from across the river,
CC
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