the OLPC is losing the plot...

[Lord Blackadder]

News today that the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) project is upping the unit cost from $100 to $175, that the manufacterer will make a $78 profit on each unit and that the system will come pre-installed with Windows.

WTF happened? The price increase is worrying enough but the use of Windows flies in the face of everything they've said before concerning their commitment to open source software...

Additional article.

 

[bartelby]

Have corporations worked their usual humanitarian magic?

 

[mkrishnan]

Some other articles are reporting it as being "able" to run Windows:

http://blogs.zdnet.com/BTL/?p=4938

That blog asks the interesting question of how the MS $3 venture (Windows XP Starter + Office for $3 to developing country students) could affect this.

One thing that I never fully understood... there have been a ton of geeks in the US consistently saying that they'd buy one of these if they could. Adding in the governors of US states expressing interest... why are they so reluctant to sell this thing at a modest profit in the US, use this to enable economies of scale and/or subsidize making it for students abroad, and raise awareness? I think it's a much better and more meaningful endeavor than, say, the advertoutreach of Product (RED)....

 

[localoid]

News today that the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) project is upping the unit cost from $100 to $175, that the manufacterer will make a $78 profit on each unit and that the system will come pre-installed with Windows.

WTF happened? The price increase is worrying enough but the use of Windows flies in the face of everything they've said before concerning their commitment to open source software...

Additional article.

This AP report doesn't say Windows "will be installed", it says "it will be able to run Windows in addition to its homegrown, open-source interface".

The $175 shouldn't have come as a shock. The fact that the initial cost would be greater than $100 was reported several months ago. Since the AP article states the laptop manufacturer has "agreed to take a profit of about $3 per machine", the "$78 per laptop" profit you've quoted would also appear to be incorrect.

 

[localoid]

...One thing that I never fully understood... there have been a ton of geeks in the US consistently saying that they'd buy one of these if they could. Adding in the governors of US states expressing interest... why are they so reluctant to sell this thing at a modest profit in the US, use this to enable economies of scale and/or subsidize making it for students abroad, and raise awareness? I think it's a much better and more meaningful endeavor than, say, the advertoutreach of Product (RED)....

Read OLPC's How can I get one?

"... the decision to distribute in any particular country (including the USA and other developed countries) does not depend on the OLPC but on the government's decision."

 

[zap2]

What they should do is sell them for no profit with Linux to countrys it was orginal designed for, then sell it t for 200USD in the country with lots of extra $$.


We'd buy them, and they'd make a nice profit!

 

[mkrishnan]

Read OLPC's

Sorry... I was aware of this policy already. I do not agree with it. I think it's a bad strategic call for them. I'm not saying they should divert their resources. I'm saying that they could easily find a contractor who'd work to fill this niche in Europe and North America. The ability to use this to bankroll the project, the publicity, and the goodwill are all major advantages to them. Rather, they move glacially and may end up being displaced completely from the market by Microsoft's response, before they even really enter the market.

That's too sad a fate for such a creative and well-thought-out project.

 

[Lord Blackadder]

This AP report doesn't say Windows "will be installed", it says "it will be able to run Windows in addition to its homegrown, open-source interface".

The $175 shouldn't have come as a shock. The fact that the initial cost would be greater than $100 was reported several months ago. Since the AP article states the laptop manufacturer has "agreed to take a profit of about $3 per machine", the "$78 per laptop" profit you've quoted would also appear to be incorrect.

I'm just repeating what these articles say - they are AP sourced according to the header...

I always felt that this project was as much about open source as it was about cheap hardware, so discussing the installation of Windows is a big change from the original goals.