[sllug-members]: news of the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) Project

[Nelson H. F. Beebe]

Here are pointers to two recent news stories on the One Laptop Per
Child (OLPC) Project:

	http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/144911/top_olpc_executive_resigns_after_restructuring.html

That story begins:

>> ...
>> Top OLPC Executive Resigns After Restructuring
>>
>> Agam Shah, IDG News Service
>>
>> Monday, April 21, 2008 2:00 PM PDT
>>
>> Drastic internal restructuring at the One Laptop Per Child Project has
>> led to the resignation of one of the nonprofit's top executives from
>> the effort.
>>
>> Walter Bender, the former president of software and content at OLPC,
>> has left the organization to pursue "new activities," an OLPC
>> spokesman, George Snell, said on Monday.
>>
>> Bender's original position as a president was eliminated during OLPC's
>> restructuring process, and he resigned as a director of deployment,
>> Snell said. "There is no position remaining known as [president of]
>> software and content, so Bender will not be replaced," Snell said.
>> ...

The second story is more troubling to those of us with an interest in
promoting use of open-source software:

	* Report: OLPC may eventually switch from Linux to Windows XP
	http://cwflyris.computerworld.com/t/3182294/419952/110224/2/

That story begins:

>> ...
>> Report: OLPC may eventually switch from Linux to Windows XP
>> Insistence on open source scares people away, Negroponte says
>> By Eric Lai
>>
>> April 23, 2008 (Computerworld) One day after the resignation of the
>> One Laptop Per Child project's president was publicly revealed, the
>> OLPC's founder and chairman said that the group's XO laptop may evolve
>> to use only Windows XP as its operating system, with open-source
>> educational applications such as the homegrown Sugar software running
>> on top.
>>
>> OLPC founder Nicholas Negroponte also told The Associated Press on
>> Tuesday that an insistence upon using only free, open-source software
>> had hampered the XO's usability and scared away potential adopters.
>>
>> For instance, the Sugar graphical user interface aimed at children
>> "grew amorphously" and "didn't have a software architect who did it in
>> a crisp way," he said. Also, the laptops don't support the latest
>> versions of Flash animation, which is widely used on children's and
>> educational Web sites.
>>
>> "There are several examples like that, that we have to address without
>> worrying about the fundamentalism in some of the open-source
>> community," he said. "One can be an open-source advocate without being
>> an open-source fundamentalist."
>>
>> Negroponte also said that a dual-boot version of the XO that can run
>> Windows or Linux will soon be ready. He had already revealed in
>> January that the group was working with Microsoft Corp. on the
>> dual-boot version.
>>
>> The admission that the XO laptop might eventually run completely on
>> Windows likely will further dishearten many of the Cambridge,
>> Mass.-based nonprofit's strongest supporters. They viewed the OLPC and
>> its championing of free, open-source software for ideological and cost
>> reasons as way to challenge Microsoft's dominance.
>>
>> But the OLPC's moves could also make the XO more attractive to
>> adopters, both educators and affluent Western consumers buying XOs for
>> themselves or their children.
>>
>> About 500,000 of the XO laptops have been sold, below previous targets
>> of millions by the end of last year. Because of the
>> lower-than-anticipated volume, the XOs have been sold for about $200
>> each, or double its ambitious initial price target of $100 each.
>>
>> Moving to Windows could also remove the competitive barriers put up by
>> both Microsoft and Intel Corp., which offers the rival Windows-based
>> Classmate PC.
>> ...

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- Nelson H. F. Beebe                    Tel: +1 801 581 5254                  -
- University of Utah                    FAX: +1 801 581 4148                  -
- Department of Mathematics, 110 LCB    Internet e-mail: beebe at math.utah.edu  -
- 155 S 1400 E RM 233                       beebe at acm.org  beebe at computer.org -
- Salt Lake City, UT 84112-0090, USA    URL: http://www.math.utah.edu/~beebe/ -
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