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The OLPC XO, or $100 laptop, was supposed to change the world. It was going to bring computers and the internet to children in developing nations and help level the playing field when it came to education. It was going to replace textbooks, notebooks, and calculators. And while reaction to the first computer wasn't glowing, reviews (including at this Web site) were overall positive.
Unfortunately the XO, despite it's noble intentions, has fallen far short of expectations. In the end it fell far short of its $100 goal, which each laptop costing $188. The Sugar user interface (UI) that was designed with simplicity in mind has not been the resounding success the organization hoped it would be. Sugar has been regarded as slow, overly simplistic, it has proven to be crash prone. To make matters worse, the XO uses a processor so slow that Eee we complained about earier seems to scream by comparison.
But what truly did in the XO was the politics surrounding the organization. Intel joined the group, only to leave when Nicholas Negroponte balked at Intel's plan to keep pushing its own XO competitor. Then, the group was pressured into offering the XO with Windows XP, which moves so slow on the ultra-low powered XO as to be unusable. Next, the original team that developed the Sugar UI and Linux based operating system formed a splinter group because it was angered over the new focus on squeezing Windows on to the PC.
The OLPC program started with noble goals, but ended up producing a toy instead of a legitimate computing platform. And, in a flurry of frustrated self-serving political moves, the OLPC organization managed to bury itself and all but ensure its place as a footnote in the history of low-cost computing.
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Comments
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Subscribe to commentsRoyalDec 31st 2008 11:01AM
I really hope they can get the system working properly. It not only would help 3rd world countries but, could help our own education system. Have you seen how many books our kids have to carry around? And alot of teachers use hand out sheets which our kids lose or forget to bring home. If the school system had an affordable computer to hand out to the students maybe we would see a rise in the effectiveness of our grade school system.
brianDec 31st 2008 11:51AM
Royal, are you seriously concerned about "how many books our kids have to carry around?" Its because of people like you that our kids sit around on their fat asses instead of going outside to play like kids should do. Kids should haul books around, it increases weight and therefore hopefully will build a little muscle mass. If kids "forget", it is probably out of convenience and a smack on the butt and taking away the wii forever will corect the problem. I am 43, and kids are still kids. I wouldn't have dreamed about complaining about the number of books I had to carry because it would have fallen on deaf ears at home and if I "forgot" a handout, my mother would have take a belt to my ass. Stop making excuses, take the side of the teacher for a change since he/she is the one who has to deal with your kid, send your kid outside to play, sit him/her down to study every night, throw away the Methylphenidate and take out the belt. You will be amazed at the difference in your childs behavior.