Posted by: Anonymous Coward
on May 22, 2007 06:44 PM
The OLPC project is about education, which means that the machine itself is able to be completely dismantled and rebuilt safely and easily by children with a little learning, the software it runs is designed around creativity and collaboration, and there are freely improvable textbooks being written for it.
If this project gets destroyed by Intel that would be a terrible waste. Intel's project is nothing like as committed as the OLPC project. Intel just want to sell computers. These computers will then be used to run Microsoft Windows, Microsoft Office, etc. (probably illegally). Whilst this may be better than nothing, if it derails the attempts of OLPC to get children learning, using and improving an education-oriented system, rather than training with, buying and pirating an office-worker oriented system, then it is a bad thing.
The major problem is, whilst some nations such as Brazil have a number of dedicated FLOSS-type people acting in the government, who can see past the "computers are used for running Windows" brainwashing, most (like in Romainia) would probably choose the Classmate PC option as it is what they use themselves. It is hard to criticise a computer system when talking to people who use it every day.
I think the arguments given to governments to support the OLPC should draw the distinction between a system designed for office workers to help them get all of their reports, invoices, etc. done, which may let children at least write things down on a computer, and a system which is designed around education, letting the children learn for themselves and from each other, and express their creativity in whatever ways they want and probably most importantly to NOT BE RESTRICTED when they become motivated to do something (especially computer/programming related).
If countries really want to use cheap laptops to produce a generation of technology-using workers to bring money in then ask them what they would prefer, to have a country full of people who know only how to use expensive foreign programs to write things, or a country full of people able to start up their own Microsoft corporations if they wanted to (not counting the ethical issues, of course<nobr> <wbr></nobr>:P ).
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I hope this opportunity isn't lost
Posted by: Anonymous Coward on May 22, 2007 06:44 PMIf this project gets destroyed by Intel that would be a terrible waste. Intel's project is nothing like as committed as the OLPC project. Intel just want to sell computers. These computers will then be used to run Microsoft Windows, Microsoft Office, etc. (probably illegally). Whilst this may be better than nothing, if it derails the attempts of OLPC to get children learning, using and improving an education-oriented system, rather than training with, buying and pirating an office-worker oriented system, then it is a bad thing.
The major problem is, whilst some nations such as Brazil have a number of dedicated FLOSS-type people acting in the government, who can see past the "computers are used for running Windows" brainwashing, most (like in Romainia) would probably choose the Classmate PC option as it is what they use themselves. It is hard to criticise a computer system when talking to people who use it every day.
I think the arguments given to governments to support the OLPC should draw the distinction between a system designed for office workers to help them get all of their reports, invoices, etc. done, which may let children at least write things down on a computer, and a system which is designed around education, letting the children learn for themselves and from each other, and express their creativity in whatever ways they want and probably most importantly to NOT BE RESTRICTED when they become motivated to do something (especially computer/programming related).
If countries really want to use cheap laptops to produce a generation of technology-using workers to bring money in then ask them what they would prefer, to have a country full of people who know only how to use expensive foreign programs to write things, or a country full of people able to start up their own Microsoft corporations if they wanted to (not counting the ethical issues, of course<nobr> <wbr></nobr>:P ).
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