Meet the new boss: Charles Kane, One Laptop per Child’s new president, is a former software executive and mergers-and-acquisition specialist.
David Talbot
Charles Kane thinks industry partnerships will boost the laptop's marketability.
This week, with orders for its laptop having failed to meet expectations--and the plunging dollar driving up the computer's purchase price--the One Laptop per Child (OLPC) program installed a new president who says that he'll seek fresh industry alliances to boost the marketability of the maverick machine. OLPC was founded in 2005, with the aim of improving education in poor countries by putting cheap, rugged, low-power laptops in the hands of schoolchildren.
Charles Kane, OLPC's finance chief and a former software company executive, is stepping into the role of president and chief operating officer following last month's resignation of president Walter Bender. Bender had adamantly opposed efforts by the organization's founder, Nicholas Negroponte, to depart from a pure open-source-software approach and include a version of Microsoft's Windows XP operating system on the laptops.
While Kane wouldn't talk specifics about Microsoft, he made it clear which way OLPC is heading. "The OLPC mission is a great endeavor, but the mission is to get the technology in the hands of as many children as possible," he said. "Whether that technology is from one operating system or another, one piece of hardware or another, or supplied or supported by one consulting company or another doesn't matter."
"It's about getting it into kids' hands," he continued. "Anything that is contrary to that objective, and limits that objective, is against what the program stands for."
Bender is the architect of an open-source interface known as Sugar, which runs on the Linux operating system and is designed to allow children to easily collaborate on documents, art, music, and other projects. For example, with Sugar, activating a tool that allows two children using different laptops to edit the same document requires a single mouse click. Such novelties suit the interface to the so-called constructionist model of education, in which children learn by collaborating and creating.
Bender says that his biggest fear is that if OLPC embraces Microsoft, it will "become just another laptop company" whose products run Windows and Microsoft-compatible programs. Negroponte says that the organization is working to ensure that Sugar can run smoothly on Windows.
Despite its technical achievements--including extremely low power consumption, innovative software, and extremely low cost--OLPC has sold few laptops, at least relative to its initial ambitions. About 500,000 machines have been delivered; early national adopters include Uruguay and Peru. In early 2006, however, Negroponte was predicting sales of more than 100 million machines by this year.
One reason for the slow uptake, Negroponte says, is that the existing computer systems of some government and educational bureaucracies around the world run on Windows. And in some countries, including Egypt, he says, the lack of Windows compatibility stalled interest. "When I went to Egypt for the first time, I met separately with the minister of communications, minister of education, minister of science and technology, and the prime minister, and each one of them, within the first three sentences, said, 'Can you run Windows?'" Negroponte says.
Putting OLPC's software on a USB drive gives old PCs a new lease on life.
Mary Lou Jepsen is developing technology originally created for the $100 laptop project.
Quoting Negroponte: "I think that means and ends, as often happens, got confused,"
At points the flavor of the OLPC supporters' statements have been more about defeating WinTel than advancing education. I applaud the OLPC Project for getting back on the track of researching superior technology-based educational tools and enabling greater access to them.
Mr. Kane is dillusional if he and other directors of the OLPC project believe that having the OLPC dependent on Microsoft Windows will in effect "put the computer into hands of millions of kids".
First the uptake will be slow because of the ballooning cost of supporting Windows, and all the nightmares of poor reliability and malware that will be part of the package.
Second, when Microsoft demands "a mandatory upgrade" of hardware to support the "new" OLPC Windows, every participating country will have to ante up tens of millions of more dollars/Euros/whatever to keep pace.
There are parts of India - bigger in population that all of Egypt that reject any dependence on Microsoft Windows, knowing the "lock and expense that will follow.
"Open Standards" Mr. Kane, "Open Standards" - get the point, unless you also are a Microsoft dupe.
Mr. Negroponte deserves much credit for his vision, but he, Kane and other lack common sense or understanding of the ruthless business practices of Microsoft and company. They are naive and simple minded to the ultimate.
W. Anderson
wanderson@nac.net
Let us not forget that EVERY version of Windows also hits the swap like mad. I have been a pc repairman since the 3.xx days and I can tell you even XP embedded hits the swap.This will cause the flash drives to burn out much faster than with Linux.
And has ANYONE tried running XP on on a PC with OLPC specs? I have and it hurts,bad. Even if they have a custom version of XP embedded,which I have exp with through WinFLP,when you figure in the drivers for the camera and the mesh network,on top of the AV and firewall you have to have for XP unless these things are never allowed near the net,you will have a horrible experience for these kids.
And let us be honest here,while I am all for getting them to the kids and I use both Windows and Xandros Linux daily,if the use of these things is painful to deal with(picture Vista on a Win98 PC) then even if it is free they just are not going to use it. After all,what kid is going to want to draw or write with it if it takes 5 minutes of drive thrashing to load the program you want to use? IMHO this is the start of the slow death march of the OLPC. Microsoft will keep it afloat for a short time,then once they are of no further use they will simply cut funding and remove the XP license.Do they really think they'll support this in the long term over long time friends Intel and the Classmate?
within the first three sentences, said, 'Can you run Windows?'"
within the first three sentences, said, 'Can you run Windows?'"
Hmmm.
What is the world marketplace looking for?
Cheap(est) Windows platforms?
Hmmm.
Don't forget that Microsoft as big company do, is lobbying those government to use Windows...
And getting a market as it emerge is important for them, to propagate their monopoly.
giving in to Windows would be a huge mistake
... I mean, how about going to a billion of the world's poorest children and creating them dependencies on Windows.. and maybe also Cocal-Cola and McDonalds as well? That will sure bring them up to par with the "western civilization"! Is that the desired goal?
Unfortunately, I personally do not believe Windows will live as long anymore, Coca-Cola and McDonalds probably will.
Personally, I would go to those government officials and ask them what can Windows do that the OLPC machines cannot? Demonstrate them by example that be it a Windows desktop, a cellphone or a Linux laptop, they all can serve the same purposes in the end... and they will be the textbooks, paper, pencil and blackboard of the 21st century.
Yes, you don't want to replicate 20th century schools or computers, or even the 20th century-minded government officials! You also don't want to make it a goal to bring these kids up to 20th century Western standards. They have much more potential than that! Maybe there will be no desktop computers (or laptops), no oil-powered cars, no cable-based electricity grids (but distributed solar-powered generators), and many other things we were raised to depend on will not exist in 50 years!
I think Negroponte should be given credit for having a vision of the future, and not of the past or the present! I can see why Walter Bender resigned, and I hope the new president will not be just a Windows minion, but someone who will possess the necessary diplomacy and communication skills to show that you don't necessarily need Windows to have a good computer, same way you don't need an ethernet cable to have internet and you don't need McDonalds in order to feed the poor!
Re: giving in to Windows would be a huge mistake
Since they won't replicate our life style, why would our advices be useful for them.
It is not obvious for them, and it is not obvious for ourselves since we stile use windows.
So there is something else than pure reasoning, in the equation. This thing is commercial power.
And commercial society aim is not the welfare of population, it is to harvest profit.
So what do we do to fight back?
We make Linux... That's good, but not enough.
We need international law that control multinational enterprise.
When I got my first computer in 1993, it came with DOS 6.2 and Windows 3.1. It worked fine except WordPerfect for Windows kept crashing. A year later I discovered the reason - Microsoft had informed WordPerfect developers that WordPerfect "must" be developed to run with the win32 files installed for it to work properly. The trouble was Windows 3.1 was shipped without the win 32 files. This caused WP to constantly crash. From then I didn't trust Microsoft and only believe the opposite of what they say.
Between January 1 and June 30, 1995 Microsoft spent $100 billion advertising Windows 95. Between 12:01 a. m. July 1 and 12:00 a. m. July 2, 1995 $100 billion of Windows 95 were sold world wide. This is a good example of the brain washing power Microsoft advertising has on the technology consumer.
If OLPC is to provide it's technology to the needy children of this planet while protecting them from child sex predators, malware and other online scourges then obviously it MUST have Linux.
Governments like Egypt, have sold their souls to Microsoft. If they insist that they must have Windows, sell them an Intel Classmate with all the necessary software to protect the laptop at market prices. Also let the Egypts of the world know they are responsible for buying the annual license for the security software necessary for protecting the Windows o/s. Also let them know that technical support will come from Microsoft and the third party software providers and not OLPC since they insist on being part of the Microsoft food chain.
Guest (bhagwandasp)
Ministers just say these things
Even earlier Mr. Negroponte had shaken hands with ministers and they had promised him millions of laptops and nothing came out.
Now again he is falling in trap of the ministers. Even though they have not studied/analyzed the matter properly but have asked question out of the fly "does it run windows".
Is Mr. Negroponte sure that if he gives this option, he will get more orders? I doubt.
Once bitten twice shy
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johnalphonse
78 Comments
No credibility
If this program caves into Microsoft it's selling out an entire world community, not embracing it. You're saying this project can't function without Windows? What a two-faced joke and disgrace to even entertain the idea. Plenty of other companies will chip in to support this. If you are going to call on Microsoft, why not seek funding from other corporate sources eager to establish a better reputation in the New Economy? Microsoft can't even formulate a new OS or even tweak XP without failure. And you want this company having its fingers in the project? I don't want to hear another word about your program in the same breath as Microsloth. What a slap in the face to Linux and the open source community.
Does seeking alternate funding automatically mean MS gets involved? Where's the logic here, and why didn't Negroponte tell these officials that OpenOffice reads and writes to MS without the cost? What was his response to their question about Windows? And do these people asking the question actually know enough that you will take their unawareness and accommodate it? I thought this was all about alternatives and breaking the stronghold of any one company on the world situation of unevenly distributed wealth and opportunity? Whatever it takes, you say? So, therefore the ends justify the means? But what kind of solution is this in the end after all? You have sold out the world's poor to a corporation, all over again.
Reply
BobbyB2
1 Comment
Re: No credibility
Except for the fact that the entire point of the program is for the children to be as prepared as possible to be successful in today’s world. And, especially in countries like Egypt where every government and private sector computer is running Windows, training them on Windows does just that. Why train hundreds of thousands of kids on a custom platform that they won’t ever see again. Makes no sense. Go with Microsoft.
Reply
markhahn
2 Comments
Re: No credibility
no, OLPC is not about providing windows technical training to third-world kids. it's about improving the general education of those kids - providing access to texts, for instance, collaboration, etc.
if you don't realize that there is more to education than training to use windows, well, that's really very sad.
and it _is_ important to use open source tools for this, precisely because there is inevitably an evangelical aspect to the project. the question is whether kids should be encouraged to experience a world that they can actually grow with, modify, contribute to (not to mention afford), or whether OLPC is just a missionary program for the MSFT monoculture.
Reply
Researcher
1 Comment
Re: No credibility
.. except that by the time the children grow up, Microsoft Windows will have gone the way of the oil companies. MS will make their big money some other way, maybe as a games company, or from opium, or something new along those lines...
Reply