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Negroponte: Slimmer Linux needed for $100 laptop
April 4, 2006
Speaking on the final day of Red Hat's annual user summit here, Negroponte told an audience of Linux enthusiasts and technology professionals that the OLPC project will lead to mass adoption of the operating system, if the software that powers it is efficient and usable enough.
Nicholas Negroponte
"One of the side effects is that it will boost worldwide consumption of Linux on the desktop so incredibly that it will be on par with where it is with servers," he said. "We need your support not to make it overweight and hard to use like all the others are."
The One Laptop per Child project aims to develop a portable PC for use by children in the developing world for around $100. The price has risen since the plan was first announced to about $135 to $140, according to Negroponte.
"It is a floating price. We are a nonprofit organization. We have a target of $100 by 2008, but probably it will be $135, maybe $140. That is a start price, but what we have to do is with every release make it cheaper and cheaper--we are promising that the price will go down," Negroponte said.
Currently on leave from MIT to push the OLPC message full-time, Negroponte said that though his project has received widespread support from companies such as Red Hat--which is building the operating system--and Advanced Micro Devices, not everyone in the IT industry is on his side.
"AMD is our partner, which means Intel is pissing on me. (Microsoft Chairman) Bill Gates is not pleased either, but if I am annoying Microsoft and Intel then I figure I am doing something right," he said.
Negroponte added that the project required an extremely scaled-down operating system to enable the eventual machines to run at a decent speed, while using very little power. "About 25 percent of the cost of a (Windows) laptop is there just to support XP, which is like a person that has gotten so fat that they use most of their muscle to move their fat," he said.
The philosophy behind the OLPC project is that the best way to improve the education of children in the developing world is to give them the means to educate themselves by providing them with a PC that they see as their own.
Negroponte claimed that there are about 1 billion children in the world, with half in remote rural locations where there are no real schools, and teachers themselves have little more than a basic education. "It is very primitive. In situations like that, more teachers and schools are not the solution--it can take decades that way. A much quicker solution is to engage the children themselves in their own education," he said.
Past attempts to give children in developing countries access to PCs have failed because the children did not see the computers as their own, and as a result did not engage with them as expected. "People say we just gave 100,000 PCs to schools, and they're still sitting in their boxes. The problem is that you gave them to the wrong people--the kids don't think they are theirs, and see them as government property, or they are locked up after school."
The key to making computing projects work in education is scale, according to the OLPC boss. He claimed that the sheer number of machines the group is planning to build means that it can not only buy cheaper components, but it also has the ability to change corporate strategies. Negroponte related an anecdote about meeting the head of a PC display company who claimed that he could not build the kind of display OLPC needed--until he found out that the order would be for 100 million units.
Andrew Donoghue of ZDNet UK reported from Nashville, Tenn.
See more CNET content tagged:
OLPC, desktop Linux, education, children, project
relationship with Microsoft. They are somehow managing to trade
very well off the perception that because they're not 'Wintel' they
are as cool as open source. At least go an support some interesting
alternative chip architecture rather than people whose main claim
to fame is doing Intel's CPUs better than Intel.
relationship with Microsoft. They are somehow managing to trade
very well off the perception that because they're not 'Wintel' they
are as cool as open source. At least go an support some interesting
alternative chip architecture rather than people whose main claim
to fame is doing Intel's CPUs better than Intel.
Just another example of giving poor people something they don't need.
Just another example of giving poor people something they don't need.
Who cares about another computer interface?
With Linux, the kids in America wouldn't have to learn how to defrag their hard drives. woo hoo!
Who cares about another computer interface?
With Linux, the kids in America wouldn't have to learn how to defrag their hard drives. woo hoo!
This "low cost" machine "will be made available through large-scale government initiatives." When was the last time any large scale government initiative was low cost or quick to respond (applies to all governments)?
Meanwhile, Fry's had a $399.99 laptop special last week and a $499.99 Toshiba this week. Moore's law says that Fry's will sell a $149.99 laptop in November 2007.
I won't second guess his technical choices. Any Linux can be configured small but using a real-time kernel is the way to go (see Lynux). Kids expect/need a GUI and X isn't so small nor all that efficient.
They also need the Net. If they have the Net, they will probably have power. If they don't have the Net they will need many gigs to store "educational" software.
Then there are all of the cultural issues. As a bad example, a CNet article ($100 laptop gets working prototype) has a sub-head "The One Laptop Per Child crusade". Sell that in the middle East! Why not a One Laptop Per Child jihad?
Therefore what? Great idea but the private sector will get there before he stops talking (if ever).
This is the last thing these people need. Right now they need stable government (not by America's doing, btw), stable medical treatments, stable education, and stable income. The country needs to be able to self-sustain itself before laptops for these kids are handed out.
I'm sure these kids would like to EAT rather than look at a computer screen all day.
This "low cost" machine "will be made available through large-scale government initiatives." When was the last time any large scale government initiative was low cost or quick to respond (applies to all governments)?
Meanwhile, Fry's had a $399.99 laptop special last week and a $499.99 Toshiba this week. Moore's law says that Fry's will sell a $149.99 laptop in November 2007.
I won't second guess his technical choices. Any Linux can be configured small but using a real-time kernel is the way to go (see Lynux). Kids expect/need a GUI and X isn't so small nor all that efficient.
They also need the Net. If they have the Net, they will probably have power. If they don't have the Net they will need many gigs to store "educational" software.
Then there are all of the cultural issues. As a bad example, a CNet article ($100 laptop gets working prototype) has a sub-head "The One Laptop Per Child crusade". Sell that in the middle East! Why not a One Laptop Per Child jihad?
Therefore what? Great idea but the private sector will get there before he stops talking (if ever).
This is the last thing these people need. Right now they need stable government (not by America's doing, btw), stable medical treatments, stable education, and stable income. The country needs to be able to self-sustain itself before laptops for these kids are handed out.
I'm sure these kids would like to EAT rather than look at a computer screen all day.
1) What is the motivation behind this movement? It was said that this presentation was given to a group of Linux enthusiasts. That plus the rhetoric used makes me think that the motivation is more for pushing the Linux desktop in an effort to spite Microsoft and Intel with education as a side effect.
2) What do educators think about this? I didn't see any quotes or mention of those who actually teach these children. Do they think this will solve their child education problems? Do US school teachers think this would help solve education problems?
As far as laptops being the solution, this seems like a chicken and egg problem to me. What kind of education is required to use a computer in the first place (especially if it runs an operating system like Linux which is typically less user friendly)? Also, what about infrastructure? Will there be internet access in these countries? What about the availability of electricity to charge these laptops?
All of these questions need some serious consideration. I'd like to see something like this deployed in the midwest of the US before I'm convinced it will work in developing countries. But all in all, I think the focus here is too much on Linux and not enough on practicality.
Let's take all the benefits and profits from this "giveway" project and use it to better the developing world.
Instead of making the chasm between the developed world and developing world wider and making some millionaire richer at the expense of the "have-nots", lets change the status quo and really make a difference.
Let's change the focus.
? The pedagogic perspective is that more students will be teachable with less need for numerous teachers and school buildings. With information available via web site, teachers will be able to do more online instruction, older children can help younger children learn and children can self-educate.
?Internet access will largely be through meshing computers, though some may be link through desktop computers.
? Computers may run off a windup mechanism, solar batteries, or car batteries in areas in which electricty is not available or unreliable.
? The laptops are designed for children in poor countries, not the U.S. (Yes, nearly 30 percent of American children are poor, but these computers will not be advanced enough to meet their needs.)
If we had used Linux growing up, we wouldn't think that way.
1) What is the motivation behind this movement? It was said that this presentation was given to a group of Linux enthusiasts. That plus the rhetoric used makes me think that the motivation is more for pushing the Linux desktop in an effort to spite Microsoft and Intel with education as a side effect.
2) What do educators think about this? I didn't see any quotes or mention of those who actually teach these children. Do they think this will solve their child education problems? Do US school teachers think this would help solve education problems?
As far as laptops being the solution, this seems like a chicken and egg problem to me. What kind of education is required to use a computer in the first place (especially if it runs an operating system like Linux which is typically less user friendly)? Also, what about infrastructure? Will there be internet access in these countries? What about the availability of electricity to charge these laptops?
All of these questions need some serious consideration. I'd like to see something like this deployed in the midwest of the US before I'm convinced it will work in developing countries. But all in all, I think the focus here is too much on Linux and not enough on practicality.
Let's take all the benefits and profits from this "giveway" project and use it to better the developing world.
Instead of making the chasm between the developed world and developing world wider and making some millionaire richer at the expense of the "have-nots", lets change the status quo and really make a difference.
Let's change the focus.
? The pedagogic perspective is that more students will be teachable with less need for numerous teachers and school buildings. With information available via web site, teachers will be able to do more online instruction, older children can help younger children learn and children can self-educate.
?Internet access will largely be through meshing computers, though some may be link through desktop computers.
? Computers may run off a windup mechanism, solar batteries, or car batteries in areas in which electricty is not available or unreliable.
? The laptops are designed for children in poor countries, not the U.S. (Yes, nearly 30 percent of American children are poor, but these computers will not be advanced enough to meet their needs.)
If we had used Linux growing up, we wouldn't think that way.
Still it lowers the cost to have open source hardware becaseu you can have Open Innovation (making the community feel like they own the computer as Negroponte puts it) and less cost of research and development because the community is involved. Also less government restictions and tewzx becaseeu open contracts are usually not tied tightly to governments.
So maybe we should extend the Simputer
into a larger scope qicker.
Simputer Open Source Hardware
http://amidasimputer.com/funzone/
Still it lowers the cost to have open source hardware becaseu you can have Open Innovation (making the community feel like they own the computer as Negroponte puts it) and less cost of research and development because the community is involved. Also less government restictions and tewzx becaseeu open contracts are usually not tied tightly to governments.
So maybe we should extend the Simputer
into a larger scope qicker.
Simputer Open Source Hardware
http://amidasimputer.com/funzone/
Well, duh. If they are given to the schools, they ARE government property. They AREN'T theirs. They are locked, restricted, locked down almost to the point of uselessness. Hello? Obvious?
Well, duh. If they are given to the schools, they ARE government property. They AREN'T theirs. They are locked, restricted, locked down almost to the point of uselessness. Hello? Obvious?
Poor people don't like to be labeled as poor... and they don't want to use laptops that are being promoted as being for the poor.
Positioning it as a learning machine for an online correspondence schools for both developed and 3rd world countries would be a way to go. Labeling it as laptops for the poor won't get it too far. Yes, people that are poor have feelings or emotions too.
Poor people don't like to be labeled as poor... and they don't want to use laptops that are being promoted as being for the poor.
Positioning it as a learning machine for an online correspondence schools for both developed and 3rd world countries would be a way to go. Labeling it as laptops for the poor won't get it too far. Yes, people that are poor have feelings or emotions too.
Poor people don't like to be labeled as poor... and they don't want to use laptops that are being promoted as being for the poor.
Positioning it as a learning machine for an online correspondence schools for both developed and 3rd world countries would be a way to go. Labeling it as laptops for the poor won't get it too far. Yes, people that are poor have feelings or emotions too.
- Dignity
- by shawnlin June 4, 2006 12:39 AM PDT
- This $100 laptop needs to reposition itself... otherwise, you might as well add this to the startup screen: "Do not log on if you are poor!".
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Showing 1 of 2 pages (108 Comments)Poor people don't like to be labeled as poor... and they don't want to use laptops that are being promoted as being for the poor.
Positioning it as a learning machine for an online correspondence schools for both developed and 3rd world countries would be a way to go. Labeling it as laptops for the poor won't get it too far. Yes, people that are poor have feelings or emotions too.