News Blog

In the wake of a nasty spat with former partner Intel, a reorganization, and mounting criticism, Nicholas Negroponte is looking for a chief executive for his One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) organization, according to BusinessWeek.

He wants someone to help manage the organization "more like Microsoft," according to the article, rather than like the "terrorist group, doing impossible things" it's been until now.

"I am not a CEO," OLPC Chairman Negroponte said in an interview with the magazine. "Management, administration, and details are my weaknesses. I'm much better at the vision, big-picture side of the house."

Negroponte has hired a headhunter to help find a CEO and hopes to have one named by April or May.

The Cambridge, Mass., group aims to provide low-cost laptops to children in developing countries.

The group has faced its share of challenges in the three years since it was formed. Its XO laptops initially cost $188 each instead of the anticipated $100, some countries are scaling back their deployment plans and Intel recently quit, claiming OLPC was pressuring it not to compete with its own laptops.

Maybe a Bill Gates is just what's needed to get OLPC back on track and focused.

I missed this little bit of news at the time, but it's worth passing along here, if only for completeness.

In a brief interview published on New Year's Eve by Laptop magazine, One Laptop Per Child founder Nicholas Negroponte said total XO-1 laptop shipments during the organization's "Give One, Get One" promotion were expected to be between 150,000 and 170,000 units.

The XO laptop from the OLPC Foundation

(Credit: OLPC Foundation)

A few days later, The New York Times reported that OLPC announced a more precise figure: 167,000 laptops. (Unfortunately, I can't locate the OLPC announcement itself; it isn't on the official OLPC site site.)

Either way, the organization also received additional orders during the promotion from Birmingham, Ala. (15,000 laptops) and others. Wikipedia's OLPC entry includes a table accounting for 602,000 units.

These aren't bad numbers for a new machine that isn't even really finished. The XO-1's software isn't yet considered stable or feature-complete. Battery life doesn't yet measure up to OLPC's early promises, as I verified with my own G1G1 machine. There's very little support available for the machine, and the 30-day warranty is good only for immediately obvious problems.

So although the approximately 83,500 orders received during the G1G1 program wouldn't be considered a great success in a commercial context, I think it reflects a pretty reasonable start to what needs to be a long-term effort.

Confirmation

Thank you for participating in Give One Get One. Your donation will bring education and enlightenment to children of the developing world, and, in recognition of your gift, you will be receiving an XO laptop for the child in your life as well. If you have any questions or problems, please contact One Laptop Per Child at service@laptopgiving.org. Should your employer wish to match your donation, we are a 501(c)(3) organization and our EIN# is 20-5471780. Thanks again, and welcome to the One Laptop Per Child community!

Why two?

I woke up Monday to the announcement that starting September 24, the XO laptop (famous as the little laptop that could) will be made available to buyers in so-called first-world countries, in quantities less than 100,000 units. In fact, for less than $400 you can give one and receive another--an excellent solution to an age-old moral dilemma.

(Credit: One Laptop Per Child)

The $100 laptop project for children in emerging nations is headed toward the finish line.

The One Laptop per Child (OLPC) non-profit organization Monday announced its final beta version for the XO laptop.

Beta-4 (B4) will undergo final testing over the next few weeks, then enter mass production in October. The OLPC expects to ship 3 million XO laptops to more than three emerging nations, as part of this initial order, an OLPC spokesman said.

The OLPC has been particularly busy these past few weeks, gearing up for its final beta version, as well as striking a peace accord with Intel. Intel is joining the OLPC board and may serve as a potential supplier to the project.

Currently, AMD is supplying its Geode LX-700 chips to the XO laptop. Other components include 256MB of memory and 1GB of NAND flash, as well as a system designed to offer a fully readable display in bright sunlight, and durability to withstand water, dust clouds and a drop from as high as 5 feet.

CORONADO, Calif.--Say what you want about all the projects to bring low-cost PCs to the world, but at least someone's thinking of the children.

The Future in Review version of PCs-for-schools, Project Inkwell, tries not to get sucked into the increasingly competitive world of low-cost PC projects. Nick Negroponte of the One Laptop Per Child project recently traded blows with Intel Chairman Craig Barrett over who's more concerned about helping the poor, and who is simply looking for a new market.

"We think it should be a good business, we don't think there's anything wrong with generating profits," said Bruce Wilcox, CEO of Project Inkwell. Wilcox wants to get all the PC industry companies working together on the project, and recently brought IBM into the fold. IBM doesn't sell PCs anymore, but it's increasingly interested in the services revenue that comes along with helping schools set up networks.

Much of the debate centers on the merits of the specific device, whether it's Negroponte's XO, Intel's Classmate PC, or something else. But making sure that the industry works both sides of the fence, the devices and the services, is vitally important, said C.J. Holthaus, technical director at chipmaker Via Technologies. "You can't do The Gods Must Be Crazy strategy, just dropping the laptops out of the plane," he said.