Don't look a gift-pc in the

mouth

OLPC and others

ITIS Majorana – 7 marzo 2008

WHAT IS YOUR POINT OF VIEW?

THERE IS NO RIGHT

POINT OF VIEW

OLPC vs EEEPC 701

Design OLPC

User Interface EEEPC

Learning Curve EEEPC

Applications EEEPC

Connectivity OLPC

Specs and Performance EEEPC

They are intended for two different markets.. (1)

So, why are we comparing them?

High temperature resistance? Batteries with no toxic materials?

Special crash tests?

They are ultraportable and cheap!

Although they say:

“It's an education project, not a laptop project.”

They speak about

ONE LAPTOP PER CHILDwww.laptop.org

A Marketing Meme

Negroponte sketches out his idea for a $100 laptop for the poor children of the world in an e-mail to his old friend, Hector Ruiz, CEO of AMD. (2)

“an amazing marketing meme to express his dream's affordability” … “everyone else was thinking about teenagers and adults using low cost computers.”(3)

…but about the price…

• One Laptop Per Nigerian child would be 73% of the entire governmental income and One Laptop Per Argentinean child would be half of the non-salary education budget. Countries like Rwanda or Nepal have no hope to afford even $100 per child out of their own national budgets.

(2006 figures)

…and about the (real) costs….

• Laptop cost • Training• Software maintenance• Hardware maintenance• Internet connection – satellite

• Estimated about 978$ - 5years (2006 figures)

…so they needed a (different) business model…

• [..] In the vaccine business in the third world one of the biggest problems is reselling subsidized vaccines to 2nd or first world countries.

• […]Or monetize the cult status the machine now already has in western countries?

(2006 - Bram Ellens, a Business Developer at eBay)

…the (2007) business model..

• G1 G1 Program

Why not G1- G100/1000?

• Non-profits means that profits may not be distributed to investors, so a non-profit doesn't have shareholders

….and about the design…

• It just isn’t designed for you. Get over it. (4)

… designed for children….

Unusually, Rufus does not have an opinion about that controversy, but he does have a verdict on the laptop. "It's great," he says. (Rufus is 9 years UK boy) (5)

…exactly what idea of children?..

• All children who get an XO WILL NEED TRAINING!!!!! There is nothing OLPC can do about it; there is nothing the children or their parents can do about it. – (Sali Fandjalan, testing

the XO with children in Guinea). (6)

…an idea of school…

• The XO computer is a true marvel--a wonderful machine designed to be extremely collaborative. And it is designed to be collaborative because the underlying educational assumption is that the kids will learn on their own without help from teachers, coaches or parents.

… not a global idea of school …

• The disaster at olpc has many lessons. One of the most important is that, despite good

intentions, technology, design and innovation by themselves cannot solve problems if they ignore local culture and history. The XO laptop for the world's poorest children is being rejected by India, China and Nigeria as yet another form of foreign Western colonialism. And it is. (7)

OLPC – Now Rethinking

• "The OLPC is like the Peace Corps. You go in for a couple of years, and it's really hard, but really rewarding."

• "I am not a CEO," says Negroponte. "Management, administration, and details are my weaknesses. I'm much better at the vision, big-picture side of the house.“(8)

…visions can change the world..

"Nicholas has ignited a completely new situation, so the world should be grateful to him.“

• (Muhammad Yunus - micro-lending pioneer Grameen Bank)

References• (1) http://www.laptopmag.com/review/laptops/OLPC-XO-vs-Asus-

Eee-PC-701.aspx• (2)http://www.laptop.org• (3)

http://www.olpcnews.com/sales_talk/intel/negroponte_100_laptop_asus.html

• (4) http://blogs.zdnet.com/storage/?p=258• (5)http://newsvote.bbc.co.uk/mpapps/pagetools/print/

news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7140443.stm• (6)http://www.laptopmag.com/news/interviews/olpc-xo-goes-to-

africa-part-ii.aspx• (7)

http://www.businessweek.com/innovate/NussbaumOnDesign/archives/2008/01/one_laptop_per.html#more

• (8)• http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/mar2008/

tc2008035_429837.htm• Whatever you think think the opposite. – Paul Arden