Intel leaves low-cost notebook project
Intel Corp. says it has dropped out of a nonprofit project to sell millions of low-cost laptops in the developing world, citing disagreements with the organization’s founder, Nicholas Negroponte. The divorce ends a stormy relationship between the Santa Clara, Calif.-based chipmaker and the One Laptop Per Child project, which recently began selling a low-cost laptop in African, Latin American and other countries. The two sides had been feuding over Intel’s aggressive marketing of a low-cost laptop of its own design in many of the same countries the nonprofit had been targeting. The OLPC machine uses a microprocessor from Intel’s chief competitor, Advanced Micro Devices Inc. After more than a year of public sniping between Intel and OLPC, an Intel representative joined OLPC’s board in July, and the company had been planning to announce a new, low-cost, OLPC-designed laptop based on an Intel microprocessor at next week’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.
But the Intel representative has quit the OLPC board and the new machine has been scrapped, according to Intel spokesman Chuck Mulloy.The concept of a low-cost laptop for the world’s poorest schoolchildren has sparked interest from world leaders and technology companies since Mr. Negroponte first proposed it three years ago as a way to bridge the technology divide between rich and poor countries. He vowed to get such a device, costing only $100, into the hands of as many as 150 million children by this year. Although OLPC has managed to develop an innovative machine, it has failed to achieve its target price; the current model sells overseas for $188. And because of increasing competition, it has been unable to get more than a handful of large orders from governments. I never believed in this project, it was too much talking and way less action from the very beginning and I wouldn’t wonder if they cancelled it soon as a whole…
Source: WSJ
Comments(39)
i *first* saw this on the bbc wonderful idea
hm, what is the increasing competition to the OLPC? if everything is cancelled, the last remaining competitor should get all the orders, i mean the will always be some demand for cheap laptops…
i wish i had a laptop so light and small like this , i would pay 300 dollars for it
I’ve been following this idea/story since it’s conception and it is very sad. It’s sad because it has so many good ideas and VERY interesting design work behind the laptops.
Anyone even remotely interested in laptops would be interested in having some of those capabilities in their PCs/laptops/mac books/etc! Who doesn’t want multiple ways to power your laptop (everything from solar powered, hook it up to a 12v battery, hand crank, etc), internet nodes network connection, Linux (3rd world country friendly versions), to the practicality of design (suckers were supposed to be pretty tough).
What I would really like to see would be other laptop companies take some notes and start improving on their product models. I think it would be pretty freakin’ sweet to purchase a laptop from Alienware that’s solar powered, utilizes flash memory instead of hard drives, cds/dvds, etc., with the nodal internet connections.
It’s all possible but not yet…..close… so…. close I can almost taste it!!!! nom nom nom
OLPC is Crap. It seriously is under powered and doesn’t give all the tools the a kid needs to be really proficient with computers. The 2G Surf Model from Asus EEE are much more suitable tools for Children. The OLPC project was just too overrated to be of any good use.
> never believed in this project, it was too much talking and way less action from the very
> beginning and I wouldn’t wonder if they cancelled it soon as a whole…
less action? The XO from OLPC is aviable and the user interface is in my opionion a great advantage in comparision with any regular window manager (windows, gnome, kde, …). If you want more action, help people at OLPC with the development of software or just donate! The biggest problem is, that the XO comes in some countries with Windows installed. Windows on the XO doesn’t make any sense because the kids are trained to work with Windows instead to develop with the XO (which is one of the main reason wy the operating system has to be a Open Source). And to be honest, the Windows UI is far away to be common for a 4 year old kid!
in reply of n. 5
Have you actualy tried a OLPC? Well i have and the performance is enough for the operating system and the olpc application. The hardware is in any way optimized to work under extreme conditions and to take less power as possible. Every application is developed with the fact that there will be only rarley or never a internet access only access to ad-hoc networks in the local area (which works like a charm). If you are concerned about the performance for serious science, wich would be interessting for a 4 year old, maybe you should look at Quantum cryptography on the OLPC http://lwn.net/Articles/263542/
the olpc project will never solve the african/latin american problems. the whole project is just a big advertising campaign for the western countries….something like “we have a lot of money …we know…so let’s give a few $$$ to poor countries…and after that we could say we are rich and also we try to save the world”
NOBODY in the rich countries cares about other problems except their own desire for more money and more power.
I’ll bet Filipinos are in the pic. It costs around 8,000 pesos for a single one in their country. At 150 pesos min. daily wage (4 US dollars) a day, they would rather sell it if they are given one to have a decent food on their table.
after all it is all about money.
Intel are douchebags; they’ve screwed a non-profit project over just because it didn’t have their architecture and processor.
Nem said it.
Regardless of all the arguing about what is best, the fact is that Intel are a bunch of tossers. If you know anyone that works for Intel, punch them in the nose.
The US government hacked by the 3rd world, by little “Unda-bunda bongo-drum silverknife”
Well to be perfectly honest i don’t think its the wests responsibility to be sorting out all of Africas ills. They wanted independance from western interferance and they made it clear they supported Mugabe in the recent African EU summit.
So let them make there own laptops. Afterall is Africa not the oldest continent in the world? If they can’t sort themselves out then giving them aid all the time won’t make any difference anyway. Those laptops would probably end up being recycled and sold back to us and the profits filling the pockets of evil dictators who will use the money to buy arms to keep there people in order.
This is a crazy project. Sell cheap laptops; is that so there is a new software and hardware parts market. From what I’ve heard, in Guatemala anyway… they have schools without roofs that could be fixed. But the upside is without a roof the solar cells can charge without going outside; but then are you ever really inside. Seems like some people with deep pockets are trying to feel good about themselves, but never bothered to check the realities of the developing world. How about some filthy rich CEO’s give the laptops to the children and build a roof for the school at the same time. I guess with there huge bonuses checks, they lose sight of reality.
They need food, shelter, health. They can’t eat, cover or cure themselves with a laptop.
many places they lack even clean drinking water
@11 and 12
You two don’t seem to know why Intel left. Intel left because the OLPC wanted them to stop selling there classmate PC and not work with anyone that sells low costing laptops. I don’t know about you, but any sane person running a business wouldn’t agree to that.
And another one… Who do you think sells those arms you talk about to those “evil dictators”
I am very impressed by this website, daily news is cool. Have you considered making a news website to compete with a few of the following (the slyck.com, zeropaid.com, theinquirer.net and theregister.co.uk). I find myself regularly visiting rlslog.net lately and want to say thank you. keep up the good work
@20
Anyone that manufacturers weapons? It isn’t just one country that sells arms to African nations.
This is useless nonetheless… Third world people cannot afford these “cheap” laptops. they hardly can get food. Why should they waste money on this? What would they do with it anyway? What do you do with a laptop in a crumbling society where you have to scrap for every drop of water or food? What can these things be other than an overpriced toy for children?
This whole projects reeks of western stupidity… How can someone think that you can do something for the 3rd world by selling them laptops with useless open source software. Do they think drawing some crap in a Paint clone will suddenly change the fact that the kid who does it will probably not live to be 20 years old?
Ridiculous…
You miss the point.
If a child gets one laptop from any source it will be in part due to OLPC starting the process.
Keep in mind that it is a non-profit organization where humanistic people donate their time.
I don’t understand how this laptop is useful for students if it can’t run the software that those students will use when they enter the workplace.
Name one corporate environment that is using the OLPC operating system. There are none. Name a corporate environment that is using MS Office. There are plenty.
I love rlslog.net
My point is that the laptop has some really unique design work and ideas that I hope they eventually put into our laptops.
Of course poor countries need the basics of life: food, water, shelter, etc and it is difficult to conceive that poor people would be paying any money at all for such an “extra”.
But if I remember correctly (plz correct me if I’m wrong) the idea is that we in the “rich countries” purchase 2 laptops for $400 (usa dollars) and we keep one and then one goes to a poor family or school in a “developing” country. In order for this to work properly (meaning internet connectivity) of course there would have to be many sold.
It is a basic economic idea that in order for people to raise themselves out of poverty there must be education. Again, remember the old axiom “give a fish and you fed someone but teach them to fish and you feed them the rest of their lives”. The great and almighty World Wide Web can provide worlds of information, data, and education.
What it boils down to is governments and various companies *cough*INTEL*cough* helping or hindering. As was previously pointed out, Africa doesn’t exactly want the USA, or, dare one say, any freedom loving nation, helping their people out. People in power want to stay in power and do not want anything to upset the balance.
So the short and long of this is that “YES” most likely this plan is doomed to failure, not because individuals aren’t willing to help or the ideas behind it are bad but due to the economics of the environment in which people live.
Please note that this is a generalization as there are countries (some located in South America) which are doing marvelous things for advancing their people.
I’d be interested to hear what opinions and thoughts you all have further on this.
Cheers!!
More junk to fill up landfills with.
How about “one DVD player for each classroom” and have a bunch of free programming content, even better yet just use flashcards.
Anybody else think that we should be building small buildings for schools, buying kids books and a chalk and a tablet to write on? Making sure some good teachers hang around to teach them….
The people of africa has “bigger” problems than not having a laptop….if the people doesnt invoke and strive for a change, then there is nothing tht an outsider can do to help.
On the lighter side of things……..i personal believe that the people of africa and other place such as and somewht really need are some MAPS.
Intel corporate officers are quitters… HAHA I’m glad I always buy AMD.
Intel= Profit= No-conscience
AMD= Profit= Conscience= Quality= Community= Yeah, I believe AMD has heart.
@27 Malius
How exactly will these laptops feed people in third world countries? Because if right now they can’t even grow their own food most of the times are these laptops going to help in that?
Kids have no schools and no teachers, you give them a laptop and unless they learn how to play games on it they are going to use it as a throwing rock.
People who volunteer for this program should use their time better, trying to get medical supplies for example, instead of this crap.
I don’t see what the big problem is here…it cant be that hard to make the best idea work out right…LOL
demorgan – Did you forget that computers have maps,dictionaries,encyclopedia’s,calculators ect?…isnt it more economical to get all those things together rather than seperate?…
… costa200 “how exactly are these laptops gunna feed kids” well,first of all,there not suposed to feed them directly,thats pretty obvious…but im sure you eat laptops daily
…Anyhow…Read the comment i wrote above here,and i will just add to my other examples…there is a MASSS amount of info on many diff types of ways to grow things,that people could learn from,among other things…just cuz north americans play W.O.W alll there lives,doesnt mean its the same thing…
Roar3000
are u serious!……..u dont know that i was making a reference to viral video……come on man…lol
@35 RoaR3000
They won’t feed them directly or indirectly. There is nothing you can do with a laptop in a real problematic area other than selling it. With a fraction of the cost of tehse laptops you can have real maps ,dictionaries, encyclopedia’s, calculators ect… And with the leftover money you can make sure your students don’t die before they get a chance to use their learned skills. If we are to do the best for these kids we can give them extra cheap learning tools like the ones you pointed out, build schools, clinics, make sure the kids have teachers…
The MASS amount of info, like you said, can be deployed in other much cheaper ways. This is like the EU paying for a football stadium for palestine. It is now used for public executions… Very useful indeed…
This idea of laptops for 3rd world countries is yet another way for the west to push our way into them. “wouldn’t it be cool if all the kids in poor countries had a laptop?”.
Yet some forget that they need many other more essential material things.
@22 I didn’t say only one. The great arms exporters are very well known I believe. And that’s my point exactly: Why?…
This is a good idea that was influenced in part by the experiment conducted in the slums of India. They set up a couple of laptops in the slums and watched how the people interacted with it. They found that the children were able to learn and use the laptop in a remarkably short period of time. Remember, these are homeless children with no schooling.
IMHO, this is a good idea. There are numerous charity’s out there already handing out food. It’s time to try something different. Education could be the fundamental shift needed. The other good project going around is micro-loans for 3rd world countries (www.Kiva.org), where anyone can provide a micro-loan to a person wanting to start their own business.