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Our Blogs Open Sauce - A GNU perspective OLPC: one excuse per child
Our Blogs Open Sauce - A GNU perspective OLPC: one excuse per child | OLPC: one excuse per child |
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| by Sam Varghese | |
| Thursday, 24 April 2008 | |
Related storiesI suspect very much that Saint Nick has taken a page out of the manual drafted by the Linux Foundation. Else, how would he expect people to swallow the following argument? 1. We are using an OS called Sugar on the XO laptop 2. We are going to be dual-booting this with XP shortly. 3. Later, Sugar will run on top of XP. 4. This does not mean the role that Sugar plays in the project is diminished. 5. It actually means that the role played by Sugar is enhanced. Shades of George Orwell and Animal Farm, methinks. Negroponte's announcement about XP included an excuse for the departure of Walter Bender, once the number 2 in the project. Bender was demoted sometime back and has now chosen to go his own way. He is the third high-profile person to leave, following Mary-Lou Jepsen and Ivan Krstic. Negroponte can spin things any way he wants; one does wonder, though, how he reconciles the change to XP with this "core" principle of his project: "There is no inherent external dependency in being able to localize (sic) software into their language, fix the software to remove bugs, and repurpose the software to fit their needs. Nor is there any restriction in regard to redistribution; OLPC cannot know and should not control how the tools we create will be re-purposed in the future." And one wonders what the Australian distributors of the OLPC will do now, given that the project appears to have degenerated into one that merely hawks laptops running XP. The identity of the distributor is not provided on the website, nor is there any email address for contact, just a bog standard form for submitting inquiries. But then if one is planning to sell laptops running XP, the lack of transparency is understandable.
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  written by sam_varghese, April 24, 2008
@Waugh
In what capacity are you making this comment - as the GNOME media spokesman? Or are you affiliated with OLPC - either in the US or Australia? Or are you making this comment as just another reader? Kindly clarify and avoid generalisations. Everything stated here is a fact - there is no beat-up. Go and find out what beat-up means before flinging words around. written by Jeff Waugh, April 24, 2008
I am a director of OLPC Australia.
Don't play word games, Sam. You've had a lot of practice bending facts into insinuations and beat-ups. That is, when you prefer to actually lean on facts... and in this case, your insinuations about OLPC Australia illustrate no facts, and no reasonable or responsible level of fact-finding. written by sam_varghese, April 25, 2008
Took quite some doing to squeeze that bit of information about your connection to OLPC Australia out of you, didn't it?
You want me to make reasonable efforts to contact people who run a website which has no contact email address; no contact phone number; no contact snail mail address; no po box; where the domain is registered in the name of linux australia inc; and where the contact person is one stephen thorne for whom no contact details are provided. Ever heard of the word chutzpah? And you don't try to define words like "responsible" and "reasonable" for me, Waugh; the days of the colonial era are long over. written by C. Conrad Cady, April 25, 2008
I would never have bought an OLPC which ran a proprietary OS. Though we find it interesting, the machine is pretty much useless for my 8-year-old daughter. This is because of the hardware, not the software. The machine is woefully slow. Web browsing is too slow to keep her interest. I believe that this can be fixed, but not by replacing the OS with a slower, proprietary one.
written by NotesTracker, April 25, 2008
Ignoring the above slings and arrows, does anybody knw what's going to happen with this OLPC configuration option after mid-2008, once XP is withdrawn from marketing by Microsoft? (Does the OLPC Project have any sort of deal with Microsoft to continue XP's availability for them alone?)
written by Thomas Holbrook II, April 25, 2008
"You want me to make reasonable efforts to contact people who run a website which has no contact email address; no contact phone number; no contact snail mail address; no po box; where the domain is registered in the name of linux australia inc; and where the contact person is one stephen thorne for whom no contact details are provided."
You mean the page that's here: http://www.olpc.org.au/contact/ ... am I right? Would it really kill you to fill out the form and click the submit button? Honestly! That's like saying that I have to submit a letter to the editor via e-mail rather than using the comments system here! written by Alex Zaharov- Reutt, April 25, 2008
To NotesTracker:
Yes, Microsoft is extending Windows XP until 2010 for 'ultra low cost PCs' - see our article at http://www.itwire.com/content/view/17474/1151/ To Thomas Holbrook II: There are many complaints when companies don't have ANY contact details beyond a contact form. What about all those complaints that Paypal/eBay didn't have any phone numbers to contact them on? They have one now. Can't OLPC Australia at least have a phone number or an email address or some other REAL contact details too, at the risk of angering Jeff Waugh (who I've spoken to once or twice through a Sam Varghese article comment section and never otherwise met nor have any argument with), is OLPC Australia above this common contact courtesy? I think that's the point Sam was trying to make. Sam definitely did point to the 'bog standard contact form' if you read his article, Thomas. Cheers Alex written by Jeff Waugh, April 25, 2008
Took quite some doing to squeeze that bit of information about your connection to OLPC Australia out of you, didn't it?
Ha ha. Well, I'm sure your readers will note that your question received an answer, and that's all there was to it. Good try, Sam. written by Thomas Holbrook II, April 25, 2008
I understand your point Alex. However, he never indicated whether he made an actual attempt to use said form or not to make contact.
written by Jeff Waugh, April 25, 2008
Alex: We're in the process of booting up the organisation. So, ahead of our launch, we just have a clear and simple contact form on the website. Many people, including journalists, have used it. Of course, we'll be adding more to the website over time.
(Note that, despite coverage during linux.conf.au, we're not really interested in doing lots of press before we launch, because we don't want to be "out there" in the public mind before we're ready. This is entirely normal for new organisations, particularly if there is a lot of interest in what they're doing.) But if conspiracy theories and sledging are more interesting, by all means let Sam continue! written by Alex Zaharov- Reutt, April 25, 2008
Hi Jeff,
Nice analogy - booting up :-) Well, it will certainly be interesting to know once the Australian organisation is up and running. If you don't want to contact Sam with the news, you're certainly welcome to contact me or the Editor of iTWire. As for conspiracy theories and sledging and whatnot... at the very least, whether it is or isn't interesting, it's certainly entertaining. hahah :-) Cheers and good luck, and here's to a more powerful, next version of the OLPC II in the not too distant future, too. Alex written by Thomas Holbrook II, April 25, 2008
Rest assured everyone that the contact form works just fine. I sent a question to the group in question and was greeted with a response in my inbox.
written by Ron Who Owns a PC, April 25, 2008
So funny to see Alex jumping in to cover Sams arse. Great journalism guys.
P.S. I thought we already had a OLPC with the EEE? written by Alex Zaharov- Reutt, April 25, 2008
Hi Ron Who Owns a PC,
Well, Ron, just because Jeff and Sam don't see eye to eye doesn't mean I have to start having a fight with Jeff. So I don't particularly see any arse-covering there. Just trying to be friendly-like, y'know? And I'd like to cover any OLPC Australia related stuff, why wouldn't I as a journalist? I'm sure Sam will cover it too, although naturally from his own point of view - we're not clones of each other here at iTWire. In defence of the OLPC, even though I too question just how truly successful it will be, it is designed to be rugged, eminently viewable in direct sunlight, easily recharged without a powerpoint ever making an appearance, and, among other things, has that wireless mesh networking that is very cool indeed. It also has a proper keyboard, and a tablet configuration. These are all things the more expensive and harder to type on Eee PC does not have, stunningly amazing though the more expensive Eee PC is. So, no, we don't already have an OLPC with the Eee. What we have with the Eee is an Eee. They definitely are two different kettles of fish, even though if I had to choose between the two, I'd choose the Eee PC first, personally speaking. Cheers, Alex Who Owns A PC, Too. written by Alex Zaharov- Reutt, April 25, 2008
Hi Ron,
One more thing. Sam is a big boy, and he doesn't need me, or anyone else, covering his anything. I just have a rational, open and enquiring mind, and if I see things which don't make sense, or I feel I have more questions to ask, I ask questions. Seeing as we live in liberal, free, western democracies where asking questions won't (yet) land you in jail, unlike in China where asking the wrong questions online can be a career-ending no-no, so I ask questions. Regularly. It's not only my democratic right, it's my journalistic imperative. Use it or lose it, I say. Cheers Alex. written by Ron Who Owns a PC, April 25, 2008
Ok Alex, i'm sorry, you have beaten me into submission. Still it's good to see it only takes a tiny bit of bait set a journo off.
Cheers mate :) Ron (who has been told). written by Alex Zaharov- Reutt, April 25, 2008
Hi Ron,
It's a public holiday here in Australia, as we commemorate our war heroes, actually, and as I'm patiently waiting for Ubuntu 8.04 to download, I'm having a bit of fun reading the web, and answering all kinds of commenters today. So you've caught me in a bit of a commenting mood, plus I like to defend the honour of journalists... I am one, after all. Anyway... a man convinced against his will is usually of the same opinion still, so I fear my defences have had little effect but to give you another opportunity to tease me. Ah well, c'est la vie, it's all good fun and quite entertaining today. heheh :-) Cheers Alex (who as a journalist is good at telling stuff). written by NotesTracker, April 25, 2008
Now that the battles (or at least the skirmishes) are over, can anybody tell me what the Aussie price for the OLPC configuratio(s) is going to be. ... Nothing near the original target of USD 100 I suppose. Cheers, Tony.
written by Papa Chango, April 30, 2008
Wow. Has anyone ever used up their 'feelgood' status so quickly as Nick? And it doesnt look good that Jepsen, Bender and Krstic left especially as vocal as they were about the reasons.
As a geek, what interested me was the educational aspect and the fact that we werent just locking in the kids to be future consumers of company A, B or C. Nick seems to have gotten under the illusion that the OLPC has to be gotten to destination under any condition. Anyone who doesnt believe this is of no use to him. Take away the original reasons why we all got interested in this project and how is it any different than Intel's Classmate PC, formerly known as Eduwise, which is their entry into the market for low-cost PCs for kids in the developing world? Intel ships it with mandriva in Brazil as well as Metasys (brazilian ), Hacao Linux in Vietnam schools,as well Lybia, Spain, China, Africa, Mexico, India. etc and some variants of Edubuntu. Have you read Intel's slick PR piece called World Ahead Program: Connecting the Next One Billion? It also has lofty goals. Sure, the main one is to sell units but still the result is the same (more computers in kids hands), non? It'll feel weird in a few months when OLPC will be XP only and we then have to rely for intel for low cost Linux laptops. And its not as if Sam hasnt said what almost everyone has been saying about OLPC. Read around. -We still run my old Thinkpad 21 on a system taht runs XCFE and our home server is a P2-333 so I have great love for the flexibility of the penguin OS.- PC Tell us what you think! better to paste your comment - this page will refresh every 15 minutes
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Despite valid concerns held by members of the community about these matters, this article appears to be yet another in Sam's series of beat-ups about the OLPC project.
I note that no attempt was made to gather any information from OLPC Australia before making these insinuations.