OLPC and Intel parting of the ways inevitable

Stan Beer
Monday, 07 January 2008 09:22

Opinion and Analysis

I have never been a fan of Nicholas Negroponte or his ill conceived One Laptop Per Child program. Therefore I'm not surprised that the honeymoon is over between OLPC and Intel only a few months after they announced their marriage. Dr Negroponte has a dangerously naive view of how the world works and how to fix its problems. Therefore, he should expect to receive a Nobel Peace Prize in the near future. Meanwhile Intel will get back to business.

Evidence of how out of touch with reality Dr Negroponte and his supporters really are can be gleaned from his recent demands of Intel and his accompanying statements. Does he really believe that business partners in the IT industry don't compete? Hasn't he heard of a company called Microsoft? The software giant has so many business partners that it competes with it hardly bears mentioning.

How can Dr Negroponte say in one breath that he believes in competition, while in another demanding that Intel stay out of "his" markets? It really is quite staggering. Intel had already provided the OLPC with US$6 million with assurances of more to come and for the privilege has been told by its beneficiary where and how it can conduct its business.

If Dr Negroponte really understands the meaning of the word competition as it applies to business, then he shouldn't be worried by Intel's plans to sell its Classmate laptop in the same markets as the OLPC's XO. Heck, why not just take Intel's handouts and let the better computer win?

Of course, I'm not the first person to voice concerns with Dr Negroponte's grandiose delusion that he can help the underprivileged nations of the world by convincing their impoverished governments to spend hundreds of millions of their scarce cash on his cute laptop computers.

Aid organization FAIR has already given voice to the belief that there already enough working computers being decommissioned throughout the world on a daily basis that could be recycled and used to fit out computer labs in schools in developing nations.

But what about all those remote villages that don't have power for computer labs? Perhaps money spent on solar generators instead of expensive laptops for children that could get stolen, lost, broken or sold for food might be a better option?

Meanwhile, here's an idea for Dr Negroponte. I hear the XO is actually a pretty good laptop in its class. Judging by the success of the Asus Eee PC, if OLPC put them on the market in the first world where people can afford such luxuries, at $200 they would probably fly out the door and OLPC could make a lot of money. OLPC could then use that money to fund much needed infrastructure projects in underdeveloped nations so that their citizens have access to power, clean water and enough to eat.