Really? They're shipping the laptops, the software does work, etc. I don't see how it's become a parody other than the smaller number of laptops shipped. The initial vision was too grand and it's humbling perhaps, but a parody? Bah.
Negroponte has a history of not listening to feedback, resulting in a very poor fit for the intended target markets. Based on blog posts and defections, I think the project is run poorly. Abandoning Sugar for Windows makes this look less like a desire to help third-world countries and more like an outreach program for microsoft. And so on.
The OLPC people were not enthusiastic in the slightest about going for windows. Unfortunately, they found that in their target markets, people cared basically zero about the software being open source and in principle modifiable, and they cared a lot about getting experience on a standard platform. Many governments explicitly chose more expensive laptops from commercial manufacturers only because they offered windows and OLPC didn't. Like it or not, windows is what most third-world countries WANT. No one is forced to use windows, of course, they are just now being given the option.
They were selling to governments. That's a core part of their strategy. These Governments are concerned about unemployment in their countries. They are concerned about low wages. They are concerned about not getting a piece of the info economy. They want windows because it increases employability. You might call them short sighted, but no more so then every other educational body that uses MS.
BTW, it's not just about MS vs OS. It's about Sugar. The OS is (I hear) very different from other mainstream OSs. Education ministers in countries where computer literacy is low here "Use a computer that is so different from every other computer that students will not be able to use any other computer."
They were selling to governments. That's a core part of their strategy
Sucks for them. Selling to large organizations is an art people perfect for decades.
BTW, it's not just about MS vs OS. It's about Sugar.
Sorry, I was generalizing, I stand corrected. Bah, if what the education ministers want is "computer literacy" in the sense of "how to use Windows, Word, and Excel", that's their mistake to make. What sucks most is that they sure as hell won't be affected by it.
Maybe if government were run more like a company... where salaries were dependent on change-in-per-capita-GDP under one's tenure (plus a smaller piece of long-term deltas).
Maybe if government were run more like a company... where salaries were dependent on change-in-per-capita-GDP under one's tenure (plus a smaller piece of long-term deltas).
On a tangent point- I am less & less confident in this sort of pay-by-incentive executive engineering.
On the first point. I don't think you can blame them really. There is no push to get these machines into kids' hands in the US or Switzerland where all the kids have Windows. Why should they do it. It's not like there is a huge chunk of evidence that XOs are a better educational tool.
I think it's worrying that every review you here that someone got their hands on one, thought it was neat, couldn't figure out what to do with it & gave it to a school.
I thought it was obvious that I was saying that third world governments (the ones paying for the machines) were demanding windows. It is doubtful that children who have never seen a computer have strong feelings about operating systems.
Can you explain who exactly is supposed to be employing the steak and strippers upon whom?
Actually, if you go listen to Negroponte's first few speeches floating the idea publicly, encouraging other companies to build el-cheapo laptops and ultimately getting them into children's hands was explicitly mentioned as a way for the project to succeed even if no one bought laptops from OLPC itself.
