[geeks] One (Windows) Laptop Per Child

[Mike Meredith]

On Fri, 29 Sep 2006 16:01:43 -0500 (CDT), Lionel Peterson wrote:
> Are you assuming that OLPC is aimed at Pre and First-year students?
> What about all the other children in school? 

No I wasn't assuming that it was aimed at the 4-6 year age group (I'm
assuming that's the range you're referring to). I'm assuming that other
age ranges of children aren't as disturbed by bright colours as you
assume. Given that at least some laptops aimed at adults have bright
colours, it seems possible that some people quite like them.

> And regarding price, the
> price-point of the laptop is most certainly the smallest part of the
> investment, esp. if there is no curriculum ready to use...

I don't see that myself. Some content is already ready ... Wikipedia for
example which I have a specially configured subset of on my own PDA
(very useful). Although Wikipedia is frequently criticised for
inaccuracies, Nature did a survey and found that it wasn't markedly less
accurate than the Encyclopaedia Britannica. Sure that isn't directly
supporting a curriculum, but it indirectly supports it by being a
reference source.

> Why - can't Open Software be run on WinXP? A tremendous amount of free
> (as in beer) software is available for WinXP systems. And bloat is
> somewhat reduced by using Embedded WinXP (a cut-down version of
> WinXP).

Which I believe limits what software can be run. And even open source
software on XP tends to assume very capable hardware.

> >Quite probably. Still it's the enthusiasm driving this forward.
> 
> But I think it aims too low, aiming for what others have decided is
> "good enough" - 

Well raising the spec raises the price, and the whole point is to
produce a device cheap enough to distribute widely. Sure a better
specified device could do more, but is a low-spec device useless ? I
don't think so.

And as to "us deciding what is good enough for them", well it seems that
the OLPC project is working closely with quite of few of the "them"
countries. 

> I think the REAL problem will be user edcation to know
> what is right and what is wrong when they see it "on the web" and how
> not to get taken advantage of...

Well we could probably do with quite a bit of that user education
everywhere :)

> If they called it One PDA Per Child, it would not have gone over so
> well - but by calling it a computer, many people think that families

Well a PDA *is* a computer ... my PDA has a higher spec than the
machine I first admin'ed, and so does the OLPC. Is the OLPC designed in
the form-factor of a PDA ? No. It's got a full-sized (well, child-sized)
keyboard and a reasonably sized screen. You wouldn't want to use it
one-handed. 

> in the third world will have something remotely similar to the
> $500-1,500 dell computer they have in their den hanging on a broadband
> connection.

Given that not everyone replaces their machines every three years, well
yes the OLPC is as capable as many den lurkers except in terms of
storage capacity. I know someone in Spain using a machine less capable
than the OLPC.

> The hard work is the integration, and by the way, the BBC computers
> (IIRC) were supported by "how to use them" shows on the BBC, and if

Actually the BBC initiative was aimed at the general population, and the
BBC computer was specced for that initiative. The education sector
picked up the BBCs because they were cheap and well specced. My memory
tells me that Mad Maggie's government wasn't too enthusiastic until they
realised they had a success story on their hands (they were more
interested in trimming education budgets especially 'unnecessary
frills').

> >http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/2029816.cms
> 
> That fargin' site opened up three or four browser windows on my PC,
> one of which percolates to the top as the page refreshes... ARGH!

Well I wouldn't have recommended it if I'd known, but it didn't do that
here.