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One Laptop Per Child and Intel Join Forces

Posted by Zonk on Fri Jul 13, 2007 12:32 PM
from the they-thought-of-the-children dept.
Intel Portables Technology Hardware
dan the person writes "A Wired piece informs us that Intel and the OLPC project have put their bickering behind them. They have joined forces to ensure 'the maximum number of laptops will reach children'. '"What happened in the past has happened," said Will Swope of Intel. "But going forward, this allows the two organisations to go do a better job and have better impact for what we are both very eager to do which is help kids around the world." "Intel joins the OLPC board as a world leader in technology, helping reach the world's children. Collaboration with Intel means that the maximum number of laptops will reach children," said Nicholas Negroponte, founder of One Laptop per Child. The new agreement means that Intel will sit alongside companies such as Google and Red Hat as partners in the OLPC scheme.'"
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  • Wonderful. Intel, maker of the Classmate PC, a DIRECT COMPETITOR to the OLPC (or so they say) is now teaming up with it. This is a transparent bid to relegate the OLPC to permanent second-class citizenship. With friends like these, who needs enemies?

    • Re:I have a bad feeling about this (Score:4, Insightful)

      by Stanistani (808333) on Friday July 13 2007, @12:38PM (#19850947) Homepage Journal
      I can see two tiers of low-cost laptops, as discussed in the Wired piece, being an advantage to a rollout, and the technical assistance (possibly some funding) from Intel being invaluable.

      Intel knows that if this effort is successful, their future customers will be using these devices.
    • I expect one of three things to happen:

      1. The second generation of OLPC units will ship with Intel inside.

      2. Intel will suck as much information as it can out of the OLPC project before going its own way again.

      3. Intel will stay onboard at OLPC but do its best to bog the project down while pushing its competing solutions to the developing world.

      None of those scenarios particularly appeal to me, but if I had to choose between them I'd go for the first one.

      • Easy solution (Score:5, Funny)

        by aztec rain god (827341) on Friday July 13 2007, @01:16PM (#19851421)
        Two laptops per child!
      • 4. The system will come with suck ass on board video and will also need to come with 1gb - 2gb + 15 of ram + 15gb+ of flash just so it can run vista as by the time like the OLPC v2 comes out XP will be not sold any more. Right now the classmate has 256mb of ram with on board video and it can run xp but that needs 2GB of NAND Flash and trying run vista on 512mb with on board video will not work.

        • Re:Three possible scenarios... (Score:5, Insightful)

          by mrchaotica (681592) * on Friday July 13 2007, @03:14PM (#19852631)

          ...just so it can run vista as by the time like the OLPC v2 comes out XP will be not sold any more.

          If the XO ran Windows -- any version -- it would be worse than useless for the purpose of the OLPC. The whole point is to have software designed for education, wrapped in an operating system that's completely user-modifiable (to encourage the students to creatively hack it). This is fundamentally incompatible with Windows.

    • The current device that the OLPC has created is neither the last nor possibly the only unit that the project might support. If you look at roadmaps, esp since Intel is 18 months ahead of AMD on manufacturing process technology, it will have much more powerful cpus than the dated old National Semi Geode technology that AMD bought - in a similar or lower power profile. Check out Silverthorne [intel.com] to see what's coming.
      Negroponte was probably right to use Geode when the the first OLPC unit was designed, but looking
      • I don't see a thing in that about power consumption. Given that the Geode LX that OLPC are using consumes a mere 0.5W I very much doubt that Intel will match this.

      • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

        by Alistar (900738)
        Heck, we basically live in a sci-fi world looking through the eyes of a 1930s person.

        They would have never have thought you could get a computer into the size of a watch.

        Secondly, there is more to computer and technology group than coders.
        I don't know what your background is specifically, but something that electronic engineers learn in their very first year of classes is a little thing called the transistor and boolean algebra. Thats kind of pretty much where our modern electronics stem from at the moment.

  • Gar (Score:3, Funny)

    by Neil Blender (555885) <neilblender@gmail.com> on Friday July 13 2007, @12:36PM (#19850927)
    Just give them a Speak & Spell. It'll have as much value at a quarter of the price. Plus it already exists.

  • So i guess (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 13 2007, @12:50PM (#19851079)
    that AMD processor won't last long in the OLPC machines ...

    • Re:So i guess (Score:4, Informative)

      by Pecisk (688001) on Friday July 13 2007, @01:19PM (#19851449)
      RTFA. AMD will power first and second series of OLPC machines. Intel will provide platforms (propably some low level P4/Xeon with resistant structure) for _servers_ which will serve those little boxes in class room and outside of it.

      After that it is hard to say - I think AMD processors are more suitible for OLPC for now, but what will future bring - who knows.

      • I think AMD processors are more suitible for OLPC for now, but what will future bring - who knows.

        I'm really surprised they went with AMD. They are using the Geode line, which is basically a souped-up 486. Intel don't have a direct competitor since they sold their XScale line off, but I don't understand why they went with Geode rather than an ARM9 core of some kind. Going x86 limits them to two suppliers (only one really at that performance level), while a large number of companies produce ARM chips. Additionally, ARM chips are in pretty much every single mobile phone, and so they are used to huge

        • You are right that going x86 limits them to two suppliers in this space, but the suppliers are not AMD and Intel, they are AMD and Via. Any C3 series CPU beats the holy crap out of the Geode while having comparable power consumption if run at the same frequency. In addition to this, the more recent ones have crypto accel which can become very handy when trying to establish mesh networks in the middle of nowhere. Add to that a very reasonable and throughly open source platform for the rest. The only missing
        • I don't understand why they went with Geode rather than an ARM9 core of some kind.

          I've been looking at this issue, and basically using a PC-compatible architecture makes so many things easier, especially when you're talking about desktop apps, driver support, etc. etc. etc. Linux on ARM is a confusing mess to get working for people used to PC's. I've got a Geode board here running an OLPC image, which is a basically a Fedora I can telnet into and get work done using standard tools. Replicating this aroun
      • I suspect Asustek's EEE PC is one reason they decided to join. They're going to hit the po' folks crowd with a $200 dollar laptop and let OLPC worry about indoctrinating their children.

    • Re:So i guess (Score:4, Funny)

      by Anne_Nonymous (313852) on Friday July 13 2007, @01:53PM (#19851815) Homepage Journal
      No, OLPC and Intel are simply joining forces to create the new Soylent processor - One Child Inside(TM).

  • Does that mean US parents can buy them now? (Score:5, Interesting)

    by bADlOGIN (133391) on Friday July 13 2007, @12:52PM (#19851107) Homepage
    Before the US becomes a 3rd world country due to competition from
    India and China who can get the OLPC Laptop in special deals to
    make their next generation of children more competitive?

    • Before the US becomes a 3rd world country due to competition from India and China who can get the OLPC Laptop in special deals to make their next generation of children more competitive?

      I've seen two examples of schools in my local neighborhood bragging about how their gifted fifth-grade students were using Powerpoint to give their school reports. In one case, I saw an example of it with all sort of pictures, and the GATE teacher bragged, "and one report had a video on it!!"

      Of course, I'm thinking how pathetically easy it is to put together this sort of presentation, and I was struck not by the content (as I should), but by how much the teacher valued the flash over the substance of the report.

      If we want to make our children more "competitive", maybe it would be a better idea to keep computers away from them as long as possible. Any idiot can learn to use a computer. I'd rather end up with educated children.

      • Of course, I'm thinking how pathetically easy it is to put together this sort of presentation, and I was struck not by the content (as I should), but by how much the teacher valued the flash over the substance of the report.
        I had the same problem in pen & paper days. Some of my teachers were more worried about the presentation and neatness of handwriting than they were about what I actually wrote. One of my teachers even bragged about how his teacher used to beat the crap out of him if the letters on his page weren't exactly the 'right' height. I think you're probably seeing a modern version of the same phenomenon. It's usually a sign of an incompetent teacher. When they don't know their stuff, they just can you for something irrelevant to seem like they're doing something. Fortunately, I found those teachers to be in the minority.
        • Same here. My average grade in English was a C, because I have terrible handwriting. At GCSE, when we were allowed to use a computer, it shot to an A*. Now I make a living as a freelance writer (if only I could charge /. my standard rate I'd be rich). Handwriting and command of the English language were so tightly connected in the minds of some teachers that good work in poor handwriting would get bad marks.

          • At GCSE, when we were allowed to use a computer, it shot to an A*.

            Your grade turned into a search algorithm?

      • If we want to make our children more "competitive", maybe it would be a better idea to keep computers away from them as long as possible. Any idiot can learn to use a computer. I'd rather end up with educated children.

        Which might explain why they're not giving out these things in US. It's all a conspiracy for US to gain intellectual supremacy over the world.
      • Your example is an all too classic The problem with applying "business tools"
        to education. My wife is a high school English teacher. Do you know how well an
        outlook calendar "maps" onto a class schedule? It doesn't. However, that doesn't
        stop the all too stupid administration from expecting teachers to use it because it's
        "a calendaring tool we have already paid for".

        The great potential about the OLPC Linux distribution is that only applications
        relevant to education need be written, packaged, and included.

      • Re:Does that mean US parents can buy them now? (Score:5, Insightful)

        by mrchaotica (681592) * on Friday July 13 2007, @03:24PM (#19852745)

        I've seen two examples of schools in my local neighborhood bragging about how their gifted fifth-grade students were using Powerpoint to give their school reports. In one case, I saw an example of it with all sort of pictures, and the GATE teacher bragged, "and one report had a video on it!!" Of course, I'm thinking how pathetically easy it is to put together this sort of presentation, and I was struck not by the content (as I should), but by how much the teacher valued the flash over the substance of the report.

        You know what the worst part is? This is actually a regression from what we had 15 years ago when I was in 5th grade!

        Back then, we had Hypercard -- like PowerPoint, except programmable. Not only could we have embedded videos in our stacks (if sufficiently fast machines had been available, anyway), but we could also program animations, link together our cards/slides in non-linear ways, and even build applications with it.

        Between Hypercard, LOGO, and games like Number Munchers and Oregon Trail, computers were better used for education back then than they are today!

    • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

      by Oldsmobile (930596)
      I remember reading an article about schools in the US who have given out laptops to children. The article concluded, that laptops have been a mixed blessing, and certainly have not contributed to higher grades. In fact, they have been deemed a nuisance in the classroom by some, causing disruption and being a distraction to students (surfing porn in class, lol). Maintenance issues have also been cited as a major drawback of such programs.

      Of course the OLPC is directed at very young children, children who liv

  • good news for the RIAA (Score:3, Funny)

    by cashman73 (855518) on Friday July 13 2007, @12:54PM (#19851141) Journal
    The RIAA is really looking forward to the day when every child in the world has their own computer. There's tons of countries in the developing world that they'll now be able to target with threats of lawsuits for downloading copyrighted music!
    • I better copyright those kids and claim them as my own, this way the RIAA will have to pay ME royalties whenever they sue them! :D

  • does this mean... (Score:4, Insightful)

    by shutupkevin (1127139) on Friday July 13 2007, @12:59PM (#19851193)
    that we're going to have a lot more children discovering internet porn sooner? :O I can just imagine the next generation of kids.

    • I can just imagine the next generation of kids.

      Yeah, imagine a whole generation of kids growing up without the unhealthy guilt our prudish society indoctrinated into us!

  • Cost cutting measure? (Score:5, Funny)

    by slapout (93640) on Friday July 13 2007, @12:59PM (#19851209)
    OLPC guy #1: Looks like we're not going to be able to make this thing for $150. How are we going to get costs down?

    OLPC guy #2: Guess it's time to sell some more ad-space. Where are we on the phone list?

    OLPC guy #1: Looks like we're doing to the "I"s.

    OLPC guy #2: Start dialing.

  • Computing for everyone... (Score:4, Insightful)

    by going_the_2Rpi_way (818355) on Friday July 13 2007, @01:13PM (#19851377) Homepage
    It's a great idea and a noble goal. But there's still a lot of valid questions about how good an idea this specific project is. Aside from the clear opportunity for people, government and corporations to take advantage of good intentions, there's a consistent theme of imposing western/northern hemisphere values for the wrong people place/application.

    It's not unlike the good intentions that led to rebuilding of "better" houses in Sumatra for instance after the great Tsunami. Modern, western style housing just doesn't make sense there. It uses and demands much more freshwater than traditional homes and no-one can afford to run them. As a result the population has typically abandoned the new homes, which remain unoccupied, in favour of traditional homes.

    In fact I would argue that corporations (and governments who use money to buy these computers) will likely breed more hostility and resentment than anything by disseminating computers to people who can't afford three squares a day.
    • There are also questions as to how -useful- laptops are. Over the last 10-20 years, as computers were introduced in US schools (high schools?), did grades (or any other educational indicator) go up overall? The few 1-3 nerds in every class might've benefited, but overall, I doubt technology impacted everyone's ability to learn (if not caused more harm).

      From my experience, kids who have laptops spend their day browsing the web or chatting... not learning. Every class that has computers turns out to be a wast
      • If those kids weren't browsing the web, they would more than likely be sitting in front of a television like zombies, being force-fed what to think. You may have a valid concern regarding computers in classrooms, though I believe that they can be a very good thing as long as they are implemented properly, but kids browsing the internet after school instead of laying on the couch, watching some fucking reality TV show is a good thing. Passive entertainment is nothing but a problem, as far as I am concerned.

      • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

        by mrchaotica (681592) *

        From my experience, kids who have laptops spend their day browsing the web or chatting... not learning. Every class that has computers turns out to be a waste (I've yet to see a class with computers that isn't a waste; and I taught quite a few of them).

        Back when I was in elementary school, the classes that involved things like Hypercard and LOGO weren't a waste. Perhaps the problem lies not with the concept of putting computers in the classroom, but with the dumbass teachers who think MS Office is the ulti

    • It's not unlike the good intentions that led to rebuilding of "better" houses in Sumatra for instance after the great Tsunami. Modern, western style housing just doesn't make sense there. It uses and demands much more freshwater than traditional homes and no-one can afford to run them. As a result the population has typically abandoned the new homes, which remain unoccupied, in favour of traditional homes.

      How so? In particular, how exactly do Western-style homes require more fresh water?

      • I know it's off-topic (sorry), but (s)he asked, so here goes....

        For starters, you're talking about houses that are built on the assumption of a centralized water supply system, which doesn't currently exist to any meaningful degree. The same can also be said for the new schools and nurseries. In addition to assuming water will be supplied, the builders assume an availability and usage rate of water that while reasonable in North America or Europe for instance (and we use LOTS of water, btw) is simply unr
  • ...so, umm, what happens to Microsoft?

    Since the OLPC is running a FOSS OS core, and Intel is part of the OLPC now, I guess this leaves Windows out in the cold.

    Not that I mind that or anything, but I find it interesting - after all, Intel and MSFT had teamed up to build the OLPC former competitor, yes?

    As for AMD, I suspect that they and Intel will have to put their differences aside (w/o all the sniping commentary from AMD over a charity team-up announcement, at least as shown on the CNET version of TF

    • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

      by musicon (724240)

      Actually, Intel's Classmate PC is designed to run either Windows or Linux, and on all of the reviews I have heard thus far Mandriva Linux was the installed OS.

      Additionally, although it's unlikely to work well within the system's constraints, Microsoft is also at least evaluating the OLPC, and is one of 1500+ developers signed up with them.

      Finally (slightly off topic), now that Intel has sold off the ARM division, I don't know that they have a low-enough wattage CPU at this time that could be a viable repl

  • Waits to be flamed (Score:3, Interesting)

    by jshriverWVU (810740) on Friday July 13 2007, @02:27PM (#19852175)
    The OLPC concept is good, but seriously I think we have more pressuring issues to deal with. I'm not against the advancement of technology and what the OLPC has done has been good for what it was designed for.

    But at the same time I feel like it's a waste of money compared to better causes, like I dont know, FEEDING or MEDICINE for kids. Granted I grew up poor, and I wish I had a laptop when I was in high school and younger would have been able to kick start my career even earlier. But even then if it came to me having a free laptop, or seeing the kid down the street who eats government peanut butter on bread (no jelly) every day and no medical insurance. I'd gladly give it up to feed him/her for a while.

    From a small thinking perspective this project is great, from the big picture it's just diverting funds that could have been better used. For those about to flame me, Yes we should go to Mars! But we should we get things straight down here first.

    • Re:Waits to be flamed (Score:5, Insightful)

      by pauljlucas (529435) on Friday July 13 2007, @03:22PM (#19852715) Homepage Journal

      ... it's a waste of money compared to better causes like ... FEEDING or MEDICINE ...
      When the choice is cast as black-and-white as "Laptop or food/medicine?", I'd bet most people would choose the latter -- it's a no-brainer. The problem is that the problem isn't so simple and casting the problem to be so is somewhat disingenuous.

      You have to remember that philanthropy is often done by people with passion. Nicholas Negroponte [laptop.org] was the co-founder of the MIT Media Laboratory, so naturally he's passionate about computers. One thing about the nature of passion is that one who is passionate wants to instill the same passion in others. Negroponte has passion about computers (and money, which definitely helps), so let him express his philanthropy as he wants. So perhaps the question shouldn't be, "Why isn't Negroponte giving food and medicine?" but rather "Why isn't there some other rich philanthropist who is passionate about feeding kids and making sure they have decent medical care?" There's no shortage of rich men.

      Also, let's face it: giving food and medicine (a) just isn't sexy to the press and so doesn't garner support easily and (b) giving food and medicine is a never-ending job. Unlike giving a kids a laptop, you have to feed them three times a day every day. Even the most passionate philanthropist would likely burn out.

      Another thing you need to consider is the potential for kids to rise above their situation. Feeding kids just makes them not hungry; the results of giving kids access to the internet is unknown buy potentially unbounded.

      Consider what was done in Born into Brothels [kids-with-cameras.org]: poor children of prostitutes were given cameras. Could the kids have used more/better food/medicine? Of course. But what resulted from the cameras was (a) art and, for a few children, (b) a way out of their bleak station in life from their art and notoriety is garnered. As useful as food and medicine might be, it offers no hope of escaping their bleak lives. Who knows what kids might accomplish with laptops? Wouldn't it be interesting to find out?

      • That has to be the best writeup I've ever seen considering the topic. It's definitely helped my view of the world and will make a nice reference next time this kind of topic comes about.

        Guest I just never saw it from that angle before, and I agree.

      • When the choice is cast as black-and-white as "Laptop or food/medicine?", I'd bet most people would choose the latter -- it's a no-brainer.

        Are you sure it's a no-brainer? After all, which is better: having to support a large population [effectively] permanently on welfare, or creating a small population that can support themselves?

        While it might be morally distasteful, the pragmatist in me says that the latter situation is actually better!

      • Why isn't there some other rich philanthropist who is passionate about feeding kids and making sure they have decent medical care?


        I think you said Bill Ga&%@***NOTHING TO SEE HERE - MOVE ALONG - SLASHDOT MINISTRY OF TRUTH***

    • But at the same time I feel like it's a waste of money compared to better causes, like I dont know, FEEDING or MEDICINE for kids.

      Why? All that would do is create an excess of useless (i.e., uneducated) people who would then just suck more and more welfare. That's a waste of money! It's much better to have educated people, who could actually figure out how to eventually support themselves, even if you end up with fewer of them because the rest starved.

      Yes, I agree, this isn't the nicest way to look at it,

    • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

      by suv4x4 (956391)
      But at the same time I feel like it's a waste of money compared to better causes, like I dont know, FEEDING or MEDICINE for kids. Granted I grew up poor, and I wish I had a laptop when I was in high school and younger would have been able to kick start my career even earlier.

      You know, growing up in this world isn't about being comfy, having everything given to you, or everything being absolutely fair. Those are concepts that don't exist.

      "No pain no gain".

      Truth is if developed countries just keep sending tru

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