OLPC offering XO to overpriveleged kids

[Yousuf Khan]

A new marketing strategy from OLPC.

The Larger Challenge (and Opportunity) for One Laptop Per Child - Bits -
Technology - New York Times Blog
"The One Laptop Per Child project is starting a “Give 1 Get 1″ campaign
to try to jumpstart its drive to bring computers to children in the
developing world. As its name suggests, the marketing campaign combines
philanthropy with geeky self-interest — give one of the innovative
laptops to a child in a poorer nation, and you get to lay your hands on
one yourself."
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/...nge-and-opportunity-for-one-laptop-per-child/

In the meantime, OLPC is still having problems with Intel offering its
own competing product, despite having joined the OLPC effort.

Two-timin' Intel pushes Classmate PC in China while courting OLPC
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/pos...lassmate-pc-in-china-while-courting-olpc.html

 

[Jan Panteltje]

A new marketing strategy from OLPC.

The Larger Challenge (and Opportunity) for One Laptop Per Child - Bits -
Technology - New York Times Blog
"The One Laptop Per Child project is starting a “Give 1 Get 1″ campaign
to try to jumpstart its drive to bring computers to children in the
developing world. As its name suggests, the marketing campaign combines
philanthropy with geeky self-interest — give one of the innovative
laptops to a child in a poorer nation, and you get to lay your hands on
one yourself."
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/...nge-and-opportunity-for-one-laptop-per-child/

In the meantime, OLPC is still having problems with Intel offering its
own competing product, despite having joined the OLPC effort.

Two-timin' Intel pushes Classmate PC in China while courting OLPC
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/pos...lassmate-pc-in-china-while-courting-olpc.html

Yea... OLPC looks too ugly for me as geek
I was interested in Asus Eee just for fun in some room in the house...
But they are putting up price, lowering specs, and delaying release too.
The notebook market has HUGE price fixing in my view.
Why undercut you own business?
So forget about <200$ that stuff now.

 

[nobody]

A new marketing strategy from OLPC.

The Larger Challenge (and Opportunity) for One Laptop Per Child - Bits -
Technology - New York Times Blog
"The One Laptop Per Child project is starting a “Give 1 Get 1? campaign
to try to jumpstart its drive to bring computers to children in the
developing world. As its name suggests, the marketing campaign combines
philanthropy with geeky self-interest — give one of the innovative
laptops to a child in a poorer nation, and you get to lay your hands on
one yourself."
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/...nge-and-opportunity-for-one-laptop-per-child/

Yeah, right - they want $400 for what essentially is a kid's toy. A
quick look at ebay shows that you can get a used IBM T40 for about as
much, if not less - 2x faster CPU, 2x RAM, half-decent discrete video
(not integrated olpc crap that eats into main RAM), better screen res,
DVD/CD burner, XP Pro (not cut-down XP Basic or some proprietary crap
OS) - you can even install Vista on it if you want that crap.
Admittedly not as cool-looking (though I personally prefer IBM look to
that childish green thing), nor as rugged - but nothing is rugged
enough to survive long time in kid's hands, even toughbook or milspec
laptops. I'd gladly purchase one as a toy for my 7y old for $100 (and
most likely reformat it with XP Pro before giving it to her), will
think twice for $200, but $400 - fuggheddaboudit. Besides, I have my
reservations about giving laptops to kids in some god forsaken
undeveloped places - a sewing machine with a hand or foot crank, or a
bag of quality rice seeds, will do more good.

NNN

 

[krw]

Yeah, right - they want $400 for what essentially is a kid's toy. A
quick look at ebay shows that you can get a used IBM T40 for about as
much, if not less - 2x faster CPU, 2x RAM, half-decent discrete video
(not integrated olpc crap that eats into main RAM), better screen res,
DVD/CD burner, XP Pro (not cut-down XP Basic or some proprietary crap
OS) - you can even install Vista on it if you want that crap.
Admittedly not as cool-looking (though I personally prefer IBM look to
that childish green thing), nor as rugged - but nothing is rugged
enough to survive long time in kid's hands, even toughbook or milspec
laptops. I'd gladly purchase one as a toy for my 7y old for $100 (and
most likely reformat it with XP Pro before giving it to her), will
think twice for $200, but $400 - fuggheddaboudit.

Dunno, I'd spend $400 on a child, without thinking much about it.
Dunno about a laptop, since the idea goes against my principles (I'd
want the thing anchored in a common area). My first computer was

$2500 and my, then, 3YO played with it all the time.

$400 isn't a lot of money. Would you spend $400 on a desktop for
her?

Besides, I have my
reservations about giving laptops to kids in some god forsaken
undeveloped places - a sewing machine with a hand or foot crank, or a
bag of quality rice seeds, will do more good.

I'm with you here. Quality water (and the education needed to keep
it that way) would be my first choice.

 

[Yousuf Khan]

Yeah, right - they want $400 for what essentially is a kid's toy. A
quick look at ebay shows that you can get a used IBM T40 for about as
much, if not less - 2x faster CPU, 2x RAM, half-decent discrete video
(not integrated olpc crap that eats into main RAM), better screen res,
DVD/CD burner, XP Pro (not cut-down XP Basic or some proprietary crap
OS) - you can even install Vista on it if you want that crap.

Yeah, but can you get a million of those T40's -- or even 10 000 of them
-- for that price? The T40's are at that price due to depreciation. If
someone is willing to buy 1 million of them, then their price will go up
again.

Admittedly not as cool-looking (though I personally prefer IBM look to
that childish green thing), nor as rugged - but nothing is rugged
enough to survive long time in kid's hands, even toughbook or milspec
laptops. I'd gladly purchase one as a toy for my 7y old for $100 (and
most likely reformat it with XP Pro before giving it to her), will
think twice for $200, but $400 - fuggheddaboudit. Besides, I have my
reservations about giving laptops to kids in some god forsaken
undeveloped places - a sewing machine with a hand or foot crank, or a
bag of quality rice seeds, will do more good.

It's probably better to think of these as super PDA's rather than laptops.

Yousuf Khan

 

[Yousuf Khan]

Yea... OLPC looks too ugly for me as geek
I was interested in Asus Eee just for fun in some room in the house...
But they are putting up price, lowering specs, and delaying release too.
The notebook market has HUGE price fixing in my view.
Why undercut you own business?
So forget about <200$ that stuff now.

I don't think the fact that it looks like a Fisher-Price toy computer is
completely a coincidence. It's probably telling you that this is only
for kids. The keyboard, etc. would be all too small for our stubby hands
to operate. In fact, I'm surprised they haven't made a deal with one of
the toymakers to distribute it.

Yousuf Khan

 

[Jan Panteltje]

I don't think the fact that it looks like a Fisher-Price toy computer is
completely a coincidence. It's probably telling you that this is only
for kids. The keyboard, etc. would be all too small for our stubby hands
to operate.

Well, I wrote a CP/M emulator on a Sinclair Timex ZX81.
So... and any mistake in asm and you had to reload the tape for 15 minutes.
http://panteltje.com/panteltje/z80/system14/index.html

In fact, I'm surprised they haven't made a deal with one of
the toymakers to distribute it.

Yes, may work, but better give the kids a real laptop...

 

[nobody]

Dunno, I'd spend $400 on a child, without thinking much about it.
Dunno about a laptop, since the idea goes against my principles (I'd
want the thing anchored in a common area). My first computer was

Yep, she's got access to the desktop in living room, but only "user"
(speaking in WinXP terms) rights.

$400 isn't a lot of money. Would you spend $400 on a desktop for
her?

Even more, if she needs it. But my reasoning was about getting more
value for that $400. For that kind of money, T40 looks more
appealing. Even T22 (around $200) has better spec than olpc. However
I'd spend $100 for olpc, knowing all well that it's a throwaway that
will hardly survive a month - dropped from enough height to crack the
display, or forgotten at the playground, or stepped on after being
left on the floor - there are many ways for a kid to kill a laptop.
And then another $100 if needed, and another... But it's not worth
$400 a pop.

I'm with you here. Quality water (and the education needed to keep
it that way) would be my first choice.

For that, the thing needed first and foremost is not even education of
the locals, but rather a government that is competent and is _not_
corrupt. Billions are spent on the aid each year - and they are
either wasted, or misappropriated by local president/big chief/great
mullah/supreme bozo/you name it.

NNN

 

[The little lost angel]

Besides, I have my
reservations about giving laptops to kids in some god forsaken
undeveloped places - a sewing machine with a hand or foot crank, or a
bag of quality rice seeds, will do more good.

Personally, I'd rather have that $400 spent on education and
sterilization for the people.

 

[nobody]

Personally, I'd rather have that $400 spent on education and
sterilization for the people.

Right idea, wrong order. Sterilization should go first. Then, when
the population shrinks to the level of sustainability, including, but
not limited to, education budget, the remaining few kids should
receive decent education. When the budget is stretched thin by the
sheer size of population in need of education, the quality thereof
remains marginal at best.
Oh, yeah, also don't forget water supply, as KRW correctly noted in
his post. But it's much easier to supply smaller population than the
already big and fast multiplying one.

NNN

 

[Robert Redelmeier]

Personally, I'd rather have that $400 spent on education
and sterilization for the people.

You might prefer to rephrase that as "birth control".

"Sterilization" is often confused with "forced sterilization".
You probably want to steer clear of such unnecessarily
inflammatory wording or elitism. Eugenics has a decidedly
checkered past.

-- Robert

 

[The little lost angel]

You might prefer to rephrase that as "birth control".

"Sterilization" is often confused with "forced sterilization".
You probably want to steer clear of such unnecessarily
inflammatory wording or elitism. Eugenics has a decidedly
checkered past.

I'm not into eugenics which focuses on breeding for genetic
"improvement". I believe there are too many people as it is and it
doesn't matter how "smart" or "capable" the parents might be, they
shouldn't be allow to breed unchecked.

Similarly, I believe that it may be necessary to have forced
sterilization, e.g. Two 'strikes' and you're out, no matter if both
the parents are Nobel prize winners or uneducated persons.

Fortunately, the general populace of the developed world already
prefers few children or no children so it's not that major an issue.
Unfortunately, the governments tend to want more slaves as opposed to
their people's desires.

Understandably the less developed countries still adhere to
traditional idea that more babies equals more resources, to their own
detriment as well as the world's. But it cannot be allowed to continue
unchecked as they form bulk of the world's population.

 

[Nate Edel]

Fortunately, the general populace of the developed world already
prefers few children or no children so it's not that major an issue.
Unfortunately, the governments tend to want more slaves as opposed to
their people's desires.

Understandably the less developed countries still adhere to
traditional idea that more babies equals more resources, to their own
detriment as well as the world's. But it cannot be allowed to continue
unchecked as they form bulk of the world's population.

Enforcing women's rights (including *voluntary* access to birth control/
sterilization/abortion), and raising the standard of living through
education, economic opportunity and social security tends to work much
better than forcible methods.

 

[The little lost angel]

Enforcing women's rights (including *voluntary* access to birth control/
sterilization/abortion), and raising the standard of living through
education, economic opportunity and social security tends to work much
better than forcible methods.

The problem, as mentioned by nobody@nowhere, is that it's far less
effective given the same budget on a larger population. These sort of
thing needs a kickstart, then once people see that they can benefit
from such, it becomes natural preference. The resulting smaller
population pool will then reap increasing returns from the same
resources put into education and economic opportunities.

 

[Robert Redelmeier]

The problem, as mentioned by nobody@nowhere, is that it's far less
effective given the same budget on a larger population. These sort
of thing needs a kickstart, then once people see that they can
benefit from such, it becomes natural preference. The resulting
smaller population pool will then reap increasing returns from
the same resources put into education and economic opportunities.

You are certainly entitled to your opinion but mine is that
forced sterilization is arbitrary, unjust (what happens if
disease, famine, war or disaster kill a child) and unnecessary.

Apart from some inevitable sensational local abuses, I think China
did a good job with their "one family, one child policy". As I
understand it, the policy was mostly enforced through economic means:
Families were taxed (or more often, socialistic benefits withdrawn)
at steeply progressive rates for second and subsequent children.

That gave the kickstart.

-- Robert

 

[Sebastian Kaliszewski]

Apart from some inevitable sensational local abuses, I think China
did a good job with their "one family, one child policy". As I
understand it, the policy was mostly enforced through economic means:
Families were taxed (or more often, socialistic benefits withdrawn)
at steeply progressive rates for second and subsequent children.

They did "so good" taht they are stepping back. For example they have
significantly more young men than woman, thus the have created large
population of young frustrated males. That might become a threat to their
satbility...

rgds
\SK

 

[Robert Redelmeier]

They did "so good" taht they are stepping back. For example
they have significantly more young men than woman, thus
the have created large population of young frustrated
males. That might become a threat to their satbility...

.... or that of Taiwan/others? An excess of young men without
good prospects is dangerous for all. Someone can sweep them
into an army. Islam generates the same problem via polygamy.

-- Robert

 

[Del Cecchi]

You are certainly entitled to your opinion but mine is that
forced sterilization is arbitrary, unjust (what happens if
disease, famine, war or disaster kill a child) and unnecessary.

Apart from some inevitable sensational local abuses, I think China
did a good job with their "one family, one child policy". As I
understand it, the policy was mostly enforced through economic means:
Families were taxed (or more often, socialistic benefits withdrawn)
at steeply progressive rates for second and subsequent children.

That gave the kickstart.

-- Robert

There are many stories of forced abortions in addition to the 'sex
selection' abortions. And of course the ones doing the forcing never get
forced. One set of rules for the masters and another for the masses.

 

[Nate Edel]

They did "so good" taht they are stepping back. For example they have
significantly more young men than woman, thus the have created large
population of young frustrated males. That might become a threat to their
satbility...

I doubt it will have much to do with stability - or slow down the birth
rate. I've already seen stories about Chinese men looking abroad (generally
to SE Asian neighbors) for wives. Assuming their economy continues to grow
at the rate it has - and thus conditions continue to improve, increasing the
disparity with their neighbors - PRC husbands should increasingly look like
attractive prospects.

 

[nobody]

They did "so good" taht they are stepping back. For example they have
significantly more young men than woman, thus the have created large
population of young frustrated males. That might become a threat to their
satbility...

rgds
\SK

Yep, and the same gender disbalance goes on in India. However it has
nothing to do with the birth limiting policy and everything to do with
availability of ultrasound scan. That corner of the world had always
had a preference for male heirs, and early stage gender detection
resulted in female foeticide regardless of any policy. So once again
introduction of elements of higher civilization to unprepared backward
population brought about more peril than benefits.

As for "population of young frustrated males", add to that: poor
and/or ugly. Girls, given highly increased choices, inevitably will
become choosy and pick either the richest or the most smart-looking
suitor available. As always, the disadvantaged and underprivileged
suffer more. Wanna donate XO laptops to them, anyone? These guys
will really need access to pr0n - the only channel available to them
for releasing excess of accumulated energy. AFAIK in those countries
neither the gov't nor the society encourage "alternative lifestyle".

NNN