One Laptop Per Child: Charity, Prosperity, & Capitalism In The Developing World
by Ryan Smith on August 8, 2007 12:00 PM EST- Posted in
- Laptops
First Thoughts
As the XO-1 is still in beta production and beta field testing, there are still many questions left to answer; we're looking right now at what can be, not what will be. At the forefront of questions are the intangibles, such as if the educational theory behind the OLPC organization is sound and these laptops will make as much of a difference as the organization believes it will. We're optimists and believe from our own experiences that the laptops will help out, but we also don't hold PhD's in education, so time will tell.
Education still remains as one of the greatest factors in creating and ensuring prosperity, and expanding it is one of the best ways to improve a developing country. At the very least the OLPC organization will succeed in making information more available; the deciding factor will be how it's used to improve education.
On a more technical note, there are still some issues we've seen with the XO-1 and its surrounding infrastructure that need to be worked out. The first XO-1's will likely be going to nations with some of the required infrastructure to use them, so it's not power that worries as much as it is internet access, which is especially sporadic in Africa. Full utilization of the XO-1 will require regular internet access, and this isn't something the OLPC organization has strongly focused on addressing. We'd expect many initial sites to be using either satellite or telephone connectivity.
We'd also like to reiterate our concerns about the software we're seeing at this time. On paper the software is great, but it's hard to translate that promise into the real world when the demonstrations we're looking at aren't showcasing the full software suite and there's so little time left. The hardware on the other hand is quite impressive on paper, and the field test results we've seen back that up. The only catch for the hardware will be getting the price of the unit down to the $100 goal from the current $175.
Last but not least, there are also practical issues of abuse with the XO-1 that bear mentioning. It was widely reported last month as offbeat humor that some of the XO-1 units being field tested were being used for browsing pornographic material, to which the OLPC organization has decided to include filtering on the shipping models. This still leaves open other concerns such as spamming and scamming, though the number of primary school students capable of and interested in such feats would naturally be low. Instead the issue will be adults who get their hands on the laptops, something the unique green design is supposed to deter through shaming since it would imply the laptop was stolen from a child.
Shifting away from the OLPC initiative for a moment, this represents the emergence of a new market that all sides believe is ripe for development. For the CPU industry, this may be a new front in the battle between Intel and AMD, vying for the new bottom end of the market along with the traditional top end. Although AMD is in the better initial position, Intel is plenty capable as we've seen in shifting resources toward solving new problems, so they are by no means out of the picture. For Intel this would merely be icing on the cake, given their current control of the processor market; for AMD the future success for the company is at least partially dependent on rapid growth here.
As for the success of the OLPC initiative and the XO-1, with production starting later this year we should have an idea soon of how much of an impact the initiative will really have. There is precedent for great change, and access to technology can be a catalyst. Time will tell if OLPC can make that happen for the developing countries.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
22 Comments
View All Comments
Zan Lynx - Monday, August 13, 2007 - link
I have to wonder if any complainers have researched what regular school books and supplies cost these countries that are planning to purchase OLPC systems.I haven't either, but considering what my college text books cost, I imagine that over the projected life of the OLPC system it will be cheaper than providing actual printed textbooks and study guides.
I know people like to think of bureaucrats as venal and/or stupid, but I happen to know a few and they are not. So I think the burden of proof is on those claiming its a bad idea, rather than accepting that the people in charge of the project in these countries don't know what they're doing.
0roo0roo - Thursday, August 16, 2007 - link
well its not very intelligent to assume poor countries have to buy text books at our college text prices. you do know our college texts are seriously over priced and its a racket right? they keep putting out new editions so the professors and companies can keep raking in the money and keep the used textbooks from taking over. even small governments can afford to write basic school texts, we aren't talking cutting edge science texts here. basic math and language, the texts will last for years, paper is cheap, books can be passed down from classroom to classroom.0roo0roo - Thursday, August 16, 2007 - link
now imagine all the money that has been spent on this project were instead put towards writing decent textbooks for such countries and keeping it up to date. it would be a fraction of the cost of creating the infrastructure manufacturing and research for this gadget. open source textbooks how about that? no royalties. print them off in china, how much do you think one would cost? 1 dollar a book?
creathir - Thursday, August 9, 2007 - link
I find it surprising that your article does not mention the fact that 1 million units must be purchased by the purchasing government.That $75 difference would mean a $75 million price difference... quite a bit if you ask me.
This project is one of those "feel good" projects which I have not liked from the beginning. It was designed for areas without a stable power grid (hence the hand crank) but I would think they would need stable power before a computer to surf the Internet, not to mention the infrastructure and bandwidth needs to connect to the Internet.
This thing is such a joke.
- Creathir
jevans64 - Saturday, August 11, 2007 - link
A million of them are going to Nigeria and are going to be used for Phishing.Dfere - Thursday, August 9, 2007 - link
"Education still remains as one of the greatest factors in creating and ensuring prosperity, and expanding it is one of the best ways to improve a developing country"Yet look at the countries like Greece in the lineup? I didn't think they were third world. And third world countries need a stable government for economic growth first and education second. Perhaps the message of the market for the OLPC is just not clear enough. Perhaps I have not been able to figure this out on my own. But I wonder, is it possible that the backers do not have a clear idea of the market they make this "project" for? Time to market is terrible, especially given that it uses existing technology. How can there be success in this case, even if success is charitable cause as there have been no shipments....
This is not a venture I would back with my own money. And as a cause to end world illiteracy, it has currently done nothing. I am not sure where extra teachers would not be a better answer in second world countries.
I am cynical, this project certainly makes for great PR and I cannot help but think that the marketing and branding being exported to lower income areas of second world countries is the ultimate goal of the companies involved and is the return they seek. Much like companies in America that get involved with (and oweners of companies become board members with) the United Way.
Great Googly Moogly - Thursday, August 9, 2007 - link
This will be the biggest flop since IT/Ginger. What an awful waste of developing countries' funds (they will be the ones paying for these after all). Charity? Hardly.stmok - Thursday, August 9, 2007 - link
I got to try one of these when they were at the Linux Conference here in Sydney, (earlier this year).The screen has an additional benefit. You can still see whatever's on the screen in direct sunlight. NONE of OLPC's competitors has the same capability.
As for ASUS Eee PC, its not a direct competitor. They're (ASUS) are aiming for a slightly different market. OLPC is expressly for developing countries. Eee PC is for anyone else who can afford a low cost mobile solution. (Its far more powerful, but less ruggered). So anyone in a developed country can get one. (assuming they can make enough of them!)
Interesting to see that in both cases, they use Linux as their default OS.
Justin Case - Wednesday, August 8, 2007 - link
The summary on the main page says "One Child per Laptop Program". Unless it's some sort of breeding program, I think that's the other way around.Ryan Smith - Wednesday, August 8, 2007 - link
Well we will have an article on that next week on our sister site BioTech...Anyhow, thanks for the notice. This is why working at night is not always the brightest idea.