OLPC is much more than hardware; Intel is not.


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "John M McIntosh" <johnmci at smalltalkconsulting.com>
To: <Ron at USMedRec.com>; "The general-purpose Squeak developers list" 
<squeak-dev at lists.squeakfoundation.org>
Cc: <squeakland at squeakland.org>
Sent: Thursday, January 03, 2008 9:23 PM
Subject: Re: Intel Resigns From OLPC Board?


>
> On Jan 3, 2008, at 4:47 PM, Ron Teitelbaum wrote:
>
>> Hello All,
>>
>> The wall street journal is reporting that Intel has resigned from  the 
>> OLPC
>> board and has canceled plans to develop an Intel based OLPC computer 
>> over
>> demands that it stop selling its competitor classmate computer.  Can 
>> anyone
>> confirm this?
>>
>> Ron Teitelbaum
>> Squeak News Team Leader
>
>
> Intel Resigns From Board
> Of One Laptop Per Child
> By STEVE STECKLOW
> January 3, 2008 8:17 p.m.
> Intel Corp. says it has dropped out of a non-profit project to sell 
> millions of low-cost laptops in the developing world, citing 
> disagreements with the organization's founder, Nicholas Negroponte.
>
> The divorce culminates a stormy relationship between the Santa Clara, 
> Calif.-based chipmaker and the One Laptop Per Child project, which 
> recently began selling a low-cost laptop in African, Latin American  and 
> other countries. The two sides had been feuding over Intel's  aggressive 
> marketing of a low-cost laptop of its own design in many of  the same 
> countries that the non-profit had been targeting. The OLPC  machine uses a 
> microprocessor from Intel's chief competitor, Advanced  Micro Devices Inc.
>
> After more than a year of public sniping between Intel and OLPC, Intel 
> joined OLPC's board in July and had been planning on announcing a new 
> low-cost, OLPC-designed laptop based on an Intel microprocessor at  next 
> week's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. But the company  has quit 
> the board and scrapped the new machine, according to Intel  spokesman 
> Chuck Mulloy.
>
> "We've reached a philosophical impasse with OLPC," he said. He added  that 
> Mr. Negroponte had demanded that Intel stop selling its own  designed 
> laptop, known as the Classmate, and to stop supplying its  chips in other 
> laptops marketed to schoolchildren in developing  countries. "We can't 
> accommodate that request," Mr. Mulloy said. He  said Intel favors offering 
> "many solutions" to developing countries,  not just the OLPC laptop. He 
> also said dropping the Classmate would  hurt Intel's relationships with 
> overseas manufacturers and suppliers.  Tens of thousands of Classmates 
> have been sold.
>
> Mr. Negroponte, a professor on leave from the Massachusetts Institute  of 
> Technology, couldn't be reached for comment. The simmering dispute 
> between Intel and Mr. Negroponte was detailed in a page-one story in  this 
> newspaper in November.
>
> The concept of a low-cost laptop for the world's poorest  schoolchildren 
> has sparked great interest from world leaders and  technology companies 
> ever since Mr. Negroponte first proposed it three  years ago as a way to 
> bridge the technology divide between rich and  poor countries. He vowed to 
> get such a device, costing just $100, into  the hands of up to 150 million 
> children by this year. But although  OLPC has managed to develop an 
> innovative machine, it has failed so  far to achieve its target price --  
> the current model sells overseas  for $188 -- and to attract large orders 
> from governments because of  increasing competition. As sales problems 
> mounted, the project  recently reversed course on its plan not to sell the 
> device to  American consumers. In November, it began selling pairs of 
> laptops to  U.S. and Canadian consumers for $399 under a program in which 
> buyers  could keep one and give the other to a student in a poor country 
> like  Haiti. The program ended on Monday. OLPC has called the program --  
> known as "Give One. Get One." -- successful, but hasn't disclosed  total 
> sales figures.
>
> Mr. Negroponte serves on a committee to protect the editorial  integrity 
> of Dow Jones & Co., the owner of The Wall Street Journal  that was 
> acquired last month by News Corp.
>
> Write to Steve Stecklow at steve.stecklow at wsj.com
>
>
>
>
>
> -- 
> No virus found in this incoming message.
> Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.5.516 / Virus Database: 
> 269.17.13/1208 - Release Date: 1/3/2008 3:52 PM
>
>