Friday, October 26, 2007
What I want for Gift Giving Season
This Hanukkah, I'm asking Santa Schmanta for a Linux driven, low-power-consumption, Wi-Fi connected, Give-1-Get-1 XO Laptop by One Laptop Per Child. Only $399, and not only do I get one, but somewhere on the planet a child who can't afford a computer will get one too. How wonderful!
The Give-1-Get-1 for $399 program starts November 12. You can sign up for a reminder email here.
NEW INFO: The OLPC promotion only lasts two weeks!
MORE RECENT UPDATE (10/29): Brian reveals himself to be Brian Kane. He writes to me,
Negroponte also cited the same Reuters article in his email to me, but indicated that his information superseded Reuters. Negroponte's interest in OLPC, of course, is strong and transparent.
IMPORTANT UPDATE (10/28): In a comment below, "Brian" throws FUD on the One Laptop project, citing a production delay, saying that Asus has a computer priced, "about the same price as the OLPC promotion." In other words, you can get ONE Asus computer for the price of two OLPC laptops. Brian says, ". . . buy the Asus, give some cash to OLPC and everybody wins."
My counsel is Don't Do It. Stay with OLPC!
The thing that first made me go, "Hmmm," was Brian's statement, "Everybody wins." Right, everybody wins, especially Asus. I tried to do a bit of research on "Brian," but his blogger profile is non-public, and there's no occurrence of Brian on the Asus web site. I think this lack of transparency -- and Brian's failure to indicate his material interest in OLPC or Asus, or lack thereof, is a breach of blogger ethics.
[By the way, my interest is strictly as a bystander who knows a good idea when he sees one.]
I wrote to Nicholas Negroponte, the originator of the OLPC idea and the head of the project, to track down this production delay rumor. He wrote back,
</update>
The Give-1-Get-1 for $399 program starts November 12. You can sign up for a reminder email here.
NEW INFO: The OLPC promotion only lasts two weeks!
MORE RECENT UPDATE (10/29): Brian reveals himself to be Brian Kane. He writes to me,
I have now made my e-mail address visible in my Blogger profile so that you can contact me directly. Your willingness to make wild assumptions about me and my motives for commenting on your website are seriously disappointing.My apologies, Brian, but I had no way of knowing before this email. He writes further,
I have absolutely NO affiliation with Asus or OLPC in any way. My intent in commenting on your post was merely to point out that there are alternatives to the OLPC laptop . . .and he points to this Reuters article about production delays. I view Brian's comments in this new light; my own suspicions about his motives have been allayed.
Negroponte also cited the same Reuters article in his email to me, but indicated that his information superseded Reuters. Negroponte's interest in OLPC, of course, is strong and transparent.
IMPORTANT UPDATE (10/28): In a comment below, "Brian" throws FUD on the One Laptop project, citing a production delay, saying that Asus has a computer priced, "about the same price as the OLPC promotion." In other words, you can get ONE Asus computer for the price of two OLPC laptops. Brian says, ". . . buy the Asus, give some cash to OLPC and everybody wins."
My counsel is Don't Do It. Stay with OLPC!
The thing that first made me go, "Hmmm," was Brian's statement, "Everybody wins." Right, everybody wins, especially Asus. I tried to do a bit of research on "Brian," but his blogger profile is non-public, and there's no occurrence of Brian on the Asus web site. I think this lack of transparency -- and Brian's failure to indicate his material interest in OLPC or Asus, or lack thereof, is a breach of blogger ethics.
[By the way, my interest is strictly as a bystander who knows a good idea when he sees one.]
I wrote to Nicholas Negroponte, the originator of the OLPC idea and the head of the project, to track down this production delay rumor. He wrote back,
There is no delay. In fact, each week we advance it, from November 19th, to the 12th, to the 5th, now to the 2nd. Mass production will most likely start a week from today, much sooner than I expected and we had planned internally.Negroponte cites David Pogue's OLPC column in the NYT, which has nothing but high praise.
</update>
Technorati Tags: Fish, Global, OneLaptopPerChild, Poverty, Sustainability, WealthofNetworks
Comments:
The OLPC group have announced a production delay that will probably impact availability of the laptops during the window of this program. Given that the real intended purpose of the program is to give the laptops to kids in developing countries, I think it's a better idea to skip the buy-one-give-one program for now and just make a donation to OLPC so that some deserving child in a developing country can have one.
In fact, Asus has just brought out a very similar notebook-sized computer for about the same price as the OLPC promotion. So buy the Asus, give some cash to OLPC and everybody wins.
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In fact, Asus has just brought out a very similar notebook-sized computer for about the same price as the OLPC promotion. So buy the Asus, give some cash to OLPC and everybody wins.
