Robert Scott Horning wrote:
Jimmy Wales wrote:
Robert Scott Horning wrote:
The real purpose, for example, that the OLPC folks
don't want to deal
with EU or American states is because the laptop component
manufacturer's that are offering price breaks for the OLPC don't want a
competing computer product that would undercut their own sales in the
USA and EU. If that isn't a political agenda, I don't know what one is.
Hmmm.... so, if a manufacturer is willing offer a donation in the form
of a price break, so long as the product is sent somewhere else, then
the OLPC should just give up and walk away? I don't really understand
this perspective.
We do this all of the time with Wikimedia projects, where good and
worthy contributions are turned away due to licensing conflicts. We
just turned a substantial body of work away from Wikibooks because we
couldn't get copyright clearance due to a non-commercial use only
license, to use an example. I could cite other significant examples,
but sometimes you need to identify what the goal could be and make sure
you havn't made too many compromises early on that would limit your true
potential. BTW, I think selecting the GFDL as the target license for
Wikipedia was an incredibly fortunate accident by you Jimbo, and
something that has ultimately set the tone of all Wikimedia projects.
In the case of the OLPC folks, I think they are limiting themselves and
their vision of what could be accomplished, and limiting the potential
market of those who might both need and be able to pay for these
laptops. They are also significantly restricting their development
community, as even software developers who would create content specific
for the OLPC won't have access to the equipment unless they obtain them
somehow from 3rd world governments directly. I could cite numerous
issues that would come up trying to develop software for the OLPC, but
having actual working hardware makes the job of a software developer
significantly easier. That people are willing to put in effort in spite
of these problems is more a testament to the volunteers than the OLPC
organizers.
The proposed distribution system for these laptops is something that
seems so prone to typical 3rd world graft and corruption that I don't
know how realistically these computers can get into the hands of
ordinary people of these countries except accidentally. You can't even
move a shipping container of wheat or rice to these countries without
substantial quantities being diverted away from litterally starving
people and into the hands of multi-billionaires who stash all of their
money in Switzerland. Why would electronic components be any different?
At least with Wikipedia, Donald Trump has just as much utility to the
content that I do.
Their proposed system is to address themselves directly to governments.
They will apparently not follow any other distribution mean.
This implies that negociation only occurs between olpc team (well,
Negroponte I presume) and national government. Once the deal is cut, the
entire country is considered. Not specifically poor children, but all
children (again, this is what I understood). So, Walmart distribution is
unlikely... I would not imagine the US government getting involved in this.
I am actually quite confident all kids will get the computer at some
point (quite confident as well as the deal involves some nice financial
opportunities - otherwise, sponsors of the project would not be sponsors
otherwise - Google, ebay, AMD, Newscap, Brightstarn IADB, Marwell,
Nortel, RedHat, 3M, Chi Mei, Quanta, UN, SatelliteTBA... are not only
being doing that for the heart...).
However, given the exchanges between borders over there, I just wonder
how long it will take for the kid to exchange his own laptop with
another kid in the bordering country.
When I was in Algeria, I was always amazed to see what was happening
when you gave a pen to a little kid. Within minutes, a group of older
children was jumping on him and picking up the pen. And the crying baby
was back to us asking for another pen. Which would be stolen a few
minutes later. Older kids can then set up a business with kids from the
next country.
Best to give the pen to the schoolteacher. Her job to ensure little ones
have pens somehow.
This is not only about Africa, this is true in all schools. How many
times did my own kids come back telling me someone stole their rubber ?
You drop the issue till what is missing is the leather jacket :-)
All the kids in Nigeria will maybe get a laptop, but it is to be
expected that kids in nearby countries will find themselves with one
very quickly :-)
ant