

Intel pulls out of OLPC - inovica
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7171201.stm

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watmough
I'm surprised and disappointed with Intel's action. I received my XO machine
before Christmas, and it really is a great little machine. It's primary
weakness is a lack of sufficient 'oomph' to make using Flash a viable means of
delivering lessons, or to make the on board video a really useful means of
recording and distributing lessons. It's close though, and Intel might have
been able to help.

On the more positive side, the activities such as the TamTam music suite, and
the measurement activities, and journal software are tremendous, and show a
vision for a different, non-traditional way of doing software. The software,
including the Python-based 'frame' and 'zoom' neighbourhoods work great,
though occasional pauses and hardware glitches like a dancing mouse cursor can
irritate.

Of course Intel may be taking the potentially short-sighted view that
partnering with the OLPC foundation will erode a future market for more
powerful and expensive laptops, based on more profitable hardware, and more
expensive (read Microsoft) software.

In this case though, it seems like distributing the XO should be a win for
everyone. A win for the target countries, who will gain a more educated
populace, which can only be a good thing for wealth creation and stability of
their countries. And the XO obviously is only a small first step. There will
be more and better machines, with better software. After a certain critical
mass is reached, many countries, even if they do not have their own chip
foundries, should at least be able to contribute to and customize the
computers to further benefit their educational mission.

Hopefully the OLPC foundation will continue to succeed. It's a shame that
Intel have retreated for now. I hope that they will be able to rejoin and
contribute to future efforts.

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jgrahamc
Thanks for that write up. I'm waiting for my XO to arrive (should be within a
week or so), and I'm going to be handing it to my 4 year old daughter to see
how she gets along with it. She'd very much like a computer of her own and I'm
hoping that she'll be able to figure out Draw and TamTam and Memorize.

Anyone else here got experience with XO and a small child?

