Sounds to me like Intel wanted to gather insider information on the OLPC project or possibly cause trouble from within. Lets not forget Microsoft joined the OpenDocument Foundation.

Wayan,

Ever here the song "Your husband's cheating on us?" Bender and Negroponte sound like a girl running around with a married man who's shocked, just shocked, to find out he's a liar.

As grandma used to say, lie down with dogs, get up with fleas.

"Ever here the song "Your husband's cheating on us?" "

No.

But indeed, Intel has been (and still is) in court for criminal abuse of its monopoly status. They reserved $1B to "market" the Classmate which they can never expect to earn from selling the Classmates (you can give 3 million laptops away for that money).

But Intel CAN expect to earn it back by monopoly rents if they can succeed in preventing AMD getting volume sales. In the CPU market, volume is everything.

So all those people who were thinking Intel in the OLPC would help the children getting more laptops were wrong. Intel just wanted to prevent that happening.

(No, Intel is NOT getting their Classmates in the hands of the children in the developing world. Given the unsuitability of the Classmates, that would be no help either)

Winter

The trouble is that a person like myself finds it difficult, no matter how often the facts are presented, to believe and keep in mind that if you're talking business, you're probably talking to a lying, thieving git.

In a way I'm charmed that someone as high up the ladder in material terms as Prof. Negroponte has apparently found it just as difficult to remember.

I have written it on my wrist in ballpoint.

Cheers and love,

Martin

Burned once shame on them. Burned twice shame on us. Boycott Windows and Intel. Vote with your feet.

Or if you are into direct action you could write a letter to Intel you tell them of your thoughts on the decision they have taken;

Craig Barrett, CEO
Intel Corporation
2200 Mission College Blvd.
P.O. Box 58119
Santa Clara, CA 95052-8119
Email: Craig.R.Barrett@intel.com

Bill F Sheppard, Executive Vice President
Intel Corporation
2200 Mission College Blvd.
P.O. Box 58119
Santa Clara, CA 95052-8119
Phone: 1-408-554-0888
Email Bill.F.Sheppard@intel.com

I'm not sure if OLPC is going to succeed with the organization structure they have. I was one of the first day participants of G1G1 program. Their distribution agent did not put my full address on the shipping label and the package could not be delivered. I have not received any response to the 2 emails I sent to OLPC. They do not even publish their contact phone number.

If this is the kind of support they have in US, I wonder what kind of support they would provide in the developing countries. I have now lost all my enthusiasm for the project. Good intentions without the required support is not going to get them anywhere.

Think about it Negroponte!!

Ahhh, now that's the Wayan I know and love! Kicking OLPC when they're down. Attaboy! Clearly nothing Negroponte contends could be true, because it's Intel we're talking about. Long live your fair and balanced reporting!

At least Intel didn't skip out on the bill. Remember, being on the board of OLPC cost them $6 million up front.

@ Gordo,
If you want fair and balanced reporting, go to Fox News. Here we have fun and enjoy a bit of creative writing and the humor that goes with it.

@ Anon
Yikes, that's right. We can't say this lover skipped out on the bill. That's 30,000 XO laptops right there. OLPC should donate them to a school in Santa Clara.

@ Subrat
Coming up next - jobs at OLPC that should have been filled a while ago: business plan writer & XO laptop logistics manager.

Wayan,

"If you want fair and balanced reporting, go to Fox News. Here we have fun and enjoy a bit of creative writing and the humor that goes with it."

:)

So Wayan, as a close friend of the 'guy' (yeah, I know you're not with Geekcorps anymore, but still...) in the story can you tell us what Intel's plans are - what other underhanded tactics they're likely to use pushing their drug, err, sorry Classmate, to the third world countries? Of course, any insider info you share with us will stay confidential... ;)

I seem to recall that Ms Jepsen was an exec at Intel before coming to OLPC as CTO, and it is curious, but probably nothing more than coincidence, that Intel's departure from the OLPC board occured within days of her departure from OLPC.

@Wayan
Wow, you can be catty when you really want to. Then again, when life begins to resemble a soap opera..

"Fair and Balanced..." lulz

I think Intel has suffered a major defeat.

We should not assume that what Intel says is true, so let us ask, why did it decide to quit the olpc board?

It is best to look at this in terms of the broad context. Intel, in collaboration with Microsoft and various producers of propriatary software, has made huge profits by regularly increasing the hardware power needed for computing. Olpc was a threat because it introduced the world to the idea of cheap, low-powered laptops that would undercut Intel's business model.

I think Intel joined olpc for the same reason it started producing the Classmate, namely an intention to stamp out the low-cost laptop threat. With the Classmate the intention was to beat olpc in the marketplace, get education ministries locked into the Intel-Microsoft model, and then raise prices for the next version, thereby destroying the low-cost laptop market before it could get off the ground. At the same time Intel joined the olpc board to try to subvert it from inside.

But what happened instead was others got into the low-cost laptop game, and olpc continued ahead. Intel finally realized its strategy was failing, so it quit the board. And that means that the people of the developing world -- and the developed world, too -- are going to have the benefit of low-cost laptops.

OK, you made me laugh. Thanks for an absurd image for a Saturday morning.

@ Sylvia & J. McNair,
Intel + OLPC is such the telenovela, I couldn't resist. The way their acting? Straight out of a day in my single life. Waaay to funny to pass up the connection.

@ Vamoose,
I asked this same question to a number of people and was told that Jepsen's departure was unrelated to Intel's. And yes, she used to work there.

Wayan, this posting of yours has changed my opinion of you, and not in a good way.

Tom

Chipzilla was still playing Monopoly whilst the rest of guys had moved onto a new board game. They couldn't play in the new game without rewriting the rules so they went back to sit at the old game board and found that there was a new lady sitting at the table who is going to improve that game aswell.

@Tom,

It is too bad Wayan's latest newsletter has changed your opinion of him. Many of his newsletters have been written tongue-in-cheek, and I would hate to guess the number of hours he has put into the OLPC News and forum, along with his day job working for a non-profit (NOT OLPC, by the way.) Sometimes his writing does have an edge to it, but you'll notice he isn't been afraid to criticize the way OLPC has handled things either.
What is your opinion of the way Intel has handled this matter?

So the XO should be the only option available to governments in the developing world? Negroponte is the only person who can SELL computers to them? Competition is a bad thing? All of the countries that chose something else are incompetent/corrupt?

Laptops for the developing world is a great idea, however since the countries are expected to BUY the computers OLPC has to compete like any other business. BTW, if they do buy XOs they'll probably expect service/support like any other business. If you're selling a product, act like a business.

Again, OLPC knew about Classmate and ASUS when they took Intel on board. Now they complain, after the check cleared. Hope Intel doesn't cite the 'nondisparagement clause' to get their money back.

As a supporter of OLPC, it embarrasses me to be associated with crap like this.

This website is called olpcnews. Please live up to the name. Report the news. Put the opinions on a separate "editorial" page. And for the sake of the project and the needy children, keep the dumb jokes to yourself.

This article is in very poor taste -- at best. To me, it smacks of insulting to both OLPC and women in general.

You're giving critics of OLPC more ammo. That is, when you're not shooting your own website in the foot!

haineux,

"You're giving critics of OLPC more ammo. That is, when you're not shooting your own website in the foot!"

I think you're (and not the first one) under false (but who can blame you given the name of the website) impression that this website is associated with OLPC. It's not. If anything, you'll read plenty of criticism of OLPC (and not much of Intel...) by the authors of the website here... It's an interesting and enjoyable website nevertheless.

Really, how is this helpful?

If it is intended as humour, then it seems to be in rather poor taste. And then there is the question of the name of the site, as raised previously.

Perhaps a department declaration ala /. , "from the these-are-the-jokes-folks dept" ?

Or you could just not post this sort of thing.

delphi, I knew this website is not associated with OLPC. However, it seems to be run by and for OLPC supporters.

Childish, derogatory, mildly sexist humor does not reflect well on OLPC supporters. Nor is such content "news."

Critical opinion/commentary is fine with me, but I would prefer it were clearly marked as opinion. Old School journalists would say, "Put it on a separate page." If not that, at least add an opinion "bug" (graphic marker).

Still, in my humble opinion, this "article" does not meet any reasonable standard of "critical opinion." It just makes Mr Vota look stupid. I don't want my good (net) name associated with crap like that, and would prefer that Mr Vota refrained from it.

haineux,

I think perhaps your expectations of this website are bit too high. Regardless of the name (and I think Wayan would be in trouble if it was Microsoft or Intel in place of OLPC :) this is just a blog in which both supporters (like myself) and critics of OLPC are free to express their opinion and find bits and pieces on the latest in OLPC saga. Wayan's style is provocative and, sometimes, over-the-top but his role as a moderator is first rate and although he's rather shy ( to put it mildly :) as to Intel's role in all this, he deserves kudos for his efforts. You can also go to the forum where you'll find plenty of people giving and receiving help on the practical aspects of XO ownership.

> haineux
méchant, acariâtre, aigri, furieux, fielleux, malveillant, venimeux.

Why did you chose that name?

This gives us a rather biased view on your comments.

Winter

It's not the same OLPC laptop that INTEL is showwing it is very nice and LWSF hopes they do well!
One problem is the loyalty of the OLPC community on a whole versus lets change the program because it is that kind of program to change.
Many OLPC'ers on a whole spent 2 years missing the point that went on to be rung in places like JP Morgan and other financial institution of the over all program that is still on going of a new type of market based on XP Programming that needs not be defined to be put into play.
If the ulterior motive was to be winners or the guy that is the most mentioned or named and it was set aside, you would have seen that today's winners are tomorrows loser.
Did OLPC Win?
OK. And if your are lost to the meaning try this:
If you did not care about helping poor nations with dedication by the words you said in print the whole 2 years. You won.
You cleared the way Just as Naples will soon be clearing their trash.
But that's today and you may not get a second chance later to get some of the market that's just emerging or money that's up to 150 billion right now and going up.
OLPC did not need only but their place to address United Nation, Nation members from time to time> Did that change?
You said make the market every one.
This is great and every one did not know you needed one so bad so now here is yours.

Then OLPC will not need you any more.
INTEL closed a whole segment of people who did not need the OLPC Laptop they needed something else something that they will never get.
So now you can find something else to do.
Our Statement about INTEL:http://www2.webng.com/handsoflove/CAWIOLPC107.html
Proper research makes good stories don't' ya think!
Hunter OLPC Wiki member I think?