One Laptop Per Child News on Countries

One Qaddafi Conundrum Per Laptop Purchase

Posted on October 31, 2007 by Wayan Vota in Sales Talk: Competition, Sales Talk: Intel, Countries: Libya

Muammar al-Qaddafi

Oh how times have changed for OLPC Libya. It was but a year ago that One Laptop Per Child celebrated signing a MOU with Libya for 1.2 million XO-1 computers, one server per school, a team of technical advisers to help set up the system, satellite internet service and other infrastructure for $250 million dollars.

It was but six months ago that Nicholas Negroponte revealed that the Gaddafi Foundation had cut its order to 500,000, possibly delaying the launch altogether. And today we've leaned that while OLPC has yet to ship a single Children's Machine to Libya, Intel is already equipping one Classmate PC per Libyan child:

Intel Corp and Microsoft Corp are supplying Libya's government with 150,000 rugged laptop computers that cost $200 to build and are designed to meet the needs of children in developing countries.

Intel spokeswoman Agnes Kwan said in an interview on Tuesday night that Libya's education ministry ordered the equipment in August and shipments began last month.
"So far it's going well. We're just a month into the deployment," Kwan told Reuters

Classmate over OLPC XO?

This announcement doesn't mean the end of OLPC Libya, we need not to live by the "Tyranny of the Or". In fact, Intel vs. OLPC can be a beneficial laptop competition.

Of course to be a fair competition, both Intel and OLPC need to be frank about the cost of their laptops. The OLPC XO is $200, as the Uruguayan RFP and even their own website shows. Intel is also talking $200 dollars per laptop too, and maybe as a direct response to Charbax, is adamant that it’s a non-subsidized cost:

Kwan said that Intel and Microsoft are not subsidizing the price of the laptops, which Intel sells under the Classmate PC brand. She did not disclose how much the Libyan education ministry is paying for them.

Yet before you jump on either company as better or worse than another, do remember who will be the real winners of this competition: children and education in the developing world.

No matter who sells what to whom, the bottom of the pyramid will soon have top of the line technology.

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Libya Reduces Gaddafi Foundation OLPC XO Orders

Posted on May 15, 2007 by Wayan Vota in Sales Talk: Donors, Countries: Libya

Muammar al-Qaddafi

Do you remember the hype around One Laptop Per Libyan Child, the MOU between Muammar al-Qaddafi and OLPC? Do you recall that Libya was to buy 1.2 million OLPC XO's for $250 million dollars, or a total cost of $208 dollars per laptop?

Now that the price of the Children's Machine XO hardware has increased from $150 to $175, it seems that Libya might be rethinking exactly how many computers its going to buy. Reuters is reporting that:

Last week Nicholas Negroponte told Reuters in an exclusive interview that the Gaddafi Foundation had cut its order for the inexpensive laptops by 700,000 units to 500,000, possibly delaying the launch altogether.

And what did Nicholas Negroponte say? Here's the interview transcript from OLPC Talks:

Negroponte: Libya, interestingly enough, is entertaining giving its neighbor 125,000.

Interviewer: They ordered a million, didn't they? That was put out in the press release.

Negroponte: That was put out in the press release, but again press releases are worth..when the time comes, that is in August, we'll do a smaller amount in Libya.

Interviewer: What are you thinking?

Negroponte: 250,000

Interviewer: Oh, really?

Negroponte: And then 250 outside.

Interviewer: But Libya is going to pay for those.

Negroponte: Yes, at the moment the Khadaffi Foundation will pay.

Could Libya now be buying 500,000 laptops for $250 million, or $500 per laptop? Or has their investment in computers decreased also? And it's interesting to note that half of Libya's OLPC XO purchase will be donated to other countries. Is this Qaddafi's hope to be Africa's statesman?

Regardless, Libya is still interested in One Laptop Per Child and we're still waiting for a OLPC4Libya Comprehensive Implementation Plan.

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Libya or China to Donate OLPC's?

Posted on November 01, 2006 by Wayan Vota in Countries: China, Sales Talk: Countries, Sales Talk: Donors, Countries: Libya

From the very beginning, Nicholas Negroponte has put forth the idea that developing world governments would buy the One Laptop Per Child ~~$100 laptop~~ ~~CM1~~ ~~2B1~~ XO Children's Machine. That the now $208 million dollar minimum laptop purchase price would replace school book outlays in national budgets.

Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo

Our number crunching of the education budget for Argentina and the whole national budget of Nigeria, two of the richer OLPC target countries disproves that notion quite easily - a one laptop per child computer purchase would bankrupt most of the populous developing world countries.

So if developing countries cannot afford a full OLPC purchase, who will step up to buy the OLPC's for countries who want a shiny green laptop now that Quanta confirmed production?

Sources tell me that developing country governments have already asked bilaterals, like the United States Agency for International Development and the Canadian International Development Agency, for funding and were turned down. While they may be representing rich countries, the bilaterals don't have a spare $200+ million for Negroponte's grand technology plan.

Sources also tell me that the multilaterals like the World Bank and the United Nations are approached daily by developing would countries asking for multi-million dollar OLPC technology transfers. Rebuffed there too, Ministries seduced by Negroponte's pitch are looking at other options for $200 million dollar fund raising.

And where might an Angola or a Democratic Republic of Congo turn for techo-largess?

Libya's Muammar al-Qaddafi

Libya! They have already offered to buy OLPC computers for their neighbors. And China! They are about to host a China-Africa Cooperation summit, the highest-level, largest-scale meeting between China and African leaders since the founding of the People's Republic of China and a perfect platform to announce African aid.

Regardless of your opinion of the One Laptop Per Child program, do you really want countries like Libya or China donating educational tools to the developing world? Might there be a slight conflict of interest if Libya, who once even invaded Chad, were to now donate educational technology to Chad? Might China, which produces the OLPC XO Children's Machine in Qaunta Computer's Changshu factory, be a little disingenuous in donating computers it will not buy for its own populace?

Might it be best for any country interested in the One Laptop Per Child program to start small - implementing an affordable limited pilot program of a few hundred computers first. And then rolling the program out slowly, only when OLPC's prove their long-term benefit to both students and budgets?

Might that be way too much to ask when Ministries are blinded by techno-lust and a "cheap" techno-fix?

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2B1 Test Production Started!

Posted on October 18, 2006 by Wayan Vota in Prototypes: 2B1, Countries: Libya, Hardware: Production

DigiTimes is reporting that Quanta Computing has started test production of 2B1 Children's Machines in its Changshu, China production facility

Samples, based on the "Green Machine" physical design should be available as early as November, while full production runs will start in spring 2007.

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Is a 2B1 Cultural Integration Process Needed?

Posted on October 17, 2006 by Wayan Vota in Countries: Libya, Implementation: Plan

While we still do not know the details of the OLPC4Libya implementation plan, what might be the impact of 1.2 million Internet-enabled 2B1 laptops on Libyan society?

First, how open will Negroponte's computers be? Will the 1.2 million students really have unfettered satellite Internet access? Or at least greater access to the Internet using the 2B1 Children's Machine than the current 205,000 Internet users in Libya?

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ISO: OLPC4Libya Comprehensive Implementation Plan

Posted on October 16, 2006 by Wayan Vota in Countries: Libya, Implementation: Plan

Last week, the New York Times broke the news about the MOU between Libya and OLPC. This weekend, Walter Bender added this tantalizing summary on the OLPC Wiki:

"Libya and OLPC signed an MOU in which they agreed to work together towards the deployment of one OLPC laptop for every school-age child in Libya and contributing laptops to poor African nations. OLPC will provide the support needed by Libya to plan and carry out such a deployment. The signing took place during a visit by Nicholas, Walter Bender, and Khaled Hassounah, where they met with members of the newly formed OLPC4Libya steering committee. The committee was presented with the outline of a comprehensive plan to distribute the laptops, create connectivity and server infrastructure, and prepare teachers and students. Libya will send a team to the OLPC office in Cambridge to focus on software (Linux), infrastructure, and education content."

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One Laptop Per Libyan Child

Posted on October 11, 2006 by Wayan Vota in Sales Talk: Countries, Countries: Libya

The New York Times is reporting that One Laptop Per Child has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the government of Libya, adding another potential implementing partner country to OLPC's list.

Arising out of an August meeting between OLPC's Nicholas Negroponte and the Libyan leader, Colonel Muammar Abu Minyar al-Qaddafi, the MOU apparently details an agreement of 1.2 million computers, one server per school, a team of technical advisers to help set up the system, satellite internet service and other infrastructure for $250 million dollars.

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One Laptop Per Child News

Your independent source for news, information, commentary, and discussion of One Laptop Per Child's "$100 laptop" computer, the OLPC Children's Machine XO, developed by MIT Media Lab co-founder Nicholas Negroponte.