One Laptop Per Child News on Sales Talk

How to GiveMany $30,000 in XO Laptops (or Not)

Posted on May 13, 2008 by Wayan Vota in Sales Talk: Donors, Sales Talk: G1G1

Here is an optimistic email from OLPC Switzerland that warms my heart:

Last fall I started reading about OLPC and was able to convince my employer to participate in the give many program: We purchased 150 laptops for 30'000 USD, 50 of which were sent to our hotel in Sana'a, Yemen, and 50 to Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

The laptops have or are about to clear customs and will be stored in our hotels while the handover is planned. In both countries, the ministry of education has suggested some schools, and two schools per location were selected to receive 25 laptops each.

The handover to the schools is being planned and I am interested in input on how to best do this.

Give and give not XO laptops

While you are responding to Oliver Bernet's request in the comments below, let's contrast his acceptance of the Give Many program from One Laptop Per Child with Ken Hargesheimer's opinion on his quest for XO's for ~~Mormon~~ church of Christ missionaries:

Brightstar emailed me that I can purchase 100 delivered to the USA for $32,000 and they will donate 50 to one of the four countries. I told them that I want all 150 of them as these will all be donated. We would pay $33,000 for all of them delivered to us. They said no. I emailed NN and he said no.

There are hundreds of churches, NGOs, etc who would buy them. Many believe OLPC is going to fail and I see why.

On one hand, I can understand Ken's frustration. He's collected $30,000 to buy XO laptops and wants that purchase to go as far as it can - all the way to 150 XO laptops. On the other hand, OLPC has the XO's and can distribute them how ever they want, and building in a donation to Give Many is a smart financial move.

Still, as Ed Cherlin has explained before, the Give Many program has major flaws:

The GiveMany program, is incoherent and in my experience is impossible to deal with. I find that I don't believe anything that Brightstar tells me about the program, because they have changed their terms radically with no announcement, and because of their incompetence in the GiveOneGetOne program.

At first it was cash in advance with delivery in 90 days. Then, without warning, it became cash in advance, a delivery date will be provided in 60 days, and delivery can be any time in the next nine (9) months.

As a great example of the chaos in GiveMany, I personally know of a Washington DC patron of a Quaker school that donated $40,000 for the purchase of 200 XO laptops. But due to Brightstar's fumbling and inability to process a PO order, the school went with conventional Windows computers, mainly desktops, to initiate its computing program, which I hope we can all agree was a loss for the students and OLPC.

So I give great kudos to Oliver for finagling 100 XO laptops from OLPC through GiveMany and I hope, along with Ed, that we have a whole new GiveMany quite soon that can be responsive to both ~~Mormon~~ church of Christ and Quakers.

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Double Deadline Day: OLPC News Contest & G1G1 Deduction

Posted on April 15, 2008 by Wayan Vota in Sales Talk: G1G1, Countries: USA

Today is April 15, 2008, and that means there are two important deadlines in your life:

First, today is your last chance to Be Nichoals Negroponte for a Day on the OLPC News Forum. If you get creative enough, and your fellow Forum members vote you a winner, you could share $50 in prizes from XOexplosion.

Second, if your subject to taxation by the Internal Revenue Service, and participated in G1G1, today is the last day to fret over taking the OLPC tax deduction.

Theoretically, you can claim $200 of your Give One Get One XO laptop as a donation to charity, but if you activate the T-Mobile subscription, maybe not. Of course, if you sold your T-Mobile subscription, you'd come out ahead anyway.

Personally, I took the deductions and gave away the T-Mobile subscriptions as a G2G2. What did you do?

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Buyer's Guide for Give Many XO Laptop Purchases

Posted on March 19, 2008 by Wayan Vota in Sales Talk: G1G1, Sales Talk: Price

Recently I received an email from an OLPC supporter who runs an elementary school in the developing world. The school leader is trying to buy 200 XO laptops for students in this school and is looking for guidance on the purchase.

Bulk buying XO laptops

The procurement conversations with One Laptop Per Child have been all by email, through the Brighstar distributor which replied that:

Give Many XO pricing would be $299 plus shipping
XO laptops would be shipped in "approximately 3 months"

Before the school sends $60,000 of scare US dollars to OLPC, the headmaster asked me four very pertinent questions:

Do you think that given the current situation with OLPC, will the laptops be actually shipped "approximately 3 months after payment" or should i expect that to be a lot more?
Do you think this program could be a way too big risk at this time?
Have you got any information on a successful or unsuccessful "give many" programs?
In other words... should I be worried?

I was humbled by the request for guidance. Both that I would be asked for it and that my opinion would be valued. I replied with a suggestion I would give anyone spending $60,000 on computer technology:

OLPC is trying very hard to be responsive to orders. Yet for any transaction of this size, I would recommend that you have Term Sheet that specifies exactly what you expect of OLPC and Brightstar.

That means shipping dates, logistics, laptop amounts, the software/hardware you expect with it, any support you expect from OLPC, and a payment plan that gives you leverage if something goes wrong (ie: the last payment is made 30 days after receipt of the laptops). A few emails should not replace a term sheet.

I also strongly suggested that the school conduct a Total Cost of Ownership analysis for the purchase. Hardware is usually only 10-20% of the total cost of any technology installation. It could even be less if they are going to adapt curriculum to integrate the laptops into the country's educational pedagogy.

But maybe my advice wasn't enough. Maybe you might have an idea or suggestion you want to share for this OLPC buyer and anyone else contemplating a Give Many XO laptop purchase. Maybe you'll even be brave enough to tell us about it.

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Are There Still 24,000 G1G0 OLPC Donors Waiting for XO's?

Posted on March 12, 2008 by Wayan Vota in Countries: Canada, Sales Talk: G1G1, Countries: USA

Since OLPC started Give One Get One, a few enterprising individuals in the OLPC News G1G1 Forum have been running nightly scripts that check each XO order number on their tracking page, to separate shipping fact from fiction.

On Monday, Dr. Toast posted his tracking number results for those that are still waiting:

A few quick observations based on these stats: right now there are about 45,000 laptops that have shipped, and about 24,000 that have not. The laptops have been going out at a trickle for the last several weeks, although there was a big spike of over 5,000 laptops that went out on March 3 (mine was in that batch).

Thanks to Goney3, we now have a visual of the OLPC shipping activity:

If you are one of the 24,000 who is still waiting for OLPC to Give One Got Done and have a spreadsheet skill, please download Dr. Toast's stats and do a deeper analysis on the trends you see with XO laptop shipping.

You'll have a few thousand friends if you do.

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Is One Laptop Per Child Give One Got Done yet?

Posted on March 11, 2008 by Wayan Vota in Sales Talk: G1G1, Countries: USA

Success for OLPC LC-DC

Can you believe that just three months ago, on December 11, we had the first Give One Get One laptop delivery for One Laptop Per Child? Now that its 90 days later, I have a question to ask about G1G1:

Is OLPC Give Gone Got Done yet?

Now I am not talking about RMA's or lost-in-transit orders, but actual G1G1 donors who ordered by December 31, who are still waiting for their initial XO laptop delivery. Of special interest would be any Day One Donors who are still sans XO.

In January, OLPC sent an email to the G1G0 folks, tell them:

Our production schedule is still on track and we expect to deliver your laptop by the middle part to end of March. Your donation is in queue and ready for shipment as soon as we receive additional laptops.

And in the February 24th Community News, we heard that:

Production: The final batch of laptops for the G1G1 program are finishing up in production and making their way to Chicago. They will start shipping out to consumers as early as Monday. We expect to ship them all before the end of March.

So as Phred asks in the OLPC News Forum:Has anyone gotten an XO recently?

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How Useful is Your G1G1 T-Mobile Subscription?

Posted on February 13, 2008 by Wayan Vota in Internet: Access, Sales Talk: G1G1

Do you have Starbucks envy now?

How useful is the T-Mobile HotSpot subscription you received as part of Give One Get One? I ask this question for three reasons:

First, I haven't used my subscription yet as I am not one to use a laptop in public. I geek out at home or at work, bit if I'm out otherwise, it's to be social, not to loose myself in geekdom.

Next, if I am going to geek-out when out, I frequent places where WiFi is free. From the OLPC Learning Club DC events I organized to random drunk emailing, Washington DC has too many free Internet spots to bother with paid Internet access.

Last but not least, I'm not a coffee drinker, so Starbucks is not a place of business I frequent.

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One Give One Got None XO Laptop Per Donor

Posted on January 25, 2008 by Wayan Vota in Sales Talk: G1G1

Where is my XO laptop?

One Laptop Per Child is in a world of shipping hurt, as now it seems that the G1G1 shipping problems are more extensive that even I dared to believe. It looks like whole orders were lost.

Thanks to ThatSeattleGuy's investigation of posts in the XO Shipping Problems forum and the OLPC Wiki, among other resources, we now have a independent reconstruction of seven failure points of what may have gone wrong during the Give One Get One sales process:

Second lines of shipping addresses were truncated.
Internal Patriot/Brightstar database errors may cause updates to be lost
Order changes may be lost between the fulfillment contractors
Order status emails may have been intercepted by donor spam filters
The initial shipping address was a PO Box
FedEx delivery may have failed without the donor being aware
he FedEx address verification tool may incorrectly indicate an address is unshippable

And only now, over two months since Day One Donors' credit cards were charged for their donation, OLPC is starting to take responsibility for the issue

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OLPC Shipping Problem Resolution: XO Laptop Buy Out

Posted on January 18, 2008 by Wayan Vota in Sales Talk: G1G1, Laptops: XO-1

On the OLPC News G1G1 Shipping Problems Forum, there are several people who are quite annoyed that now, sixty days later, they are still waiting for their Get One XO laptop.

They haven't heard much from OLPC, less from Brightstar, and FedEx can't help them if they don’t have the shipping data. They have reached the end of their patience, and they want their $425 back, but they can't find satisfaction through G1G1 donor systems.

So what are these committed yet frustrated donors to do?

One, John S. was on the verge of calling his credit card company and starting a chargeback process, when another person on the forum made an offer: He would buy John's XO for $425.

As John says, now both parties can find satisfaction:

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10,000 Give One Get One XO Laptops Going to OLPC Mongolia

Posted on January 11, 2008 by Wayan Vota in Countries: Canada, Sales Talk: G1G1, Countries: Mongolia

XO-1 laptops in Mongolia!

While the Give One Get One community in the USA slowly receives the "Get One" side the of XO laptop distribution, the other side, the "Give One" laptops are soon to be on their way to need children according to Walter Bender:

We are going to be hashing this out to a large degree on Monday. But I do know that we are already preparing 10K machines for Mongolia, 1K each for Haiti, Rwanda, Afghanistan, Ethiopia, and Cambodia at the factory now.

The initial machines in all cases, as far as I know, are directed to programs with government involvement, but not necessarily government run.

That's great news, especially for Mongolia, a land I've traveled through before.

OLPC Mongolia also happens to have a very rich benefactor in John L. Thornton, who promised to support 20,000 laptops for the country back in October. I wonder if Bender's 10,000 batch is half of that or an extra allotment?

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Was Give One Get One an One Laptop Per Child Success?

Posted on January 07, 2008 by Wayan Vota in Countries: Canada, Sales Talk: G1G1, Countries: USA

Reading today's press release from OLPC, I was amazed by the success of the G1G1 program:

In total, the campaign raised $35 million and more than 100,000 XO laptops are already in the process of being distributed to children in Afghanistan, Cambodia, Ethiopia, Haiti, Mongolia and Rwanda.

But in reading Nicholas Negroponte's interview with Forbes magazine, I didn't hear a sense of accomplishment from Negroponte himself:

Success for OLPC LC-DC

What is the final tally of Give One Get One? 162,000, for $35 million.

Is that more than you expected? It is and it isn't. It's stunning to do that. On the other hand it doesn't quite create an economic model which could run the whole thing. If we had done a million units with G1G1 you could then maybe say the $100 laptop becomes a zero dollar laptop. So it didn't do that well in terms of the economic model to go forward.

On my hands I come up with a whole different tally. On the positive, I see a whole nation now seeded with future OLPC supporters.

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LCD Projecting the XO Laptop in Southern Maryland

Posted on January 07, 2008 by Guest Writer in Sales Talk: G1G1, Hardware: Peripherals, Countries: USA

XO laptop in the spotlight

My name is Mark Czajka, and I'm president of the Charles County Technology Council. Being part of this all volunteer non-profit organization is very rewarding, and we want to use the XO to give back to our local community. Three of our Board Members have ordered one because we have been very moved by the Give One Get One program.

By educating kids and adults here in Southern Maryland, we hope to bring more exposure to this cause. We also feel that the technology built into this laptop could be utilized (some day) in our area, to support kids that cannot afford computers as well as help us reach “the last mile” in rural areas that do not have broadband Internet access. We can all learn a lot from the mesh networking capabilities built into the XO.

As part of our education efforts, we would like to use the XO with an LCD Projector. I haven't been able to find any information on this topic. I would assume some hardware would be required, as well as some drivers on the XO. If anyone has any information about this, please post it in the OLPC News XO Accessories Forum. In the mean time, we will use an XO emulator on a Windows laptop.

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Re-Gifting Your XO Laptop to Benefit OLPC Developers

Posted on January 03, 2008 by Wayan Vota in Sales Talk: Donors, Sales Talk: G1G1, Countries: Nepal

Boomer's XO Going to Bryan

While it may surprise some, there are Give One Get One participants who feel that the XO laptop from One Laptop Per Child isn't right for them.

They could be parents who bought the XO for kids who wanted something else. Or adults who thought the XO would be a good business laptop replacement. And last but not least, people who believe in the OLPC mission but found the XO not suitable for their computer use case.

Recently I had the privilege of interviewing Boomer, a G1G1 donor who is sending me his XO laptop to re-gift it to a deserving OLPC developer group. I have the great honor of sending Boomer's laptop to OLE Nepal, one of the most innovative and organized local OLPC group.

While Boomer's XO is on its way to them, let's hear why he would voluntarily give up clock-stopping hot technology for free:

An interview with the originator of the XO regifting program.

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G1G1 Success Equals G1G1 for Ethiopia, Iran, Italy and UK?

Posted on December 31, 2007 by Wayan Vota in Sales Talk: Countries, Sales Talk: G1G1

Joanna Stern at Laptop magazine just interviewed Nicholas Negroponte about the future of Give One Get One, the popular XO laptop donation plan from One Laptop Per Child.

The news? It looks like G1G1 will continue, just not in North America:

LAPTOP MAG: Many people don’t want to see Give 1, Get 1 end. Will a program like this ever be available again?

Nicholas Negroponte: We are exploring two parallel routes. One is doing a Give One or Give Many for diaspora of specific countries - Ethiopia and Iran immediately. The other is doing a Give 1, Get 1 in specific countries: Italy and UK are in discussion. As for in the USA, maybe next Christmas.

Now I wonder why those four countries - they are an odd mix. I can see OLPC wanting to build on Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi commitment of 50,000 laptops for Ethiopia with a G1G1 for purchases in Rome and donation in Addis Ababa, but what's the Iranian or UK angle?

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Dear OLPC, Please Don't Stop Give One Get One

Posted on December 28, 2007 by Guest Writer in Sales Talk: G1G1

XO fighting already started

Has anyone considered the safety of children owning XO's? No I am not talking about internet porn, I am Erwin Hermann and I am talking about what will happen if OLPC makes good on its threat to end the sale of XO's to consumers on December 31.

Consider for a moment what will happen after hundreds of thousands of kids get their XO's in the US and Canada. Most of them will probably want to show their friends and teachers. What will happen then?

Unmet XO Demand

By this time in January several million children will be clamoring for XO's of their own. Demand for the XO is going to skyrocket right at the point that OLPC cuts off supply. With no retail supply of XO's the only supply will be online auctions.

Will your child be safe carrying around one of the hottest, and scarcest pieces of consumer electronics ever released? Now I can hear someone saying "But it's not a consumer product- it's an educational mission!" As if this will somehow protect children from getting robbed, beaten, or even killed for having in their possession something that will be even more of a neon sign for theft than an iPod.

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G1G1 Donor: Are You Still Without Your XO Laptop?

Posted on December 26, 2007 by Wayan Vota in Countries: Canada, Sales Talk: G1G1, Countries: USA

It is the day after Christmas, and all through the land, Give One Get One donors are yet still binary: with xo laptops or without.

As this discrepancy becomes more acute - the lucky half exploring a national XO Chat session and the rest watching in jealous agony - the OLPC Learning Club has a message for those coveting thy neighbour's Linux laptop:

Yes, its time to take a Biblical approach and find your inner patience. And if you wear through that you can always live vicariously (or just bitch) on the OLPC News Forum.

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OLPC Help: Making G1G1 Christmas Friends with XO Chat

Posted on December 25, 2007 by Wayan Vota in Software: Applications, Sales Talk: G1G1

G1G1 Neighbourhood View

Are you feeling lonely this Christmas with an empty XO laptop neighbourhood view? Do you want to explore, share, and learn with other XO users? Then join the mass Jabber party on xochat.org!

Tom Hoffman has set up a virtual machine for load testing and as Rick Evans explains, its amazingly simple to jump in:

Go to the terminal window.
sugar-control-panel -g jabber will display your current setting.
sugar-control-panel -s jabber xochat.org will change to the public server.
Reboot Sugar with CTRL-ALT-ERASE

On reboot, go to your "neighbourhood view" and check out all the little XO's now on your screen. This is the G1G1 community geeking out together like these two from the OLPC Learning Club:

Chatting with another XO user takes a little getting used to. Here's my easy step-by-step guide:

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G1G1 Canadians Are Humans, With Kids Too

Posted on December 19, 2007 by Guest Writer in Countries: Canada, Sales Talk: G1G1

As Canadians we don't get to use the OLPC tax deduction unless you have USA income, but that's ok because we believe in the project.

We can't utilize the T-Mobile Hot Spot service unless you drive to the Ottawa or Hamilton airports, but that's ok because we believe.

But, to be discriminated against based on nationality on a project of international scope is wrong. OLPC is losing goodwill at a massive rate. It is unfortunate that OLPC set our expectations so high and did not follow through. It is becoming apparent that OLPC did not even attempt to send out the Canadian orders on a first come first serve bases.

I have personally stopped lobbying our Provincial and Federal governments re. OLPC in Canada and have put on hold a local school fundraising program centered around OLPC.

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OLPC Learning Club Holiday Meetup - Tonight!

Posted on December 18, 2007 by Wayan Vota in Sales Talk: G1G1, Use Cases: User Groups

Get your geek on an XO!

If you are a geek in Washington DC, there is only one place you should be tonight, and that's the first ever:

OLPC LC-DC Holiday Meetup
December 18, 7 PM
Mayorga Cafe & Lounge
3301 14th. St. NW (map)

Bryan Berry, Christoph Derndorfer and Aaron Kaplan are all in town to give us the low-down on OLPC local user group organizing from Austria to Nepal.

Also, Mike Lee and I will be throwing out cool G1G1 organizing ideas as we covet the shiny new XO laptops in attendance.

Our goal: a motivated human mesh network.

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OLPC News Christmas Shopping List for XO Laptop Lovers

Posted on December 16, 2007 by Wayan Vota in Countries: Canada, Sales Talk: G1G1, Hardware: Peripherals, Countries: USA

We may all be hoping for a Green Christmas, but by the looks of the G1G1 shipping lottery, not everyone will have an XO laptop under their tree by December 25. Before you curse OLPC, remember that they are focused on children in the developing world. You should be focused on being a good American consumer, and I'm here to help. I've just complied the OLPC News Christmas List for XO Laptop Lovers on Amazon.com:Nicholas Negroponte

Being Digital - Negroponte's breakthrough work on the history and future of technology
OLPC on 60 Minutes - a must-have for every OLPC-loving geek if only to see Craig Barrett squirm.
I ♥ Nicholas Negroponte - you know I will be wearing this with pride come summer. (my favorite!)

.

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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.