Posted on April 03, 2008 by Edward Cherlin in Sales Talk: Competition, Sales Talk: Intel

john davies
John Davies - Intel

I just now saw the headline:

"Intel to help Bangladesh bridge digital divide."
Well, that would be nice, but it turns out that the headline is essentially false.

Intel is providing (Does that mean selling or giving? I think selling.) 1,000 computers to Bangladesh through its Intel World Ahead Programme, and also some Internet connectivity. But this is a trial, not a major contribution.

Intel's World Ahead Programme General Manager John E. Davies, who is spearheading the assignment, is currently visiting the country to give the programme a kick-start.

"Understanding a country takes six to 12 months. But when it gets going, the programme speeds up with the help of right partners to implement it," Davies said.

That's the funniest thing I have ever heard an Intel employee say. A lifetime isn't long enough to understand any country. It's all right, though, I understand that he didn't mean what he said.

He was talking about the time to understand a business opportunity in the conventional manner, in which you offer to apply the technology you have at whatever it costs in the developed countries to problems you know nothing about. Unlike, say, OLPC's approach.

OLPC started with user requirements, such as absolute minimum power for areas without regular electricity, maximum durability for little children, greenness, and support for collaboration. The result is a record low cost hardware design appropriate for conditions in the countries most concerned, and a new kind of educational software.

The OLPC XO incorporates what Alan Kay and others have been demonstrating for decades about the power that computers can have in education, if we are willing to permit it.

Intel is also discussing with the education ministry about accommodating its education content in the curriculum and how to train the teachers for the World Ahead Programme.
Ivan Krstić reported at PyCon 2008, the recently concluded Python programming conference, that in Uruguay the children got the idea of the XO immediately, and the teachers within days. The government might have provided a lesson plan in biology with a topic on a specific organ and two paragraphs of information.

The teachers showed the children how to get on the Internet to look for more information, and then teach each other about what they found. Forget content and curriculum! We can teach! Who needs training for this?


Who's the happiest kid here?

Mothers of students got it next, apparently just from the joy on their children's faces, and the fathers were hardest to convince. They wanted the children to work in the fields from after school to dark. But the children were able to demonstrate, on the laptops, just what they were learning that had been impossible before.

On seeing that the children are actually learning in school, and can already look up things that will improve local farming methods and increase family incomes, the fathers have joined in too.

Davies noted that the cost of Internet connection in Bangladesh is incredibly high compared to the rest of the world. This is why Intel is looking for other ways to provide education contents in the most cost effective way.
Perhaps we should be discussing ways to bring the cost of service down. Like reforming the Bangladesh communications sector, which is still dominated by incompetent and avaricious state corporations. (When the first fiber optic cable landed in Nigeria, the government had no plan for extending service beyond the telephone center at the landing point. In Bangladesh, when the first cable landed, there was no center at the landing point.)
"For instance, there could be local caching service. Contents like math or science may be kept in the local server so that students can access them without any Internet connection," he said.
Right. Something like OLPC XS School Servers, even.
Intel has signed agreements with Grameen Solutions and Bangladesh Telecentre Network to set up telecentres that will offer an array of services to the public. Intel will be offering a model to help the country's goal of setting up 40,000 such centres across the country by 2011.
OLPC India
XO laptops for inquiring minds
Pikers. Bangladesh has about 36 million children of school age (UNICEF statistics), of whom fewer than half get to secondary school. Giving each one an XO at $200 would cost a bit over $7 billion, plus other expenses.

Mary Lou Jepsen's Pixel Qi $75 laptop brings that down to $2.7 billion plus other expenses to start, possibly in 2009. If children get a replacement every four years, then the cost after startup would be around $700 million annually. Does Bangladesh have this kind of money? Let's see. GNI per capita (US$), 2006: 480. Nope.

I wonder how much 40,000 telecenters will cost. A few million, maybe? And how much effect they would have? Well, some, to be sure. Would it be a thousandth as much as providing computers to everybody? Dunno.

Well, I don't have the actual answer to the problem. Apparently we need some new thinking on global education funding. Like maybe actually providing 0.7% of GDP, as the US and many other countries have been promising for decades, but never took seriously. Of course that would require public political will, which has been in short supply.

I wonder if anybody would be interested in applying any political will that they have lying around. It's just weird how the application of political will by a few people in the right circumstances sometimes creates mass political will. Maybe it was already there, and we just had to call it out from the woodwork. Is it worth a try?

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Posted on April 03, 2008 by Wayan Vota in Sales Talk: Competition, Sales Talk: Intel

2go pc olpc
We now have an official Classmate 2 PC. Yesterday, Intel unveiled its second generation Classmate PC at its Developer Forum in Shanghai. The difference, according to Laptop Mag:
The Classmate now includes a 9-inch LCD display, a six-cell battery, 512MB of memory, a 30GB HDD, and an integrated webcam.

The second-generation Classmate PCs are built on the Intel Celeron M processor with 802.11b/g Wi-Fi and mesh-network capabilities; future Classmate PCs will be built with Atom processors. Of course, the Classmate PC still supports Microsoft Windows XP, but variants of a Linux-based operating system will also be available.

Hmm, that sounds exactly like the Classmate 2 for sale in Pakistan.

Luckily, American consumers can now try out the Classmate 2 also. CTL will be selling the 2Go PC, the commercial version of the Classmate 2, directly to consumers. Look for it today on Amazon.com for $400.

We also have a number of 2Go Classmate PC comparisons:

  • Laptop Mag's review of CTL's 2go PC: The 2go PC may not be a stellar performer, but considering its intended audience and price, it doesn’t have to be. Its rugged design, long battery life, and lightweight chassis all add to this mini-notebook’s appeal.
  • Classmate 2Go Vs. OLPC: But other than those few classroom tools, the Classmate hardly feels like a leap forward in educational hardware as much as a gray, shrunken version of any typical Intel-powered laptop.
  • Intel Classmate PC (9-inch): The bottom line: Intel tweaked the Classmate PC in its redesign to appeal to first-world schoolchildren, and it offers an experience on par with mininotebooks from Asus and HP.
And last but not least, the Hands-On with CTL’s 2go PC (a.k.a. Classmate 2) by Joanna Stern:


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Posted on March 25, 2008 by Wayan Vota in Sales Talk: Competition, Sales Talk: Intel

2go pc olpc

This is a laptop for education. It has a low voltage processor, mesh networking, LED backlight screen, and even an integrated camera. It can also run Windows XP in addition to Linux.

Is this One Laptop Per Child's XO laptop? Or the Asus Eee PC? Or even the Elonex One?

No, it's Intel's new 2go PC, the Classmate 2, that Computer Technology Link is rumored to be selling for $400 or less retail in 60 days or less.

Thanks to Gizmodo, we even have a readable 2go PC spec sheet.

So what do these numbers say to you? For me, I want to take a moment to remember the original OLPC mission:

OLPC is not at heart a technology program and the XO is not a product in any conventional sense of the word. We are non-profit: constructionism is our goal; XO is our means of getting there.

It is a very cool, even revolutionary machine, and we are very proud of it. But we would also be delighted if someone built something better, and at a lower price.

I don't think the 2go PC is better or cheaper. The XO laptop is still the market leader in hardware and price point. And if the recent restructuring can both reinvigorate XO sales and improve Sugar, Intel will be playing catch-up for years to come.

But I do like what the 2go PC represents: a major shift in technology industry thinking towards faster, better, cheaper platforms that can empower education with technology.

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Posted on March 18, 2008 by Wayan Vota in Sales Talk: Competition, Sales Talk: Intel

I think there might be one less Intel OEM employee today, as we might have the first images of Intel's next generation of the Classmate PC courtesy of a quick Tech Corner camera phone and too many beers:
My buddy works for a US Based OEM, and showed me a sample of one of the products that will be hitting US shores soon. This thing is sweet, super portable. I estimate it weighs less than three pounds, and has a carrying handle. He told me it was designed by Intel and is for education.

I got on it to check my email and it was running XP Pro like a champ. When he got up for a minute, I snuck some pics of it and checked out the specs. It has a 900Mhz Celeron, 512 Ram, 40GB HD, 9 Inch screen, wifi, and Ethernet. It seems to be about 7” x 9”x 1.5”. I asked him how much it was going to cost, and he said he didn’t know but would probably be around 400 bucks.
Now the first question Charbax will have is "Where's the Intel Atom Diamondville processor?" while I wonder if that $400 price tag is real. Regardless, I'm sure you have an opinion on this mysterious new low-cost laptop entrant and will share it with us right about now.

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Posted on January 09, 2008 by Wayan Vota in Sales Talk: Intel, People: Negroponte


Paul Otellini + Classmate PC
Oh the Intel + OLPC drama gets better by the day! Yesterday we learned from Darren Waters that Paul Otellini felt that Nicholas Negroponte's accusations that Intel failed to live up to its agreement with OLPC were "hogwash".

When Nicholas Negroponte heard this, he posed a very valid question to why he was badmouthing Intel all over the Internets:
"Why would I throw away the six million dollars they were supposed to give us yesterday? Why would I do all of these things unless I was stark raving mad?"
Today I wonder if he is. Why? Because look what he told Dan Nystedt of IDG News Service
"It was very unfortunate what happened with Intel, and I hope there's a way of rebuilding it in the future because there's no interest in OLPC pushing Intel out. It just is not in our interest. Our goal is to get this to as many children as possible," said Nicholas Negroponte, chairman of OLPC, in an interview.

He called it unfortunate that Intel made statements that OLPC asked the chipmaker to stop working on the Classmate PC. "The picture that painted was one of OLPC being anti-competition, which is ridiculous. We'd like to see as many laptops out there as possible and kids have the widest choice possible," he said.
He also said something similar to Reena Jana of BusinessWeek yesterday. But that's not what Negroponte told David Kirkpatrick early this week. Then he was very clear on OLPC's grievances:

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Posted on January 06, 2008 by Christoph Derndorfer in Sales Talk: Competition, Sales Talk: Intel

olpc classmate
Does platform really matter?
Even though I'm actually sick of hearing all the "Intel dumped OLPC" (or was it the other way 'round?) stories I feel the need to add my own voice to the discussion.

First of all let me tell you that I'm really platform-agnostic when it comes to delivering laptops as educational tools to children. Honestly, why should I care whether the technology inside that machine comes from AMD, Intel, VIA or some random ARM-producer?

It's about children having access to a suitable information and communication device for educational purposes, right? Or is about one company being more or less evil (depending on which fanboy you ask) than the other one?

Computers are a business

What many people who are claiming that Intel might just be the next worst thing after Satan himself seem to be forgetting is that all of the companies involved in OLPC are for-profit entities which have the same desire to please their shareholders at the end of each quarter - just like Intel.

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Posted on January 05, 2008 by Wayan Vota in Sales Talk: Intel

OLPC intel
Watching the breakup of Intel and One laptop Per Child has been entertaining to say the least. Intel seemingly "pulled a runner" - left Nicholas Negroponte in the middle of the night without even a kiss goodbye. Negroponte claims he heard the news in a taxi.

Like many a person unexpectedly waking up alone, Negroponte spun the scene quickly to hide his pain and shame of not seeing that quick exit coming. So far he's doing a good impression of a girl left wanting.

Let's take his quote in Fortune about the Intel + OLPC agreement and have a little fun. The original quote:
[Intel] didn't do one single thing in the agreement. Nondisparagement is the easiest. That clause they violated all over the place.

They said they'd work on software, but they didn't touch it. We said we'd work on the architecture together, and that wasn't done. We said we'd work on a processor and to this day don't have a spec on it.

The nonfulfillment on their side was so continuous I don't even know what to say.
And now let's think about that coming from a woman who just realized her dream date was a only a one night stand:

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Posted on January 04, 2008 by Charbax in Sales Talk: Intel, Laptops: XO-2

intel inside olpc
Two days before Intel CEO Paul Otellini would unveil the Classmate 2 or the Intel-powered XO at the CES, Intel announced that they are quitting the OLPC board.

Intel claims that they are quitting because of Nicholas Negroponte wanting them to stop the promotion of the Classmate/Eee to education in third world countries, but I think that the real reason is that Intel does not have a good enough processor for the OLPC project to use as an alternative to the AMD Geode LX-700.

Intel has not been able to develop a processor to match the price, power consumption and performance requirements of the OLPC project. Paul Otellini could have looked like a fool at the CES if he had to unveil an Intel powered XO that was performing worse in terms of price and power consumption compared to the AMD powered one.

Intel executives probably have seen the OLPC project more as a threat than as an opportunity to their core business from day one. Intel probably wants to do whatever they can to stop the development of cheap laptop alternatives using cheaper fanless AMD processors and even ARM based processors in the future (XO-2, XO-3…), which is a direct threat to Intel's market-dominating X86 standard.

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Posted on January 03, 2008 by Wayan Vota in Sales Talk: Competition, Sales Talk: Intel, Laptops: XO-2

intel inside olpc
Fresh from the Wall Street Journal, One Laptop Per Child and Intel have just hit divorce court:
Intel says it no longer will support One Laptop Per Child, and has resigned from the board over the nonprofit's demand that it stop selling its Classmate laptop and other laptops in the developing world. Intel says it has canceled plans for an Intel-based OLPC laptop.
Now am I the only one who saw that coming since July?

Did OLPC really think it was going to stop Intel for selling Classmate PC's when it's AMD-powered device was making inroads into the developing world? And to think it would do so for anyone, for or non-profit, goes against every stock option Intel ever granted.

And did OLPC think it was going to convince Intel to stop "other laptops" (the Asus Eee PC?) from appearing? That goes against the hyper-competitive nature of the entire Silicon Valley, and even OLPC's original mission statement.

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Posted on December 04, 2007 by Guest Writer in Sales Talk: Competition, Use Cases: Education, Sales Talk: Intel

classmate pc usa
Intel's Classmate PC
Intel is now piloting its in several U.S. schools. Three of us from the University of California, Irvine visited Newport Heights Elementary in Newport Beach, California. The school was provided with 70 Classmate PCs to use in two classrooms - a sixth grade class and a fifth grade class - for a pilot study to take place from November 2007 to March 2008. Following the pilot study in this and other schools in the U.S. and other countries, the Classmate PC will supposedly go on the market.

Intel provided 70 Classmate PCs, 2 power cords each computer (so one could be kept at school and one at the students' homes), slim blue rubber wrap-around cases for each Classmate, and an Intel knapsack for each Classmate. I was told that the Classmates came with a 40GB hard drive (and that a flash drive version of the Classmate had been abandoned after an earlier trial); 504k of RAM, and licenses for Microsoft Office (which was installed on the computers).

It is powered by an Intel Celeron microprocessor. The computer has no CD or DVD drive; a small, low-resolution screen; and a small keyboard. Otherwise, it appears to be a fully functioning low-end Wintel notebook computer. Intel reports the battery life as four hours, and the teachers told me that they had as of yet had no problems with the batteries.

During our two-hour visit to the school, we visited the two classrooms using the Classmates, spoke with the teachers and students, tried out a Classmate, and spoke with administrators and technology coordinators at the school and district. Students at the school had been using the Classmates for about a week and had taken them home a couple of times.

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Posted on December 03, 2007 by Charbax in Sales Talk: Intel, Software: Windows, Laptops: XO-2

intel inside olpc
This is the press release that we are soon going to read in 2008:
Intel abandons the Classmate PC to focus on Diamondville in the Intel-powered XO-2 laptop.
Intel and everyone else in OLPC will work also on future XO laptops that may also include laptops better suited for older children and adults.

Every age-group in developing countries need the low power consumption, the sunlight readable screen, the DCON-CPU-Screen mechanism to be able to read ebooks for tens of hours on a battery, wireless mesh to make WiFi hotspots much more usable and to achieve much better productivity in all age-groups.

Collaboration software over WiFi Mesh should also be made for company-level applications, for optimizing adults productivity. Intel and OLPC can maximize R&D on that. Asus will also crank an XO screen onto the Eee, include in it a Diamondville and within 3-6 months there will be an Asus-made XO laptop.

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Posted on November 30, 2007 by Wayan Vota in Sales Talk: Competition, Countries: India, Sales Talk: Intel


Can't we all just get along?
ICT4Dev expert Cheri Voisine has just found an interesting paragraph in an Economic Times article about One Laptop Per Child's tumulus relationship with Intel Corporation:
Intel, which has its own low-cost laptops called Classmate PC, became an OLPC member in July this year. Consequently, a clear demarcation has been agreed upon by OLPC and Intel, according to which the XO laptop will cater to students in class I-VI while Intel’s Classmate PC will cater to students in the classes above that.
Could this be the way Nichols Negroponte plans to create peace with OLPC? Divide-up the educational laptop market in India with Intel.

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Posted on November 28, 2007 by Wayan Vota in Sales Talk: Competition, Sales Talk: Intel, Commentary: Press, Laptops: XO-1

Do you remember Nicholas Negroponte's arrogant resistance to competition in the WSJ OLPC smackdown?
At a meeting this month in Cambridge, Mass., with representatives of Macedonia's government, Mr. Negroponte balked at authorizing a pilot project there after learning that officials also were considering testing the Classmate. He told them he didn't want to participate in a "bake-off."
laptop bake off
Low cost computing bake off
Despite Negroponte's aversion to pilot testing the kids over at Laptop Mag took matters into their own hands with a OLPC XO vs. Asus Eee PC 701 bake off of their very own. Here's the crib sheet results:

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Posted on November 24, 2007 by Wayan Vota in Sales Talk: Competition, Sales Talk: Countries, Sales Talk: Intel, People: Negroponte, Countries: Nigeria, Commentary: Press, Software: Windows

Today's Wall Street Journal front page has long article on One Laptop Per Child: A Little Laptop With Big Ambitions. In it, Steve Stecklow takes the position that a computer for the poor was stomped by tech giants:
I'd like to take the position that if OLPC is getting stomped (and I don't think its being "stomped" at all), its due to its own foolishness and arrogance, as much or more than any underhanded competition from Intel or Microsoft.

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Posted on November 21, 2007 by Jon Camfield in Sales Talk: Competition, Sales Talk: Intel, Countries: Nigeria, Software: Windows

Two weeks back, we reported the horror story that Mandriva was being wiped from all 17,000 ClassMate PCs, purchased for an education pilot in Nigeria - and being replaced by Windows XP. Many worried about bribery, while OLPCNews focused on the potential impact of this as a precedent for XP on the XOs. It turns out there was a bribe of sorts; $400,000 to the implementing company, and that the Nigerian government has now stepped in and is sticking with Mandriva Linux.

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Posted on November 19, 2007 by Wayan Vota in Sales Talk: Countries, Sales Talk: Intel, Countries: USA, Software: Windows


Do you remember PM Thaksin?
Last week, Mayor-elect Larry Langford of Birmingham declared One Laptop Per Alabaman Child with a 15,000 XO laptop purchase. But reading the article a little deeper, I come to a sad conclusion.

I put this announcement in the sale league as other proclamations we've heard before, where Presidents loving laptops doesn’t mean Ministers buying XO's:
He said the laptops would cost about $3 million - about $200 each. Langford, whose inauguration is today, said the money will come from private sector donations as well as the city budget. "I have to get the City Council on the same page," he said. "We all have to go in and just say what we're going to do. There will be tough decisions."

City Council President Carole Smitherman said she has had some discussions with Langford about the laptops, but she needs more details. "If our children have access to computers and it costs about $200 per computer, that's a minimal amount to bring children and their parents that technology," Smitherman said. "I have to see where that fits with the totality of items that the mayor wants the council to sign off on."
It also seems that no matter Langford's progress on selling his idea to the city council, he will also have to sell it to OLPC, who gave him the usual non-committal response

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Posted on November 19, 2007 by Jon Camfield in Sales Talk: Competition, Sales Talk: Intel, Software: Operating System, Software: Windows

The Asus Eee
The Asus Eee
At last Wednesday's DC OLPC Meetup, I got to put my grubby hands on both a few OLPC XOs and an Asus Eee side by side. The Eee was lighter, but not as well built as the XOs for dusty, humid environments. By the end of the night, its battery was getting towards the low side, while the XOs were still going strong.

We've reported before on the more OS-neutral approach of the Asus Eee, compatible with Windows XP (and possibly even a light Vista), but coming pre-loaded with Linux. Imagine my surprise when I saw a nice shaded "Start" button staring back at me.

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Posted on November 02, 2007 by Jon Camfield in Sales Talk: Competition, Sales Talk: Intel, Countries: Nigeria, Software: Windows

Open Source Software fans were happy when Mandriva met the ClassMate PC last year, and recently they still could cheer when Nigeria decided to buy Intel's Classmate PC loaded with Mandriva Linux. But now, Mandriva Linux's Chief Executive Officer François Bancilhon is telling a Halloween horror story of Microsoft in Nigeria:
linux 2007
We recently closed a deal with the Nigerian Government. Maybe you heard about it, Steve [Balmer]. They were looking for an affordable hardware+software solution for their schools. The initial batch was 17,000 machines. We had a good answer to their need: the Classmate PC from Intel, with a customized Mandriva Linux solution. We presented the solution to the local government, they liked the machine, they liked our system, they liked what we offered them, the fact that it was open, that we could customize i