While reading about Pyjamas I came across a sidebar note that mentioned part of the OLPC team, and wondered "What has happened to the OLPC" - and so had a look.
It seems like they've passed the initial press honeymoon and are settling down into the business stage - "while the days of ubiquitous praise and head-spinning press about the OLPC project are long past, the organization is actually settling into a pace and place where it could make by far its biggest impact in the next few years ahead."
Now it seems like their direction has become a little more political rather than technical due to the effects of new technology on their market. An interesting case study as it is a humanitarian organisation, so does not need to keep its history / direction as shielded as a typical business - “The interesting thing about now versus five years ago—five years ago, we had to build a laptop, because there wasn’t a laptop” geared for the developing world, he says. Now, Negroponte says, it’s possible that “we don’t have to build a tablet. All we [might] have to do is threaten to build a tablet. And what’s interesting is that the key features of our tablet are ideas we want people to copy. So our IP will be as open as humanly possible.”
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[ 1.7 ms ] story [ 14.1 ms ] threadIt seems like they've passed the initial press honeymoon and are settling down into the business stage - "while the days of ubiquitous praise and head-spinning press about the OLPC project are long past, the organization is actually settling into a pace and place where it could make by far its biggest impact in the next few years ahead."
Now it seems like their direction has become a little more political rather than technical due to the effects of new technology on their market. An interesting case study as it is a humanitarian organisation, so does not need to keep its history / direction as shielded as a typical business - “The interesting thing about now versus five years ago—five years ago, we had to build a laptop, because there wasn’t a laptop” geared for the developing world, he says. Now, Negroponte says, it’s possible that “we don’t have to build a tablet. All we [might] have to do is threaten to build a tablet. And what’s interesting is that the key features of our tablet are ideas we want people to copy. So our IP will be as open as humanly possible.”