I don't understand why we need a program to spend millions of dollars to make laptops cheaper, when laptops get cheaper everywhere. I mean, that would be like setting up a world bank program to make water flow downhill.That must be one of the funniest and most insightful comments on the OLPC project. I suspect it's actually one of the most nagging questions that bothers folks who are not evil.
- Dr. Joel Selanikio co-founder of DataDyne in an interview with Jon Udell
But laptops hadn't been getting significantly cheaper. With Moore's Law, you can either use the circuit density increases to buy more performance at the same price or the same performance for less costs. OLPC along with other factors forced the recognition of a whole new market.
ReplyDeleteBut ultimately, OLPC could the be beginnings of something greater. 20+ years of Moore's Law has given us HW orders of magnitude faster, but our SW and user experiences have not progressed as much, not even close. I believe Negroponte when he says that today's laptops are in many ways slower than the first from 20yrs ago. Granted they do more, but how much of it b/c of legacy.
corntoole:
ReplyDeleteGood point. But the developments in the project over the last few months have been pretty bad. Negroponte's credibility is prety low.