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This is close to the inspiration for the One Laptop Per Child project, as far as I am aware. YLIP was a major philosophical impetus for it, and it was even name

This is close to the inspiration for the One Laptop Per Child project, as far as I am aware. YLIP was a major philosophical impetus for it, and it was even named "Nell" after the main character in Diamond Age. The Amazon Kindle was also codenamed "Fiona" after another main character, Fiona Hackworth.

gumby 9y ago
> This is close to the inspiration for the One Laptop Per Child project, as far as I am aware. YLIP was a major philosophical impetus for it... The OLPC was actually Nicholas Negroponte's second attempt at getting inexpensive computing to the developed world; I know because I worked for his first attempt at the CMIRH in 1982 & 1983. The Diamond Age wasn't even published until 1995. This isn't to say that many OLPC folks weren't inspired by the book, but the OLPC's inspiration goes much further back.
- na85 9y ago
  Is the OLPC considered a successful endeavor?
  - askvictor 9y ago
    In itself, probably not. (though I can't speak for the children and teachers who have gotten to use them in the real world). However, it changed the landscape for computing - netbooks, iPads and Chromebooks all arguably descend from olpc.
    - ghaff 9y ago
      That's probably generous. OLPC may have helped create an aspiration for cheaper portable computers. But netbooks themselves, as originally conceived, never amounted to much either. iPads are mostly consumption devices. And Chromebooks, while I'm a personal fan, are a marginal success. Tech advances have made it possible to buy pretty inexpensive laptops but I'm not sure how much credit OLPC deserves for that.
      - askvictor 9y ago
        OLPC showed that it was possible; before that companies didn't seem to be interested in seeing if they could. True netbooks never amounted to much, but they did show that there existed a market for basically a consumption device (web browser and movie-watcher). Which the iPad took up and make much more usable.
  - borgel 9y ago
    In an act of great timing, there was just a pretty decent article about this on The Verge [1]. [1]https://www.theverge.com/2018/4/16/17233946/olpcs-100-laptop-education-where-is-it-now https://www.theverge.com/2018/4/16/17233946/olpcs-100-laptop...

gumby 9y ago

> This is close to the inspiration for the One Laptop Per Child project, as far as I am aware. YLIP was a major philosophical impetus for it... The OLPC was actually Nicholas Negroponte's second attempt at getting inexpensive computing to the developed world; I know because I worked for his first attempt at the CMIRH in 1982 & 1983. The Diamond Age wasn't even published until 1995. This isn't to say that many OLPC folks weren't inspired by the book, but the OLPC's inspiration goes much further back.

na85 9y ago
Is the OLPC considered a successful endeavor?
- askvictor 9y ago
  In itself, probably not. (though I can't speak for the children and teachers who have gotten to use them in the real world). However, it changed the landscape for computing - netbooks, iPads and Chromebooks all arguably descend from olpc.
  - ghaff 9y ago
    That's probably generous. OLPC may have helped create an aspiration for cheaper portable computers. But netbooks themselves, as originally conceived, never amounted to much either. iPads are mostly consumption devices. And Chromebooks, while I'm a personal fan, are a marginal success. Tech advances have made it possible to buy pretty inexpensive laptops but I'm not sure how much credit OLPC deserves for that.
    - askvictor 9y ago
      OLPC showed that it was possible; before that companies didn't seem to be interested in seeing if they could. True netbooks never amounted to much, but they did show that there existed a market for basically a consumption device (web browser and movie-watcher). Which the iPad took up and make much more usable.
- borgel 9y ago
  In an act of great timing, there was just a pretty decent article about this on The Verge [1]. [1]https://www.theverge.com/2018/4/16/17233946/olpcs-100-laptop-education-where-is-it-now https://www.theverge.com/2018/4/16/17233946/olpcs-100-laptop...