4 ms·

Let me preface by saying I hate, hate, hate, hate, hate, hate, hate the XO-1. In my year and a half or so of blogging it's probably the only blog topic that m

Let me preface by saying I hate, hate, hate, hate, hate, hate, hate the XO-1. In my year and a half or so of blogging it's probably the only blog topic that managed to enrage me (http://www.tomstechblog.com/post/Rarely-Am-I-Actually-Angered-by-Something-I-Read-But-This-Piece-of-Drek-Managed-To-Do-It.aspx http://www.tomstechblog.com/post/Rarely-Am-I-Actually-Angere...) So I'm biased. That said I'd argue the OLPC doesn't do much to teach kids how to be computer literate either. Look at the screen shots and you'll see the thing has more in common with a $99 calculator than it does with a PC of any kind. It's design centers around a few specialized apps and the Internet which are both things the iPod touch does better. So while I don't 100% agree with the author (a keyboard would be nice) his point is a good one. The OLPC is a lousy product that only gets by because it's aimed at people who supposedly have no other choice. But the iPod touch being at the price point it is means there ARE other choices which in turn makes the OLPC just a crappy project. Poor people deserve great computing experiences too!

TrevorJ 17y ago
Valid points. I wish that simply making slightly outdated equipment easily available to anyone who wants it, but doesn't have the economic means would gain more traction. Even if the hardware/software is outdated moving from windows 95 to windows Vista is less of a cognitive leap than going from Sugar to Windows or Linux or something. I think we sell kids short in terms of how much they can catch onto by playing around. I don't see the point in giving them a dumbed-down OS instead of a 'real' one.
- TomOfTTB 17y ago
  Netbooks are getting to that point. They're both in the pircerannge of the OLPC (with a hefty discount for Governments buying in the 100,000 range) and they have mass market appeal behind them which should hopefully push software. Honestly, I'm surprised the market for netbook specific children's games isn't larger
  - TrevorJ 17y ago
    What would you consider 'netbook specific'? I've been able to run several mainstream games on my netbook pretty decently.
- andreyf 17y ago
  I think Sugar is "a dumbed-down OS" the way Picasso made "dumbed down paintings".
stcredzero 17y ago
It's design centers around a few specialized apps and the Internet This is a straw man. Of course mass production and competition were going to drive down the cost of access to the internet. The OLPC is designed to give children access to the internals of computation. The original design was to center around the idea of being able to take apart and tinker with any part of the source code, and get instant results, but always be able to back any changes out, so there are no negative consequences no matter how much tinkering you do. It was originally designed to let kids tinker with computers and programming.
- TomOfTTB 17y ago
  I don't think that's true at all. I've read almost every review of the thing and I own one myself and there's very little focus put on the source editing ability (which I'll admit is probably the only think about the thing that I find impressive). Most reviews mention it as an after thought. Moreover if it's designed for kids in developing countries I'd think Internet access is much more valuable to them than development of their Python programming skills (meaning if there is a primary feature it would be that).
  - stcredzero 17y ago
    At first, internet access is going to be the most valuable. But what if some of those kids go on to tinker with the thing and start tweaking code? This is why everything possible in the OLPC is written in Python! It's not because Python is "cool." It's because Python is simple, and can give instant feedback. Perhaps a browser with access to w3schools and JavaScript is going to be better, though. Certainly cheaper.

TrevorJ 17y ago

Valid points. I wish that simply making slightly outdated equipment easily available to anyone who wants it, but doesn't have the economic means would gain more traction. Even if the hardware/software is outdated moving from windows 95 to windows Vista is less of a cognitive leap than going from Sugar to Windows or Linux or something. I think we sell kids short in terms of how much they can catch onto by playing around. I don't see the point in giving them a dumbed-down OS instead of a 'real' one.

TomOfTTB 17y ago
Netbooks are getting to that point. They're both in the pircerannge of the OLPC (with a hefty discount for Governments buying in the 100,000 range) and they have mass market appeal behind them which should hopefully push software. Honestly, I'm surprised the market for netbook specific children's games isn't larger
- TrevorJ 17y ago
  What would you consider 'netbook specific'? I've been able to run several mainstream games on my netbook pretty decently.
andreyf 17y ago
I think Sugar is "a dumbed-down OS" the way Picasso made "dumbed down paintings".

stcredzero 17y ago

It's design centers around a few specialized apps and the Internet This is a straw man. Of course mass production and competition were going to drive down the cost of access to the internet. The OLPC is designed to give children access to the internals of computation. The original design was to center around the idea of being able to take apart and tinker with any part of the source code, and get instant results, but always be able to back any changes out, so there are no negative consequences no matter how much tinkering you do. It was originally designed to let kids tinker with computers and programming.

TomOfTTB 17y ago
I don't think that's true at all. I've read almost every review of the thing and I own one myself and there's very little focus put on the source editing ability (which I'll admit is probably the only think about the thing that I find impressive). Most reviews mention it as an after thought. Moreover if it's designed for kids in developing countries I'd think Internet access is much more valuable to them than development of their Python programming skills (meaning if there is a primary feature it would be that).
- stcredzero 17y ago
  At first, internet access is going to be the most valuable. But what if some of those kids go on to tinker with the thing and start tweaking code? This is why everything possible in the OLPC is written in Python! It's not because Python is "cool." It's because Python is simple, and can give instant feedback. Perhaps a browser with access to w3schools and JavaScript is going to be better, though. Certainly cheaper.