Why assume that every third world kid will suddenly become someone who is happy to mess about with a kernel for weeks?
I haven’t messed with a kernel in years, to be honest … probably 2001 was the last time I had to compile a kernel from scratch or change any kernel parameters.
I’d fully support a dual-boot solution for these laptops, but I couldn’t support a Windows-only version simply because of the licensing costs involved. Linus costs $0 to license and install on as many machines as you like. Windows has a much higher licensing cost. Further, new versions of Linux, whether they be security patches or full OS releases, will be available for the same cost of $0, whereas the kids who get the Windows machines (by definition of the project, typically poor kids from developing countries) will have to pay for new OS versions as they come out.
There are many foreign countries moving into Linux rather than Windows, specifically because of licensing and upgrade costs, as well as because Linux can make far better use of “less than modern” PC’s. The cost of upgrading is not a trivial concern when we are talking about developing nations, and thats one of the reasons Linux is favored in many of these projects. I don’t think we should ignore Windows, but it certainly shouldn’t be the only option available for a machine targeted at poor people from developing countries.
]]>I first saw the announcement on MIT Technology review:
]]>Microsoft has spent more than a year developing customized drivers that enable Windows to run on the XO. As a result, Windows now supports the laptop’s e-book reading mode, Wi-Fi networking, camera, writing pad and custom keys, power-saving features, and other hardware.
Blast. That must mean we have an evil triplet.
(Sorry that Akismet keeps treating your comments as spam and holding them for moderation.)
I agree with everyone here that IT teaching is usually rubbish. There are even bizarre and worthless certificates like the “European Computer Driving Licence” that you get by being able to copy and paste in Word.
]]>Agreeing with everyone above, IT education is pretty lousy. I had a college course that was nothing short of a joke, even for someone whose only computer experience outside of word processing had been programming a TRS80 back in elementary school. I also was required to take a “computers for teachers” course in grad school that was a painful, extended look at using various MS Office products. And they were “teaching” this to future teachers, unhealthy love of Powerpoint and all. Ugh. A friend and I successfully lobbied for this course to be dropped from the curriculum entirely until something that wasn’t such a complete waste of time could be devised.
I don’t think there is a huge danger of kids in the developing world being taught only to create powerpoint monstrosities. I just argue that they should have some access to the stuff that goobers everywhere use badly so that they know what they’re up against. Then they can go back to playing with the cool stuff that’s been developed for the OLPC. Kids are smart, and given time to muck about with various tools they’ll find the ones that work best.
]]>Once at school I found I could access everyone’s personal drive using the cunning hacking technique of Looking In Network Neighbourhood To See What’s There. You shouldn’t be able to hack anything using only a mouse. I told them and they fixed it, after which I looked in Network Neighbourhood again and found everyone’s passwords in a big bat file.
If IT qualifications measured relevant skills rather than knowledge of Excel then these problems would go away. Mostly. This is a whole other rant, though.
]]>The sad fact is too many people don’t even understand some of the basic features of their computer, like shortcut keys. This one bit of knowledge would increase productivity no end.
It’s a sorry state of affairs.
]]>If people were taught to ‘get’ computers and understand even vaguely how they worked then it wouldn’t matter a damn what OS they learned on; they’d be okay with any well-designed system. And that’s a far more useful education, because there are a lot of Linux PCs and Macs (and even Windows PCs running OpenOffice.org or something) dotted about the world and if you can’t get to grips with anything but Microsoft then you’re going to get stuck pretty soon. Teaching on several OSes is the ideal, but it’s harder so it’s probably not going to happen.
It would be a bit ridiculous if third-world children got better IT training than British children, but not exactly a big surprise.
]]>I may have to start signing myself Heather 1,0
]]>I agree completely about LInux. I know that Ubuntu is easy to use. Linux is an infinitely better choice than Microsoft,
However, I got the impression that these machines are to be dual-boot anyway,
My point was really that most development initiatives are driven by Western needs. Top-down development schemes that don’t take the needs of the recipients into account tend to have pretty bad effects,
How many Western governments. schools or large companies use Linux? If the governments that are getting these things say they want Microsoft, surely that’s their choice. Mostly, they’ll be paying for the things.
]]>I previewed my brother’s OLPC from the give one get one program last year, and was enamored of its cuteness and annoyed by its usability. A different user interface experience is a little like learning a new language. It’s fun if you want to do it, and probably a good idea for stretching your brain, but I really hate having to do it in order to simply make something work. Now, imagine you’re the kid who has only ever known how to use the interface on your school-issued OLPC, and you head off to secondary school or even college. The tool you knew so well is gone, and you have this whole new interface to get used to on top of dealing with a new school environment.
To make a completely politically incorrect comparison, it seems a lot to me like immigrants who don’t learn the native language of their new country. Everything is more difficult, they miss out on opportunities available to those who do speak the common language and often end up relegated to a lower socioeconomic class than they would expect for their level of education. I think it is fantastically short-sighted to equip the children of the developing world with a technological tool that is so very different from what they could expect to see as they continue their education and enter the workforce.
Regardless of the boundless wonders of the OLPC’s interface and the hegemonic evil that is Microsoft, kids in developing countries should have access to relevant tools. The more relevant, the more useful. Clearly, Microsoft knows a good thing when they see it-they’d be idiots not to provide the software for free, really. Kids, being much more clever than any of the do-gooders involved in this project seem to imagine, will learn how to work with XP and figure out its uses and comparative limitations. I’m mildly surprised that Apple hasn’t come up with a sleek version of OSX to just give to OLPC as well.
The more the merrier, I say. I can think of no better way to provide actual benefit to kids of the developing world than to give them a broad range of tools and turn ’em loose to learn and improve on them.
]]>The best part is that all the peripherals worked without problems. The laptop has used all the printers on my wireless Mac network without fail as shared printers. Linux has grown up, shaves and wears a clean t-shirt (with an Ubuntu logo on it) every day.
]]>