Re: Zonbu

["Ben Holland" <user=122@nabble.blu.org>]

 Unfortunately  you have people in other governments saying things like "It 
doesn't run windows? I don't like the bugs of this OS. Teachers all have to 
learn on windows laptops." So basically when Microsoft came out with their 
3$ software bundle all countries will end up doing is staring at stuff like 
this, going, it's really cheep, stare at the bundle and go, hey it's really 
cheep! Get me a million of those... and totally missing the point of OLPC. 
It's unfortunate, OLPC is one hell of a laptop. ~Ben H. 

On Dec 14, 2007 1:45 PM, John Abreau <[hidden email]> wrote: 

> 
> 
> Matt Shields wrote: 
> > On Dec 14, 2007 12:18 PM, John Abreau <[hidden email]> wrote: 
> > 
> >> I don't see any indication that this will work in a remote 
> >> environment. It appears to require an Internet connection 
> >> and a subscription fee, and it doesn't look like it can survive 
> >> being dropped in a bathtub, a mud puddle, or a sandstorm. 
> >> Where's the zero-conf mesh network? Instant access to the 
> >> source code of the OS and all applications? 
> >> 
> >> This doesn't look to me like competition. 
> >> 
> > 
> > Reminds me of the i-Opener (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I-Opener). 
> > You got a really cheap computer/terminal but you were obligated to pay 
> > for something for a period of time.  For the i-Opener you paid for 
> > their $24.95/month internet service for 2 years, here you're paying 
> > for OS updates.  If you don't fulfill your contract you're hit with a 
> > charge.  At least this they give you the option to purchase the device 
> > (at a higher cost) without updates so you don't have to pay the 
> > monthly fee. 
> > 
> 
> If the objective is just a really cheap laptop, then maybe this 
> could be a contender. But that's not the fundamental purpose 
> of the OLPC project.  The purpose of OLPC, as I understand it, 
> is to provide educational resources to the poorest kids on 
> the planet, on the theory that education is the most important 
> part of any long-term solution to their problems. 
> 
> Bundling an educational infrastructure in the form of a mesh 
> network of cheap, hardened laptops to enable self-study is 
> essentially a recognition that traditional schools full of teachers 
> are often politically and economically infeasible in those parts 
> of the world. 
> 
> -- 
> John Abreau 
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> 
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