What every government should ask itself when considering an ebook deployment
The viewpoints expressed hereunder do not necessarily reflect the opinion of OLPC. They are an input by the free and volunteering community supporting OLPC.
| Questions and answers to the Competition | OLPC |
|---|---|
| How many of specifically these laptops have you actually sold? A couple of thousand? Note: propriety software, version x and hardware component y will react differently to e.g. printers/internet/etc. than a twin copy laptop with propriety software, version x+1 and hardware component y or propriety software, version x and hardware component y+1. Let alone all other combinations. The fact is there isn't a single producer that comes near the numbers as OLPC: OLPC has NATION wide deployments! | How many of specifically these laptops have you sold? A couple of thousand? OLPC: The fact is there isn't a single producer that comes near the numbers as OLPC: OLPC has NATION wide deployments! Hundreds of thousands of laptops, not made for making a profit, but where the child and the education comes first and is the only place. The children are not "a market", they are OLPC's mission! |
| How many different screws are there in the laptop? 8 Different types, needing 3 different and difficult to find screwdrivers and some other tools to lift things! | How many different screws are there in the laptop? OLPC laptops/ebooks have 1 type of screws, can be unscrewed easily with the same easy to find standard screwdriver. OLPC laptops are made to be repaired, even by kids !!! Again, kids nor the ministry of education is to be considered as a market, they are OLPC's mission ! |
| Are you an open hardware and software project? No. | Are you an open hardware and software project? Yes. OLPC is just like the wikipedia, like linux and open office ... we combine the power of massive collaboration with massive orders to get minimum prices. |
| What are your ideals? Make as much profit as possible. E.g. use tiny little hidden screws, so that when you want to repair the laptop, you break something beyond repair and you void the warrenty. We sneak in a laptop very cheaply and we don't tell you we're actually going to make money by selling you all kind of "services", proprietary soft and hardware that's programmed to fail and things you don't need afterwards. We make you good consumers. Look out for the next container load as they have the newer and improved charger 2X which of course doesn't fit with the original charger, which you'll have to dispose off, but the 2X is so much better looking :) ? | What are your ideals? Millennium Development Goal nr. 2: Bringing Universal Primary Education. The OLPC laptop is both an open hardware as software project. The hardware and operating system is dedicated to kids. Hardware: the keyboard is made for children's fingers. They are no use to adults to prevent stealing. They are also the greenest laptops in the world. They consume very little power. No toxic elements have been used. There is a special recycling program. The little energy the laptop needs can be provided by a PV panel. Kids are not our market, kids are OLPC's mission. Connect with the largest educational initiative ever undertaken by Humanity ! Don't go for anything less! Another laptop has a little nifty something? Wait until we place an order of 1 million of these components and leave competition behind us. Laptop deployments in education are not just hardware projects. It's about developing the highest average speed: open and free soft and hardware where everybody in the educational sector in the WHOLE WORLD can collaborate. It's about allowing kids to collaborate, not about one kid having the latest / fastest gadget at 3 times the price because one parent can pay for it. They are not match to a world wide community continuously improving, building, exchanging. The kid with his high-tech machine will be just left out of that crucial topic what it is all about actually: collaborating, sharing, building improving. And how much technological advance does he/she actually have? It's just a matter of a couple of months when OLPC shifts gear again - continuously - in speed and other characteristics. Sometimes OLPC is a bit faster, sometimes a bit slower. But it's average speed in implementing new things is unmatched. How is any other distributor going to get better prices than whole governments worldwide ordering laptops that can be folded to ebooks all together and all the time? |
| Can your laptop be powered straight by a PV panel? No | Can your laptop be powered straight by a PV panel? YES, OLPC laptops are quoted to be the greenest laptops around. They need very little power and the little they need can be provided by plugging in a light flexible PV panel. The screen is so that kids can read them even when they are in direct sunlight. |
| Is your laptop designed for kids? No | Is your laptop designed for kids? Yes, OLPC laptop are very tough and can stand rough handling, falling, etc. Basically it's a strong box that can be flipped around, like a laptop but also like an ebook. 2 for the price of one ! You need a keyboard for serious working. A tablet for reading or playing games. Here you have both. The keyboard is made for kids hands and of no use for adults. This helps preventing theft by adults. |
| What experience to you have deploying your laptops nation wide? None | What experience to you have deploying your laptops nation wide? In all over 2,5 million laptops have been deployed. Several countries have nation wide OLPC deployment. Many island states, but also countries like Peru and Uruguay. More: http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Deployment |
| Does your laptop's vision aligns and helps the Ministry of Education / Schools / Principles / Educators / Kids connecting with Open Source collaboration projects? No | Does your laptop's vision aligns and helps the Ministry of Education / Schools / Principles / Educators / Kids connecting with Open Source collaboration projects? Yes, that's one of OLPC's founding principles. With connected laptops, learners are liberated to actively engage with others with similar missions and harnassing the free power and intelligence that is available world wide: connecting teachers to collaborate in making the BEST book for their discipline, connecting to wikibooks, a sister project of the wikipedia, and many many more. |
| What anti-theft strategy do you have? None ... buy software to prevent and relocate laptops? | What anti-theft strategy do you have? Theft has been taken into account from the concept. After all OLPC was meant for the poorest first. Every laptop is unique and can be switched-off from a distance. All parts are logged. Apart from that there's some other factors: OLPC goes for region wide deployments, every kid gets a laptop, no one gets left out. So why steal one when you have one of your own. An adult running around with these very distinguishable OLPC laptops? You'd make a fool out of yourself. Everybody knows they're for kids only. Besides your adult fingers don't fit on the keyboard. You'll get very annoyed very quickly. And who are you going to sell it to? Everyone has one. And it's switched off from a distance anyhow. And we CAN trace you .. it's all networked after all, isnt' it? |
| Do you come with a solution or with a problem? Just throwing in some laptops inside a school is a problem. Where to turn for free support? What software should be on it? How does that software work? Didn't we want interactive ebook versions of our school-books? My laptop doesn't reboot, what now? | Do you come with a solution or with a problem? 100% spot on! OLPC is an education project, not a laptop project. Just throwing in some laptops inside a school is a problem and can be a drain for very valuable money. With OLPC you connect to a worldwide community of supporters that go for open and free soft and hardware. Indeed, the OLPC laptops are easy to open and to exchange some component with a newer version. That way you always have an up to date machine. OLPC laptops are made to last, not programmed to fail ! OLPC is not a laptop project, hence OLPC doesn't "throw laptops" inside classrooms and then let's the teachers and the minister of education take the heat. OLPC comes with a staged approach:
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| Do you have an open platform for collaboration among users? No | Do you have an open platform for collaboration among users? Yes, several. OLPC offers a wiki, discussion mailing lists an even chatrooms for instant feedback and solution providing. More and more schools and governments make financial resources available to be present in these chatrooms to feedback governments / ministries / teachers and kids that have questions; be they organizational, hardware, software, or whatever. |
| Does your laptop generates money? No, it just costs money. | Does your laptop generates money? Yes, OLPC educational project normally print CO2e certificates, i.e. CO2e money. A normal laptop uses x+1 kWh, an OLPC laptop only uses x kWh and whatever that little bit of energy is, it produces it with PV panels. For every ton of CO2e NOT emitted into the atmosphere, the OLPC project "prints/generates" a CO2e certificate. More:--SvenAERTS 15:27, 17 April 2013 (UTC) |
