[9fans] A look at the OLPC environment

[9fans] A look at the OLPC environment

[Ronald G Minnich]

http://wiki.laptop.org/index.php/Sugar


ron

Re: [9fans] A look at the OLPC environment

[Charles Forsyth]

>http://wiki.laptop.org/index.php/Sugar

i thought the interactive javascript/logo web page (http://www.logowiki.net)
was rather more amusing, and i liked the (continuing old) idea of trying to get children
cranking out some programs rather than just cranking up some power to flick about on the web!

    ``It goes against the grain of modern education to teach children
      to program.  What fun is there in making plans,
      acquiring discipline in organizing thoughts, devoting attention to
      detail and learning to be self-critical?''

    ``Perhaps if we wrote programs from childhood on, as adults we'd be able
     to read them. However, reading a program is not like reading a book, it
     is more like being a psychiatrist to a recumbent patient.''

	-- both from Alan Perlis (Epigrams on Programming)

Re: [9fans] A look at the OLPC environment

[Ronald G Minnich]

The goals of OLPC are really admirable. They're thinking. It's NOT just 
a 'cheap craptop'.

In e-book mode, due to clever hardware design, it can run on 22 hours on 
  a charge.

ron

Re: [9fans] A look at the OLPC environment

[rog]

i'm just amazed they think it's possible to have a laptop + 1200x900 display for less than $100.
i want one!

Re: [9fans] A look at the OLPC environment

[Charles Forsyth]

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that's the (nearly) easy bit.
(nearly) because you're not allowed to have the cool looking ones,
because they want to tag them visually so people know when a
child has been mugged to get one

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From: rog@vitanuova.com
To: 9fans@cse.psu.edu
Subject: Re: [9fans] A look at the OLPC environment
Date: Thu, 15 Jun 2006 21:34:27 +0100
Message-ID: <ef3f06dc5205f7ba9ce90df21fdf26e9@vitanuova.com>

i'm just amazed they think it's possible to have a laptop + 1200x900 display for less than $100.
i want one!

Re: [9fans] A look at the OLPC environment

[Ronald G Minnich]

rog@vitanuova.com wrote:
> i'm just amazed they think it's possible to have a laptop + 1200x900 display for less than $100.
> i want one!

you don't. it's ergonomically designed for kids. I've tried typing on 
that keyboard and it's impossible.

ron

Re: [9fans] A look at the OLPC environment

[Wes Kussmaul]

rog@vitanuova.com wrote:

>i'm just amazed they think it's possible to have a laptop + 1200x900 display for less than $100.
>i want one!
>  
>
Every time I see a $79 DVD player at Costco I think, what's the big deal 
about the OLPC? A hundred bucks? Hey, maybe I can beat that and still 
make a few sheckels. At $100 OLPC may be overpriced, expecially if there 
are no retailer margins.

-- 
Wes Kussmaul
CIO
The Village Group
738 Main Street
Waltham, MA 02451

781-647-7178


My uncle likes to say that the world’s biggest troubles started when the serpent said, “Try this fruit, and by the way if a bunch of people collectively calling themselves Arthur Andersen signs something it’s the same as if a person named Arthur Andersen signed it.” I don’t get the serpent and fruit part. Must be some Swiss mythology thing. He can be a bit obscure. 

                         P.K. Iggy
                         _How I Like Fixed The Internet_
                           (Tales from the Great Infodepression of 2009
                           and the prosperity that followed)

Re: [9fans] A look at the OLPC environment

[Dave Eckhardt]

> i'm just amazed they think it's possible to have a
> laptop + 1200x900 display for less than $100.

Interestingly enough, every time I've looked over their
material, there is something about how the machines will
not be available for sale to just anybody, but will be
sold only through government educational programs.  This
makes sense only if they cost more than $100 to produce--
for example, if it were *less* than $100, they'd be
thrilled to sell you one for $100 and use the profit to
make more machines for kids.

Dave Eckhardt

Re: [9fans] A look at the OLPC environment

[Eric Van Hensbergen]

Actually at USENIX they said they were considering the possibility of
selling a $300 model that would help fund the $100 models.  The $300
model would look different (so they could tell if you mugged a kid for
one), and might have an adult-size keyboard.

          -eric


On 6/16/06, Dave Eckhardt <davide+p9@cs.cmu.edu> wrote:
> > i'm just amazed they think it's possible to have a
> > laptop + 1200x900 display for less than $100.
>
> Interestingly enough, every time I've looked over their
> material, there is something about how the machines will
> not be available for sale to just anybody, but will be
> sold only through government educational programs.  This
> makes sense only if they cost more than $100 to produce--
> for example, if it were *less* than $100, they'd be
> thrilled to sell you one for $100 and use the profit to
> make more machines for kids.
>
> Dave Eckhardt
>

Re: [9fans] A look at the OLPC environment

[Wes Kussmaul]

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Dave Eckhardt wrote:

>>i'm just amazed they think it's possible to have a
>>laptop + 1200x900 display for less than $100.
>>    
>>
>if it were *less* than $100, they'd be
>thrilled to sell you one for $100 and use the profit to
>make more machines for kids.
>
>Dave Eckhardt
>  
>
Here's a VideoNow player for less than $30 retail:
http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=4012133#Features+%26+Specifications

Take away Wal*Mart's margin and the fancy packaging and it would 
probably cost $15 fob factory.

Nowhere near the quality of OLPC of course but if you put in a big 
enough order with a manufacturer of DVD players for a machine replacing 
the DVD drive with a keyboard, add ethernet and a couple of gigs of 
flash and you could sell OLPWC (Western Cheapo) for under a hundred 
dollars and make money on it.

-- 
Wes Kussmaul
CIO
The Village Group
738 Main Street
Waltham, MA 02451

781-647-7178


My uncle likes to say that the world's biggest troubles started when the serpent said, "Try this fruit, and by the way if a bunch of people collectively calling themselves Arthur Andersen signs something it's the same as if a person named Arthur Andersen signed it." I don't get the serpent and fruit part. Must be some Swiss mythology thing. He can be a bit obscure. 

                         P.K. Iggy
                         _How I Like Fixed The Internet_
                           (Tales from the Great Infodepression of 2009
                           and the prosperity that followed)



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Re: [9fans] A look at the OLPC environment

[Ronald G Minnich]

Dave Eckhardt wrote:
>>i'm just amazed they think it's possible to have a
>>laptop + 1200x900 display for less than $100.
> 
> 
> Interestingly enough, every time I've looked over their
> material, there is something about how the machines will
> not be available for sale to just anybody, but will be
> sold only through government educational programs.  This
> makes sense only if they cost more than $100 to produce--

The $100 goal is incredibly ambitious. It's that simple.

ron

Re: [9fans] A look at the OLPC environment

[Ronald G Minnich]

Wes Kussmaul wrote:

> Nowhere near the quality of OLPC of course but if you put in a big 
> enough order with a manufacturer of DVD players for a machine replacing 
> the DVD drive with a keyboard, add ethernet and a couple of gigs of 
> flash and you could sell OLPWC (Western Cheapo) for under a hundred 
> dollars and make money on it.

I'm not convinced it's that easy. I've seen the components prices and it 
sure looks hard to me to lower the price much. What's the target volume 
of that dvd player?

ron

Re: [9fans] A look at the OLPC environment

[Wes Kussmaul]

Ronald G Minnich wrote:

> Wes Kussmaul wrote:
>
>> Nowhere near the quality of OLPC of course but if you put in a big 
>> enough order with a manufacturer of DVD players for a machine 
>> replacing the DVD drive with a keyboard, add ethernet and a couple of 
>> gigs of flash and you could sell OLPWC (Western Cheapo) for under a 
>> hundred dollars and make money on it.
>
>
> I'm not convinced it's that easy. I've seen the components prices and 
> it sure looks hard to me to lower the price much. What's the target 
> volume of that dvd player?

Well that's the thing. The committed volume for that DVD player is 
surely huge. But the economies that are a byproduct of the huge DVD 
player volume are now available to others with only semi-huge commitments.

-- 
Wes Kussmaul
CIO
The Village Group
738 Main Street
Waltham, MA 02451

781-647-7178


My uncle likes to say that the world’s biggest troubles started when the serpent said, “Try this fruit, and by the way if a bunch of people collectively calling themselves Arthur Andersen signs something it’s the same as if a person named Arthur Andersen signed it.” I don’t get the serpent and fruit part. Must be some Swiss mythology thing. He can be a bit obscure. 

                         P.K. Iggy
                         _How I Like Fixed The Internet_
                           (Tales from the Great Infodepression of 2009
                           and the prosperity that followed)

Re: [9fans] A look at the OLPC environment

[Dave Eckhardt]

> Here's a VideoNow player for less than $30 retail [...]

It looks as if it plays "special" disks, so, just like a game
console, the price of the device may be subsidized by the
price of the accessories.

> Nowhere near the quality of OLPC of course but if you put in a big
> enough order with a manufacturer of DVD players for a machine replacing
> the DVD drive with a keyboard, add ethernet and a couple of gigs of
> flash and you could sell OLPWC (Western Cheapo) for under a hundred
> dollars and make money on it.

...and then I expect a lot of people will buy one.  The more time
that goes by without somebody doing something they could "clearly"
make money at, the less clear it is that they actually could.

Dave Eckhardt

Re: [9fans] A look at the OLPC environment

[Dave Eckhardt]

> Actually at USENIX they said they were considering the possibility
> of selling a $300 model that would help fund the $100 models.

That would seem to me to bracket the cost of the "$100" machines
at somewhere above $100 (my claim) and below $300 (which I have
no trouble believing--but which is no headline-grabber).

Dave Eckhardt

Re: [9fans] A look at the OLPC environment

[Jack Johnson]

On 6/17/06, Dave Eckhardt <davide+p9@cs.cmu.edu> wrote:
> > Actually at USENIX they said they were considering the possibility
> > of selling a $300 model that would help fund the $100 models.
>
> That would seem to me to bracket the cost of the "$100" machines
> at somewhere above $100 (my claim) and below $300 (which I have
> no trouble believing--but which is no headline-grabber).

Actually, it's a PledgeBank thing:

"If he does offer it, then I will buy one at three times the cost and
thus contribute to supplying two to the proposed users."

http://www.pledgebank.com/100laptop

The target is still $100 by 2008, but they're predicting $135 to $140
at first sight.

Also realize that no one is building them per se, but designing
everything from the factory and supply chain on up so you can build
your own factory in Uruguay or Mozambique or wherever (either private,
grant-funded or fully government-funded) to bootstrap your own
educational technology program.

It's always been expected that the U.S. market for these things will
be non-existent, except to us geeks who want to fiddle with and/or
lambaste it.

-Jack

Re: [9fans] A look at the OLPC environment

[Ronald G Minnich]

Wes Kussmaul wrote:

> Well that's the thing. The committed volume for that DVD player is 
> surely huge. But the economies that are a byproduct of the huge DVD 
> player volume are now available to others with only semi-huge commitments.
> 

one other issue. We are assuming that money is made on that DVD player. 
Do we know that for sure?

ron