[TriLUG] Anyone catch 60minutes last night concerning the OLPC?

[Israel J. Pattison]

>From that perspective, isn't the entire mission of OLPC something very close
to "dumping"?  The whole idea of the project is to flood certain markets
with devices at a fraction of the market price, right?  From a purely
business perspective this would be considered outrageous.  From a
humanitarian perspective (if you consider computing devices / network access
a humanitarian issue -- and that is very, very arguable) this is slightly
more palatable.

If this is a truly humanitarian effort, then the only appropriate response
is for anyone and everyone with means and conscience to contribute to the
project.  Does that mean that everyone has to collaborate with Negroponte to
contribute.  Intel's action says "No."

If this is a capitalist venture, then protecting the project from predatory
competitors is the cost of doing business.

Negroponte is trying to have his cake and eat it too.  As long as you give
him the money to implement his project, you're fine.  Especially if his MIT
lab gets to keep the rights to the intellectual property the project
generates.  But if you use your own resources to do the same thing, then
you're being predatory.

The man has a great mind for the future of technology and an interconnected
world.  I don't know if he is the right person to head up the OLPC.  Maybe
the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is available?

Israel

On 5/22/07, Glenn Hennessee <Glenn_Hennessee at ncsu.edu> wrote:
>
> Intel is evil IF they are selling their computers at below cost, i.e.
> dumping. Dumping is a tactic used to put a rival out of business by
> selling below your manufacturing cost and cheaper than your rival. Once
> your rival goes out of business you can jack the price up and charge
> whatever you want. IF Intel isn't dumping then they aren't evil but
> simply trying to enter a new market and Negroponte needs to get over it.
>
> glenn
>
> Greg Brown wrote:
> > So... Intel is evil for competing against OLPC?  How are they evil for
> > offering a choice of software?  I'm a bit unclear on who is doing evil
> to
> > whom.
> >
> > On 5/21/07, Mike Shaw <mdshaw89 at gmail.com> wrote:
> >> Looks like Intel is the evil-doer in this story:
> >>
> >> http://olpc.tv/2007/05/21/60-minutes/
> >>
> >> --
> >> In the future, it will be said that "America is really good at only 3
> >> things: Music, Software and Pizza Delivery", (Snow Crash, ~p20).
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>
> --
> Glenn Hennessee
> Department of Chemistry
> NC State University
> Raleigh, NC 27606
> Voice: (919) 515-2947 FAX: (919) 515-8909
> Email: Glenn_Hennessee at ncsu.edu
>
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