The Machine That Changed The World – A critique of the (OLPC) One Laptop Per Child project

(You may wish to increase the font for your reading pleasure – due to an operating error, we are not able to adjust this encrypted document sent on a Nokia Communicator) 

Recently, during a luncheon I was asked by my host what I thought about the new OLPC, The New York Times. Take an excellent look at the commentary by the BBC (the rest of the reviews, you can throw. This is probably where they ripped it from! Remember, I am the man who calls a spade a spade).

First touch: Great stuff. Loved the curved edges, reminded me of the corn yellow child proof chairs in McDonalds. Shame about the key board though, what’s wrong with them? Well for starters they’re too small.

Besides we all know the the Linux-based XO laptop is so bug infested, the OLPC might as well come with a year supply of free roach spray. From an operating standpoint, the implementation of the tech is just incredibly difficult to understand. And I am going to say, it’s one of the dummest configurations I have ever come across.

Let me give you an example: In their zeal to hatch the machine that could change the world, the folks in OLPC used a cumbersome operating system. Look I have nothing against using Flash to load a game or to watch some kid setting his hair on fire in YouTube, but because it uses Flash, it also requires users to go into a terminal line-code i.e machine language and type a long internet address instead of just cutting and pasting the address – who the hell does that these days!

Now am I saying some impoverish kid in central Africa is going to get so frustrated he’s going to stick voodoo needles into his new freebie computer – no, but my point stands; couldn’t they come up with a simpler way to make stuff work?

Through out the demo, I chewed on my hanky. Yes, P-A-T-I-E-N-C-E is definitely the word, yes I was even benevolent, enough to even say to myself come, come darkness, this is for kids who have never ever sat on a jet plane before, never known running tap water. OK, the OLPC is hardly a new concept, it belongs to the genre of products and initiatives that carries the “world” tag – we have all see it before haven’t we in the form of the Volkswagen – the peoples car. Hey that was hardly a perfect concept. First of all it was designed by none other than Adolf Hitler aka the man who gave a whole new meaning to communal showers, can you think of a worse marketing agent? But that didn’t haf kill off the beetle. Yes, we all know the VW looked dorky with it’s air-cooled engine and armadillo clam shell design, but it had one redeeming feature; designed to be so common and basic, it left a lot of room for improvisation; that was simplicity unto it’self and it made it; a sure fire winner with millions.

That could just be the decider that tips the scale for the OLPC. Yes, the OS is slow, but then again, I  am reminded speed is relative. The advantage of using an open system like linux is if it goes on the blink, one doesn’t need to call any of the famous rappers in IDA or write in to the 2.2 million dollar man. Neither are users beholden to fat cat ‘you either pay or go and die’ vendors who extort no end rates like they do for Apple and IBM to fix them – here the local economy kicks in, what I call the rubberband, super glue and duct tape brigade – (trust me, even the brotherhood cannot do without them, every time our system goes on the blink, it’s these boys who step in and get it running again – cheapy cheap). Here we really see the real punch of the OLPC, it’s limitless capacity to recruit hobbyists, amatuers or just a bunch of kids soldering lousy components in garages. The real beauty of the OLPC is anyone with a bit of computer know-how can aspire to be a service provider and value adder, so don’t be surprised. If a Bill Gates emerges from the heart of darkness one day.

If there is one compelling reason why I had to say ‘yes’ to this machine, it would be for this one reason alone;  Ultimately the OLPC initiative will be remembered less for what it delivered in terms of quality and performance than the products, people and state of minds it spawned. The initiative is significant as it’s really like trying to drive around the whole of Singapore with just one gallon of petrol; they said, it cannot be done! No one even believes it can be done because price has always been it’s prime nemesis, but now that it’s done –  the sound barrier has been broken, the imaginary line has been crossed, the world is finally round! That could well be the only legacy of the OLPC – it’s price.  

The OLPC may not hit all my hot buttons - do I think it was a big mistake not to incorporate solar panels? Yes (I even wrote a 4 page engineering report to the OLPC team and believe it or not, they actually came back with a 48 page reply!). What about the componentry? Yes, it could have been much better, but, hey, it’s easy for me to knock it no end. I am not the one who needs to balance the books or deal with the tech mafia. Whatever, you want to say about the OLPC, one thing stands tall, the price: it’s  impossible to fault. It definitely sets a new benchmark in costing and this could well be the only reason why the OLPC may just be the machine that stands a good chance of changing this crummy world. If you can’t see that then you might as well go and give your money to that crooked pastor who keeps telling everyone Jesus asked him to build anothe good-for-nothing shopping mall – between empowering a few poor kids somewhere with OLPC or forking out a small fortune for a gold plated shit pot for some pastor to plant his fat ass on, the choice is clear for me this 2008 - I’ve go with the OLPC and those kiddies any day!

Darkness, Pumpman & Scholarboy 2008

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