Robert, I'm looking forward to your review of the OLPC. From what I have read, it has some really neat interface/interaction innovations. Then the peer networking, low power consumption, and so on.
As regards the skepticism. I have spent 60% of my life in India and 40% in the US, and lived in both large cities and small towns (in both countries). I have been involved with startups and had the pleasure of interacting with some really smart people doing bleeding edge technology research. It was all very heady and exciting. Time and experience have mellowed me. Lots of very cool stuff never took off. Some of it was due to foolish business decisions, and some others due to plain lack of vision. But many of those cool technologies that I was dazzled by, seem rather silly, in retrospect. Techies more often than not, mean well, and a significant fraction will admit to a deep-seated need to make a positive impact on the world by helping the less-privileged. But that does not always translate into ideas and actions that 'succeed'. I have encountered too many instances of intended beneficiaries spurning or misusing the 'wonderful gifts' that Benevolent Wizards From Distant Lands have designed and built for them. My limited understanding of the OLPC project is that it was almost entirely designed and built under the aegis of MIT's Totally Cool Media Lab in near-perfect conditions and in an environment overloaded with Very Smart People. Hence my skepticism. Regards, murli ________________________________________________________________ *Come to IxDA Interaction08 | Savannah* February 8-10, 2008 in Savannah, GA, USA Register today: http://interaction08.ixda.org/ ________________________________________________________________ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ....... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help
