Dear All,
Here is some of the insights from discussion on the same thread in
BytesForALL group from Edvard for all your perusal.
Regards,
HS
From: Edward Cherlin <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Date: Fri, May 2, 2008 at 3:19 AM
Subject: Re: [bytesforall_readers] Can we rescue OLPC from Windows?: RMS
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED], OLPC Devel <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,
[EMAIL PROTECTED], Wayan Vota <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
I am in the middle of this controversy, having succeeded in engaging
Nicholas Negroponte in a conversation. He still doesn't answer the question
you ask him, so it's going to take a little doing. Nicholas has been
diagnosed as dyslexic, and I suspect that he also has Attention Deficit, as
I do. ADHD impusiveness would partly explain some of his more peculiar
pronouncements, if he does. Both ADHD and dyslexia are associated with
creativity and compassion, according to the researchers, so they may in fact
be essential elements of a project like OLPC, or of Free Software. We are
also known for inaccurate self-image, and disdain for the conventional, but
it all takes very different forms in different people.
They also say that ADHD and dyslexia are endemic in the geek/nerd
population. My observations bear this out for ADHD, but I don't really know
how much dyslexia there is among my friends in the business.
On Thu, May 1, 2008 at 1:52 AM, Frederick FN Noronha
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> From: Hempal Shrestha <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> Date: 2008/5/1
> Subject: [FOSSNepal] Fwd: {OLPC Nepal} Can we rescue OLPC from Windows?:
RMS
> To: [email protected]
>
> Dear All,
>
> Here is what RMS is asking, How are the OLPC things going to take > shape
in Nepal?
> Source:
http://www.fsf.org/blogs/rms/can-we-rescue-olpc-from-windows/blogentry_view
OLPC Nepal is in excellent shape. http://wiki.laptop.org/go/OLPC_Nepal
"OLPC launched at Bashuki and Bishwamitra schools on April 25th, 2008.Open
Learning Exchange Nepal (OLE Nepal) distributed a total of 135 OLPC laptops
to grade 2 and 6 students from two schools in the outskirts of Kathmandu
Valley. These were addition to the 22 laptops that were handed out to
teachers from the schools during the teacher preparation program held a
month ago. The laptop project was undertaken in partnership with Nepal
government's Department of
Education (DoE). This project is part of OLE Nepal's mission to increase
quality of education while reducing current disparity in access and quality
between school types, regions, and population groups by integrating
ICT-based education in daily teaching-learning process. The laptops for the
project were donated by the Danish IT Society in Copenhagen. "
> Regards,
>
> Hempal Shrestha
>
====================================================================================
>
> Can we rescue OLPC from Windows?
> by Richard Stallman
>
> I read Negroponte's statement presenting the OLPC XO as a platform for
Windows in the most ironic circumstances possible: during a week of
> preparing, under a deadline, to migrate personally to an XO.
>
> I made this decision for one specific reason: freedom. The IBM T23s > that
I have used for many years are adequate in practice, and the > system and
applications running on them are entirely free software, > but the BIOS is
not. I want to use a laptop with a free software BIOS, > and the XO is the
only one.
That's Open FirmWare, GPLed by Sun. Holding down a certain button on the XO
while booting takes you to the OFW Forth prompt (ok), and lets you examine
and modify the code.
> The XO's usual software load is not 100% free; it has a non-free >
firmware program to run the wireless chip.
I talked with rms at one of Rick Moen's installfests in Menlo Park, CA,
about the proprietary microkernel on the Marvell wireless chip, and created
a project to replace it with Free Software.
http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Marvell_microkernel I'm pinging the volunteers to
see how far along they are.
> That means I cannot fully > promote the XO as it stands, but it was easy
for me solve that problem > for my own machine: I just deleted that file.
That made the internal > wireless chip inoperative, but I can do without it.
> > As always happens, problems arose, which delayed the migration until >
last week. On Friday, when I discussed some technical problems with > the
OLPC staff, we also discussed how to save the future of the > project.
The conversation must include the volunteers and the children. The
volunteers are easy to reach on mailing lists at http://lists.laptop.org. We
have started the discussion about how to get children involved.
> Some enthusiasts of the GNU/Linux system are extremely disappointed by >
the prospect that the XO, if it is a success, will not be a platform > for
the system they love. Those who have supported the OLPC project > with their
effort or their money may well feel betrayed. However, > those concerns are
dwarfed by what is at stake here: whether the XO is > an influence for
freedom or an influence for subjection.
See http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Controversies for a summary of the situation
and links to the source statements of fact and opinion in e-mail, on blogs,
and in articles and interviews. I have staked out a pro-Free Software
position, threatening to fork the project if Nicholas Negroponte goes too
far in courting Microsoft. I think it unlikely that things will get that
bad, because Microsoft isn't cooperating with Nicholas's plan for a
dual-boot (Linux/Windows XP)
XO, and I have reason to believe that neither Microsoft nor the OLPC
community is interested in porting the XO's Sugar UI and learning activities
to Windows. Scott Ananian has posted an analysis of the porting problem, and
concluded that many important Sugar features would require Windows kernel
hacking, which Microsoft has never permitted outsiders to do.
But Nicholas doesn't make his intentions clear, giving rise to much
uninformed speculation and even conspiracy theories. Does he want OLPC
volunteers to work on porting Sugar to Windows? Not going to happen, say the
volunteers who have spoken so far. Would OLPC hire Windows programmers to do
the port? Nobody knows, but the community is so far unanimous against it.
Would Microsoft port Free Software to Windows? I can't imagine it. What do
you think?
> Since the OLPC was first announced we have envisioned it as a way to >
lead millions of children around the world to a life in which they do >
computing in freedom.
Yes! In software freedom, and in freedom of thought, and speech, and a
whole lot of other freedoms. See Development as Freedom, by Amartya Sen.
> The project announced its intention to give > children a path to learn
about computers by allowing them to study and > tinker with the software. It
may yet do that, but there is a danger > that it will not. If most of the
XOs that are actually used run > Windows, the overall effect will be the
opposite.
> > Proprietary software keeps users divided and helpless. Its functioning >
is secret, so it is incompatible with the spirit of learning. Teaching >
children to use a proprietary (non-free) system such as Windows does > not
make the world a better place, because it puts them under the > power of the
system's developer -- perhaps permanently. You might as > well introduce the
children to an addictive drug. If the XO turns out > to be a platform for
spreading the use of proprietary software, its > overall effect on the world
will be negative.
>
> It is also superfluous. The OLPC has already inspired other cheap >
computers; if the goal is only to make cheap computers available, the > OLPC
project has succeeded whether or not more XOs are built. So why > build more
XOs? Delivering freedom would be a good reason.
>
> The project's decision is not final; the free software community must > do
everything possible to convince OLPC to continue being (aside from > one
firmware package) a force for freedom.
Definitely. You can talk to me about how to join the effort, now that I and
a few others have Nicholas Negroponte's attention.
> Part of what we can do is offer to help with the project's own free >
software. OLPC hoped for contribution from the community to its > interface,
Sugar, but this has not happened much. Partly that's > because OLPC has not
structured its development so as to reach out to > the community for help --
which means, when viewed in constructive > terms, that OLPC can obtain more
contribution by starting to do this.
We have more than 2,000 volunteers, but it is true that nobody on staff at
OLPC has this kind of community outreach as a responsibility. I'm a
volunteer Volunteer Coordinator, and I work on outreach to many communities.
For example, I am on staff for future Python Conventions (where we have OLPC
coding sprints), I recruit people from other countries to localize Sugar to
their own languages, and I work with OLPC Chicago on Illinois HB5000, The
Children's Low-Cost Laptop Act. I concentrated for a while on critical gaps
in localization, and on leading developers to discover innovative ways to
apply existing Free Software to new educational initiatives. I have had to
put some of that aside for a time, because I consider the mismanagement of
OLPC to be the critical factor right now, and I actually have a voice in
that discussion.
> Sugar is free software, and contributing to it is a good thing to do. >
But don't forget the goal: helpful contributions are those that make > Sugar
better on free operating systems. Porting to Windows is > permitted by the
license, but it isn't a good thing to do.
>
> I am typing these words on the XO. As I travel and speak in the coming >
weeks, I will point to it in my speeches to raise this issue. >
________________________________
Thanks, Richard, for all that you do so that we can help each other, and so
that we can bring hundreds of millions of children into our community, along
with their teachers, families, and friends.
> Copyright 2008 Richard Stallman
> Verbatim copying and distribution of this entire article are > permitted
worldwide without royalty in any medium provided this notice > is preserved.
>
>
====================================================================================
>
>> --
> Frederick FN Noronha * Independent Journalist
> http://fn.goa-india.org * Phone +91-832-2409490
> Cell +91-9970157402 (sometimes out of range)
> Please see http://nursing.goa-india.org
--
Edward Cherlin
End Poverty at a Profit by teaching children business
http://www.EarthTreasury.org/
"The best way to predict the future is to invent it."--Alan Kay
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