I need to get more sleep (^through^threw ^come^came). The unnamed person was Yves Behar (ir someone on his team).
-walter On Sat, Jul 4, 2009 at 2:03 AM, Bill Kerr <[email protected]> wrote: > On Sat, Jul 4, 2009 at 12:06 AM, Walter Bender <[email protected]>wrote: > >> When we began the project, I lobbied to call it a Children's Machine (CM) >> in reference both to Seymour Papert's book and as a reference to the CM >> series of "connection machines" that Danny Hillis created at Thinking >> Machines, another effort where they through away the rules to make a >> solution to fit a class of problems rather than make the problem fit the >> solution. >> >> Of course, XO is a brilliant name, that come from our design team as I >> recall, and I don't doubt that it was the correct decision for OLPC at the >> time. > > > I agree that xo is a brilliant name. Congratulalions to the un-named person > who thought it up. Some of these names convey functionality and purpose far > better than the others. I have broken them into three categories based on > how it feels to me. > > PURPOSE: > Childrens Machine > xo > > FUNCTION: > Connection Machine > Dynabook > smartbook > > TECHNO CENTRIC: > netbook > MID > thin-and-light > low cost small notebook PC > low cost ultra-portable notebook computers (Microsoft > mouthful<http://www.engadget.com/2009/06/03/microsoft-wants-new-term-for-netbooks-unhappy-with-other-5-ch/> > ) > ultra-portable > mini notebooks > > I don't know that we should decide to push a name change on the market. The >> point I will make at the Desktop Summit is that the marketing of netbooks >> with 3G set an expectation that they are part of the "cloud" and that the >> push for bigger, fatter, faster netbooks has eroded the opportunity to think >> about new approaches to computing that smaller and lighter afford. But there >> remain opportunities to redefine the desktop, keeping it relevant, in many >> areas, ours being K-6. Even in the "developed" world, the Internet is not >> everywhere, e.g., most classrooms, and as much as it has been good for the >> service providers to pitch it as true, the cloud is not right solution to >> every problem. > > > Would a good description of the sugar desktop be "community user interface" > stressing F1 and F2 over the more traditional F3? That was my interpretation > from reading the OLPC Human interface guidelines: > Most developers are familiar with the desktop > metaphor<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desktop_metaphor>that dominates the > modern-day computer experience. This metaphor has evolved > over the past 30 years, giving rise to distinct classes of interface > elements that we expect to find in every OS: desktop, icons, files, folders, > windows, etc. While this metaphor makes sense at the office—and perhaps even > at home—it does not translate well into a collaborative environment such as > the one that the OLPC laptops will embody. Therefore, we have adopted a new > set of metaphors that emphasize community. While there are some correlations > between the Sugar UI and those of traditional desktops, there are also clear > distinctions. It is these distinctions that are the subject of the remainder > of this section. We highlight the reasoning behind our shift in perspective > and detail functionality with respect to the overall laptop experience > > http://wiki.laptop.org/go/OLPC_Human_Interface_Guidelines/The_Laptop_Experience/Introduction > > This article more or less persuaded me that cloud computing was an > inevitable (long term) trend > > http://asc-parc.blogspot.com/2009/01/cloud-computing-science20-and-social.html > > The main value proposition is further "abstraction" that reduces management > costs. For example, backup storage is abstracted into the cloud, so you > don't have to worry about your hard disk failing. Computation is abstracted > into the cloud, so you don't have to worry about not having enough > computational nodes for your data analysis job. It is an inevitable trend in > computing, because of the need to reduce complexity and > data-management/computation-management costs. It's clear that, in the near > future, the backup storage and computation will continue to evolve into > collaborative workspaces that you never have to administer, nor would you > have to worry about backing up your work > > Meanwhile back in the real world a huge problem in schools is filtering of > the internet which ends up making many useful sites not accessible to most > in school time (and in practice slows things down) - some students now by > pass the filter using smart phones, smart phones as modems, 3G USB devices > etc. - expensive for them but good to see the internet routing around this > damage > > Education Departments don't seem capable of providing fast untrammelled > internet access in my experience > > > >> >> >> -walter > > > -- Walter Bender Sugar Labs http://www.sugarlabs.org
_______________________________________________ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) [email protected] http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
