Forgot the googlemaps link. http://www.buzzmoo.com/?p=257
Sameer On Tue, Oct 21, 2008 at 7:58 AM, Sameer Verma <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > On Tue, Oct 21, 2008 at 12:47 AM, -- Nicholas <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: >> >> I was referred to this group by someone, so this is a shot in the dark >> :-) I am not sure if any of you are involved in OLPC efforts both in >> India and worldwide. Here are a few basic facts: The OLPC project is >> based largely on Fedora (7 and 9) and runs on XO laptops that are >> powered by a 433MHz x86 Geode processor with 256 MB RAM. The laptop >> itself consumes a max of 8 watts. There are approx 600,000 OLPC XO >> laptops in the field with children worldwide - the next generation - >> with 55,000 laptops shipping out each month. Sounds like fun, doesn't >> it? ;-) >> >> Don't worry about shots in the dark :) You have netted quite a few fish. I >> have visited the OLPC office at MIT, at Cambridge, MA in 2006, and have >> closely interacted with Samuel >> on content. I'm curious about the project status. They were supposed to >> release it in December 2006. How successful is the project till date? >> >> --Nicholas >> >> >> Send free SMS to your Friends on Mobile from your Yahoo! Messenger. Download >> Now! http://messenger.yahoo.com/download.php > > Hi Nicholas, > > Success is subjective ;-) However, considering that the outfit is > about 26 people + volunteers, the fact that they shipped about 600k > laptops in one year is success in my opinion. Most of the deployment > reports are up on http://wiki.laptop.org/ Look for Peru, Uruguay, > Mongolia, etc. A page with deployment details are up at > > What's needed is awareness that the laptop is not just another cheap > laptop. There is a complete learning philosophy that underlies the > project, where it allows the XO to be a simple laptop to surf the web, > read e-books, etc. but can also switch over into an overdrive of sorts > and become a collaborative platform. For instance you can use a word > processor on two XOs and write a letter together, in real time. Think > of it as an IM within a word processor type deal. > > Additionally, you can do this without being on the Internet, because > the XOs talk to each other over Wi-Fi in a mesh or peer-to-peer mode. > The Wi-Fi usually works across 700+ feet. We've run links across 2000 > feet in San Francisco, and a guy in Australia has run links across > 2km. > > It is difficult to explain these features to grown-ups who are > conditioned to computers; they've never seen anything like it. > Children are a lot more receptive. In their minds, everything is new > and discoverable. > > In my professional opinion, this project is perhaps one of the most > innovative IT projects *ever*. The best part is that a good proportion > of its success relies on communities and contributors. Meritocracy at > its best. > > cheers, > Sameer > -- > Dr. Sameer Verma, Ph.D. > Associate Professor of Information Systems > San Francisco State University > San Francisco CA 94132 USA > http://verma.sfsu.edu/ > http://opensource.sfsu.edu/ -- http://mm.glug-bom.org/mailman/listinfo/linuxers
