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Wednesday, May 21, 2008

$100 Laptop Gets Redesigned

The new machine will have dual touch screens--and cheaper hardware.

By David Talbot
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Hundred-dollar laptop, revisited: The next-generation version of the One Laptop per Child machine will dispense with keypads. It can be folded flat to make one larger screen or it can be held on its side and used as an electronic book.
Credit: One Laptop per Child

Tossing aside its iconic green-and-white laptop with its distinctive antennas, One Laptop per Child (OLPC) is pursuing a smaller 2.0 version, scheduled for release in 2010, in which dual touch screens will replace the keypad. The new version will have lower power consumption and a $75 price--a figure that OLPC claims is achievable despite the fact that the current model, the XO, sells for nearly double the sum mentioned in its "$100 laptop" moniker.

With its hinged dual display, the new version could be used as a book, as a laptop with a touch-screen keypad, or as one continuous display when folded flat. "The display is going to get better and better, and it's key to the next generation," Nicholas Negroponte, founder of OLPC, said yesterday at a launch event at the MIT Media Lab.

The redesign is OLPC's latest effort to revitalize global adoption of its machines. Last week, OLPC announced that the current version will soon have the option of running on Microsoft Windows; previously, the machines only ran on the GNU/Linux operating system, plus a custom interface called Sugar that emphasizes collaboration among children. With the addition of Windows, OLPC hopes to boost sales to countries, such as Egypt, that already use Windows software in schools.

Pixel Qi, the display-technology startup founded by former OLPC chief technology officer Mary Lou Jepsen, will collaborate in the development of the new computer. Its smaller size will make the laptops easier for children to carry than the previous, larger version, Negroponte said yesterday. And despite the smaller size, the display will be larger--when both screens are used--than the one on the current version. Because the machine will have no keypad, there will be fewer mechanical parts to break. And whereas the current XO consumes only two to four watts--one-tenth of the amount consumed by a conventional laptop--the next-generation version will use as little as one watt.

But until the new machine comes online, the existing XO will continue to be sold. Only about 600,000 hard orders have come in--a far cry from the 100 million that, two years ago, Negroponte said he was hoping to obtain by 2008. And last week's announcement that the XO will have the option of using Windows or the existing Linux-based operating system has led to some debate among education officials. Yesterday, Oscar Becerra, a Peruvian education ministry official who directs the OLPC deployment under way there, says that he sees little value in adding Windows for computers in primary schools.
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Tags

computers MIT Nicholas Negroponte OLPC touch-screen Windows

Comments

  • Windows -- optional, right?
    MakeSense on 05/21/2008 at 8:56 AM
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    Why does every granny conversation about the optional Windows OS have to be included in an article? If it's optional, some will opt to not have it because it costs more. Done.

    Here's an interesting comment: "Proprietary software is under the power of its developer, and it puts the user under the power of the developer. This is like handing out samples of an addictive drug--not something that schools ought to do."

    Aren't most people who say such things ranting on street corners that the end is nigh? I can't even make sense of that jibberish.
    Rate this comment: 12345
    • Re: Windows -- optional, right?
      johnalphonse on 05/21/2008 at 9:34 AM
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      Gibberish?  Can you just say "monopoly"?
      Rate this comment: 12345
    • Re: Windows -- optional, right?
      daniel007 on 12/27/2008 at 1:42 AM
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      right- and of course the word processor will default to an open, storage efficient,user friendly format like docx

      I work in a college setting- when you ask people NOT to send you documents in a non-open format you get replies like "I thought everyone was upgraded to office 2007."  Ask them why they are  using docx?  Does it provide some features they need?  It is an "option"- but when schools and businesses use it because "everyone" else uses it, not because of its compelling features... the state has a contract for unquestioned "upgrades".  Do we need school kid's computers to sneak in proprietary formats and non-open standards they will view as the "standard"  

      Embrace, extend, extinguish? 

      Maybe paranoid, maybe not.  

      Options are fine- just so everyone is aware of the fine print, and all motivations are out in the open.   Do the demonstrated philosophies of a particular software product jive with the values of the OLPC project?

      Rate this comment: 12345
  • Wifi?
    SVE on 05/21/2008 at 10:59 AM
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    Does the new model still run the same software & allow local area networking or is it just an e-book reader?
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  • sweet
    dmm on 05/21/2008 at 11:54 AM
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    I love the dual-touchscreen concept.  It will allow so many new applications.  And if they can actually deliver that kind of power usage at that price...wow!  Plus, this web site regularly has articles describing noticeable advances in electricity storage -- either batteries or capacitors -- so a student might use this laptop all week on one charge.  Then you don't need to have a generator in each laptop.
    Rate this comment: 12345
  • Star Trek II touch displays / keyboards
    nekote on 05/21/2008 at 1:05 PM
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    A display that is a keyboard.
    A keyboard that is really a display.

    So much like the wall and desk / countertop versions seen in Star Trek the 2'nd Generation!

    So cool.

    Looks like each half will simply be a mirror of the other.

    Gonna' be a lotta' fun, ganging numbers of the basic unit into bigger widgets!
    Rate this comment: 12345
  • this is spectacular!
    mdjosephkim on 05/21/2008 at 10:38 PM
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    It's so great to see such advances coming out of MIT. Can't wait to see how this impacts the lives of children living in developing nations. Bravo!
    Rate this comment: 12345
  • Not so good for typing but does that matter?
    bkf11 on 05/22/2008 at 2:11 AM
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    The first thing I thought when I saw this was that it would be hopeless for typing. I'm sure that will be the case and I hope they consider shipping them with external keyboards for older kids. Having said that & thought about it for a minute and I thought "how much typing will a primary school student really do?". Probably not much. They don't write big assignments or big emails. So it may well be that the dual screen concept is more useful than a screen + keyboard. It's hard to know without trying it for yourself. Certainly the 'book' form factor would be great for reading, well, books - which is one of the big reasons for the OLPC computers. Smaller is also better.
    Definitely cool
    Benjamin
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  • 2 touch screens?
    Tysto on 05/22/2008 at 3:04 AM
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    The OLPC is not a place for bleeding edge technology. If dual touch screens are a good idea, let it be pioneered by a high-end machine, proven to work and be of value, and then mass-produced to lower the cost. What next? A built-in video projector?
    Rate this comment: 12345
    • Re: 2 touch screens?
      leonbloom on 05/27/2008 at 1:06 PM
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      This is hardly high edge technology. Litton Data Systems delivered hand held units with touch screens that put up a keyboard when required, before 1970.
      Leon
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      • Re: 2 touch screens?
        dancingbrook on 11/23/2008 at 9:39 AM
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        Well it's only one screen but I think the screen based keyboard concept has been proven a success in the marketplace with a large number of adults with disposable income; iPhone.
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  • Ironic
    hachi on 05/24/2008 at 1:09 AM
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    Ironic really, that this children from relatively third world countries will have better access to books and technology than those in my own country (New Zealand) have.

    Where are the first world governments buying it up? It makes it cheaper, and easier for everyone.
    Rate this comment: 12345
  • $100 Laptop in Peru.
    rasummers on 05/26/2008 at 1:48 PM
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    What a great opportunity for Peru and Peruvian children!! Congratulations to the Ministry of Education for it's far sighted planning.
    I visited my son and family in Lima this past February/March and became aware of the problems of the local public school system.  My granddaughter has been attending a good private school in Lima - an option not available to poor families. Let's hope the laptop project really takes off and succeeds.
    (My son has been working with a micro-capital organization and my daughter-in-law has been teaching advanced English to Peruvian lawyers.)

    Bob Summers,Sc.D.,'54 (AA-XVI)
    Rate this comment: 12345
  • Not worried anymore
    imcampos on 05/29/2008 at 10:43 AM
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    Again, no mention of any relevant pedagogical experiment in the horizon involving these devices, reinforcing the perception that this whole endeavor is mostly focused on technology and new gadgets, as opposed to really improving  education.
    So far, people are being asked to believe (i.e., have faith) in the project's claims, without being given any empirical evidence. And that comes from MIT, where one would expect the scientific discipline of argument to be second nature.
    Never mind, now that Microsoft is on board, the journey ahead  is easily predictable, for the next release (there will always be) of OLPC Windows will require more powerful processors to support it, and everyone will have to replace the old ones "to keep up with  the new, wondeful technological developments".
    Government officials on tight budgets (actually, all Windows users) have been experiencing this cyclical phenomenon with ordinary PCs, and many have migrated to Linux as an obvious alternative. They now have a new, even stronger reason to be cautious about the (so far untested)  educational claims of the OLPC project, and this is really all I would ask of them.
    Rate this comment: 12345
    • Re: Not worried anymore
      MrDlCastle on 11/27/2008 at 3:03 PM
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      Personally, I don't think that it is the responsibility of the technology manufacturer to teach pedagogy to education professionals.  The best way that a technology innovator can effect change is by partnering with educators and give them tools that will allow them to provide richer educational experiences.
      Rate this comment: 12345
      • Re: Not worried anymore
        daniel007 on 12/27/2008 at 1:51 AM
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        That is true, but the GOAL of this project is laptops for children to learn with.  Relevance to what educators need in the target countries seems critical. 
        Rate this comment: 12345
    • Re: Not worried anymore
      daniel007 on 12/27/2008 at 1:55 AM
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      This does seem like a departure from the programs philosophy.  Already phasing out the first design? It seemed like simplicity and standard was a priority above "cutting edge"
      Rate this comment: 12345
  • what?
    madman420 on 12/29/2008 at 3:23 AM
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    Well it is nice to see such great innovation, but c'mon, really? It's now obvious that XO's aren't just going to third-world countries first. I personally think it's non-sense that American's are getting stuck with the bill to fund this new device that will compete with cutting edge markets. Why is Egypt getting special consideration for their choice of Microsoft? If they were really in "emergency" need of these devices like One Laptop Per Child claims, then they should switch to free, open-source software and quit wasting money on a proprietary OS.

    What about the original goal of $100? These things are still going for $199 ($400 if you want one for your kid too). I wouldn't mind paying the $400 if they would at least upgrade the existing processing and storage in current XO's to a reasonable spec - 433 MHz might be good enough for this desperate third-world scenario, but my son probably couldn't even play flash games on pbskids.org with that little speed.

    I would love to (be forced to) send an XO to another child who would benefit from it to get my son one too. However, considering what's really going on, this just isn't fair. We are funding the Dynabook; not donating educational tools. Don't believe me? Check this out:
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dynabook
    Rate this comment: 12345
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