1/2 laptop per child...

Nicholas Negroponte is upset because Intel is picking on him and his One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) project. While it appears that Intel has made peace and joined the OLPC board, its competing product called Classmate is selling well in foreign countries. Intel's Classmate, which uses MS Windows software, is an interesting case study. Many countries are telling Negroponte, who is on leave from his MIT position, that they can't go wrong with "Windows" and questioning who will train and support the OLPC computers.

The FLOSS (Free/Libre Open Source Software) community has always said that foreign countries would embrace Open Source software due to its low cost. But what if the shortage of talented support staff in developing countries pushes them to Windows? Microsoft is offering a cheap version of Windows to many foreign countries. Interestingly, Intel got involved in developing Classmate because it's fierce competitor, AMD, was providing chips to the OLPC project.

I've always admired Negroponte's idea. But he can't be mad that the free market has stepped in. If his true goal is to put inexpensive technology in the hands of emerging nations then it doesn't matter who gets there first, non-profits or companies. But if his ego and lack of knowlege about free markets block the path to a collaborative solution, then shame on him. He should be proud that it was his effort has spurred industry to emulate his OLPC computer. But sometimes, academics (and I am one), aren't the best people to run multi-million dollar projects.

IDMAa

I just returned from the International Digital Media Arts Association conference in nearby Philadelphia. The conference is centered on academic digital media programs and the organization has provided some great networking and knowledge opportunities to me over the last five years. While I enjoyed learning about college programs, I especially enjoyed the commercial media companies that came to show their work. Peter Rivera from AOL spoke about how the new AOL is about content and media. Two executives from the highly successful creative agency Schematic showed some impressive work and spoke about the need for "fearless" problem solving employees with broad skills and training.

More than anything, though, the commercial enterprises validated our program at LVC. People spoke about the importance of technological education that is interdisciplinary develops critical thinking, emphasizes problem solving, and builds skills for adaptive learning. It's a theme across the spectrum of technology and high tech companies. If you don't know what kind of company you'll be in 5 years, then you need people that can learn and adapt to the changes that technology and the marketplace bring.