[OLPC India] Richard Stallman - Why I switched to the OLPC—and why I dropped it .

[Satish Jha]

Walter,

Posed this way, the only answer possible is : enabling learning using XO and
its versions in general. Broadly speaking, in the context of OLPC and, in
particular, its application in India.

More general questions that in the opinion of the participants aid that
process should be welcome as well. You are a co-founder of OLPC and I would
think what you may consider appropriate is clearly right.

Thanks and regards

On Tue, Nov 4, 2008 at 6:53 AM, Walter Bender <walter.bender at gmail.com>wrote:

> Q: Is this list more generally about enabling learning or is more
> narrowly about enabling learning through the OLPC XO-1 hardware?
>
> regards.
>
> -walter
>
> On Tue, Nov 4, 2008 at 5:18 AM, Satish Jha OLPC <satish at laptop.org> wrote:
> > Richard Stallman has been trying to get his idea of "Free" accepted as he
> > would like for quite some time. He is a leader in his own right and has
> > energised a whole movement of "Free" software.
> >
> > However, XO is for children. Its for those who need to learn and are not
> > already the leaders of a movement, though I hope they will all have
> access
> > to the world that will make a potential leader out of everyone.
> >
> > My request is that these debates, important as they are, may not belong
> > here.
> >
> > This forum may be far more useful as a way to get the XO reach all those
> who
> > need it rather than have ideological debates, which must go on at the
> right
> > places.
> >
> > Thanks mch.
> >
> > On Mon, Nov 3, 2008 at 3:33 PM, Saswat Praharaj <
> saswat_praharaj at yahoo.com>
> > wrote:
> >>
> >> http://www.bostonreview.net/BR33.6/stallman.php
> >>
> >> Snip >>>.
> >>
> >> The One Laptop Per Child project, launched by MIT professor Nicholas
> >> Negroponte in 2003, was supposed to lead millions of children around the
> >> world to information technology and freedom. The plans aimed for low
> cost,
> >> enabling many children to use the machines, and free software, so they
> would
> >> have freedom while using them. I thought it was a good idea; I even
> planned
> >> to use one myself when I found in the OLPC's promise of free software a
> way
> >> to escape the proprietary startup programs that all commercial laptops
> used.
> >>
> >> But just as I was switching to an OLPC, the project backed away from its
> >> commitment to freedom and allowed the machine to become a platform for
> >> running Windows, a non-free operating system.
> >>
> >> What makes this issue so important, and OLPC's retreat from free
> software
> >> so unfortunate, is that the "free" in free software refers to freedom of
> >> knowledge and action, not to price. A program (whatever job it does) is
> free
> >> software if you, the user, have the four essential freedoms:
> >>
> >> >>>>>>...
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> ________________________________
> >> Unlimited freedom, unlimited storage. Get it now
> >> _______________________________________________
> >> India mailing list
> >> India at lists.laptop.org
> >> http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/india
> >>
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > India mailing list
> > India at lists.laptop.org
> > http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/india
> >
> >
>
>
>
>  --
> Walter Bender
> Sugar Labs
> http://www.sugarlabs.org
>
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