On Tue, Jan 12, 2010 at 8:33 PM, Nagarjuna G <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:nagarjun@gnowledge.org">nagarjun@gnowledge.org</a>></span> wrote:<br><div class="gmail_quote"><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
<div class="im">On Wed, Jan 13, 2010 at 9:40 AM, Saurabh Adhikari <<a href="mailto:adhikaris@hotmail.com">adhikaris@hotmail.com</a>> wrote:<br>
> Representation:<br>
><br>
> Just like we can buy and use say a Maruti or GM or Ford or Toyota or any<br>
> other car but we cannot "represent" their company to carry out any business<br>
> without an specific agreement to do so.<br>
><br>
> The contact address for OLPC India is <<a href="mailto:Contact-OLPC-India@laptop.org">Contact-OLPC-India@laptop.org</a>><br>
><br>
<br>
</div>I agree with you that not just anybody can represent an organization,<br>
there must be a clarification that is better than the analogy given<br>
above. The analogy indicates strict ownership of OLPC India. If you<br>
wish OLPC India to be a community driven organization, as is the case<br>
with other free software projects, we wish it to be different. Some<br>
more clarification is required on who can represent?<br>
<br>
--<br>
<font color="#888888">Nagarjuna<br>
</font><div><div></div><div class="h5">_______________________________________________<br>
India mailing list<br>
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</div></div></blockquote></div><br><br>A significant source for such confusion lies with the categorization of OLPC and olpc. Nicholas himself has stressed upon the distinction where OLPC is the company (now two organizations - OLPC Association and OLPC Foundation) and olpc is the community of volunteers worldwide - everyone from coders to content creators, to translators to enthusiasts. In a recent interview, Nicholas said "The idea was to spirit a more grassroots approach to olpc (lowercase)
than the distinctly and uniquely top down methods previously used." Full interview and presentation at <a href="http://olpc-france.org/blog/2010/01/interview-with-nicholas-negroponte-olpc-and-volunteers/">http://olpc-france.org/blog/2010/01/interview-with-nicholas-negroponte-olpc-and-volunteers/</a><br clear="all">
<br>As for what belongs to OLPC, the software layer is all FOSS, including the BIOS level stuff, so its copyright of many thousands, but free and open and now managed by Sugarlabs. The hardware is indeed OLPC, although Nicholas has said in some of his interviews that OLPC would like for the industry to copy its design and manufacture the machines - the more the better (read: cheaper due to economies of scale).<br>
<br>olpc communities are all over the world and thriving. These communities are there to support and foster the cause, and don't really need any "permission" to setup or operate. We (OLPC-SF) just happened. No grand plan, no movements, just a bunch of like minded people, and believe me, we get very little by way of permission or guidance from the mother ship in Cambridge! Yet, we now have 8 privately funded micro-deployments. <a href="http://wiki.laptop.org/go/OLPC_SanFranciscoBayArea">http://wiki.laptop.org/go/OLPC_SanFranciscoBayArea</a><br>
<br>By the way, Saurabh, I haven't seen anything in your e-mail address or signature, but am I correct to assume that you work for OLPC India (<a href="http://olpcindia.net/">http://olpcindia.net/</a>) ? I haven't been able to find you on <a href="http://olpcindia.net/en/vision/people/index.html">http://olpcindia.net/en/vision/people/index.html</a> either.<br>
<br>cheers,<br>Sameer<br>-- <br>Dr. Sameer Verma, Ph.D.<br>Associate Professor, Information Systems<br>Director, Center for Business Solutions<br>San Francisco State University<br><a href="http://verma.sfsu.edu/">http://verma.sfsu.edu/</a> <br>
<a href="http://cbs.sfsu.edu/">http://cbs.sfsu.edu/</a> <br><a href="http://is.sfsu.edu/">http://is.sfsu.edu/</a> <br>