<div><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#666666">Apoligies: </font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#666666"><br></font></div><div><meta charset="utf-8">"which computers are necessarily a natural part of yet"</div>
<div><br></div>Should read: <div><br></div><div>"<meta charset="utf-8"><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#666666">which computers are </font><b>not</b><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#666666"> necessarily a natural part of yet.'</font> <br>
<br></div><div>Sean</div><div><br><div class="gmail_quote">---------- Forwarded message ----------<br>From: <b class="gmail_sendername">Sean Linton</b> <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:sean@lpnz.org">sean@lpnz.org</a>></span><br>
Date: 3 February 2011 19:41<br>Subject: Did OLPC hijack the $100 laptop<br>To: <a href="mailto:olpc-oceania@lists.laptop.org">olpc-oceania@lists.laptop.org</a><br><br><br>Hi, <div><br></div><div>I am wondering if anyone has any comments or ideas about the strategy balance between social mission and the qualities of a product, as concerns the OLPC XO 1-1.5 - and or tablet/e-reader. </div>
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<br></div><div>There was a good interview although indirectly related <a href="http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/ninetonoon" target="_blank">here</a> on 'Nine to noon' Radio NZ national Thursday 4 February 2011</div>
<div><div><br></div><div>"Never should a venture rest on the laws [laurels] of its social mission, always it should provide the best quality product with the best quality prices, with the best value propositions so that it fits peoples lifestyles" Daniel Lubetzky - Peaceworks.com</div>
</div><div><br></div><div>It seems that some people set out to create a $100 laptop, and some people decided that was sufficient reason to try and equip all the children in the world with one, OLPC was naturally born out of the slim chance that the economic reality was a possibility. So far the problem that is most striking in my view is that the $100 laptop is difficult to achieve, but OLPC is seemingly impossible? The mission carried on with out the product? </div>
<div><br></div><div>I was listening to this radio show where Lubetzky was talking about a brand of food stuffs with a social mission, the idea in particular being that people from backgrounds which have in the past suffered confrontation, such as the Israel-Palestine case, can establish business relationships and mutual benefit where the quality of the product is set to advantage. For example people making things with sun-dried tomatoes in Israel had been getting their ingredients from Portugal or Italy, and when they realized that they could get better fresher tomatoes from the Middle East [Turkey] they were able to establish bonds based on the goal of making better quality products. </div>
<div><br></div><div>The key thing that seemed to be argued was that social missions should never be forced to compete, and that some other quality should be the cornerstone of competition, in this case it was food stuffs. I think what has hijacked the OLPC/$100 laptop movement is that really we have two social missions competing. One of these things, the $100 dollar laptop, is also a high quality product, yet OLPC is a set of strategies; with Sugar, the educational, and philosophical arms. </div>
<div><br></div><div>I wonder about how OLPC could learn to reconcile, and enable reconciliation from Lubetzky's strategy. OLPC can market itself on the level of 'this is the most ethical technology you can buy' or 'this technology is the best developed system for the value'. But for OLPC to market itself on the 'one-laptop-per-child' mission immediately there are going to be people who say ' this is not possible' or even 'this is not desirable'. Not desirable in terms of preserving the practical neurological and 'digital' cultures that exist in all places naturally, which computers are necessarily a natural part of yet. </div>
<div><br></div><div>I know that somethings are different between trying to sell food and trying to equip schools and children with computers, I am curious as to how relevant other people might find this approach though; that is first of all market the quality of the product, then only if people are interested does the social mission carry any weight. </div>
<div><div><br></div><div>How does that fit with OLPC which is a social mission and a $100 laptop which is a different goal in itself? Do the two need space? </div><div><br></div><div>I say 'hijacked' somewhat lightheartedly because I wouldn't want to see the $100 laptop made to look unattainable by an unshakable bond to OLPC. </div>
<div><br></div><div><br></div><div>Any thoughts? </div><div><br></div><div>SL </div><div> </div></div><font color="#888888"><div><br></div><div>Sean Linton</div><div>PhD Candidate, Music</div><div>Otago, New Zealand</div>
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