[Olpc-open] Olpc-open Digest, Vol 17, Issue 13

[gnome]

Neophile early adopter, here.  I'll make a confession:  I've used linux 
for years, but I'm no black belt geek, so who knows if I'll be smart 
enough to figure out the Sugar interface.  I bought it anyway, and I'll 
tell you why:  sunlight-readable screen and long battery life.  I do a 
lot of writing, and I like to do it anywhere, including out on the 
beach, on mountaintops, wherever.  I'm hopeful that the Green Machine 
will be a light, sturdy, use-anywhere writing machine.  The small 
keyboard may be a problem, but I've used a Treo.  I know for a fact it's 
bigger than that.

I didn't pay $400 out of charity.  I'm 100% in favor of the OLPC ideals 
and project, but in monetary terms, 100% would probably be about $25.  I 
paid $400 because it's the only thing out there, at that price, that can 
do what I need it to do.  That's in sunny, cutting edge, Southern 
California. (The warm glow from knowing I'm also helping somebody is 
just lagniappe.)

So, anyway, the point of all this is that nobody really knows what 
anybody else's priorities are.  Just because I'm an urbanite, doesn't 
mean the Eee is for me.  The life of a rural farmer is different from 
mine, and mine is different from yours.  The Green Machine won't suit 
some people, and will suit others down to the ground.  The important 
thing is to have *choices*.

And that's the thing that really freaks me out, watching the Intels and 
Microsofts trying to figure out how to squash the OLPC before it gets 
beond them.  It's not that their machines are useless.  It's that we 
need more than one kind of machine, and I worry that they're trying to 
make sure we don't get that.

quixote.

-- 
http://molvray.com/acid-test