[sugar] This project is rolling, so should OLPC

[Edward Cherlin]

On Wed, Apr 23, 2008 at 9:58 AM, Bryan Berry <bryan.berry at gmail.com> wrote:
> Our pilots at Bishwamitra and Bashuki schools start this Friday and I
>  couldn't be more excited.

I wish I were there.

>  I find this discussion about the future of OLPC frankly *annoying* and
>  tiresome.

Ivan and Walter found the reality far more annoying and tiresome than
our account of it is.

>  The future of OLPC isn't at 1CC. It's at pilot schools around
>  the world. It's in the hands of kids. The software and hardware on the
>  XO are at mature point where we can really see the impact on education.
>  Sugar needs a lot of work but it is functional now, thanks to the heroic
>  efforts of many on the Sugar team.

You are exactly right, and Nicholas and the naysayers are dead wrong.
I'm looking forward to the time when the kids can take over most of
the programming, most of the localization, and pretty much all of the
strategy.

>  The key question about participating in OLPC shouldn't be what
>  Negroponte or Bender are up to, it should be what Arjun Tamang uses his
>  XO for on Monday in Nepal or what Marisol Gonzalez does w/ it in rural
>  Peru.

Yes, it should be. But Nicholas doesn't see it that way, and he has
interfered quite severely in getting the work done here.

>  As Bert says, Onward. There is much work to do. Debating the future of
>  OLPC as an organization does little to advance OLPC as a global movement
>  - which it very much is.
>
>  Roll up your sleeves folks, let's make this happen.

They won't go any higher. This is a work smarter, not harder, moment.
If Nicholas is determined to pull resources off Linux development and
turn them to Windows, disaster looms for OLPC. But Sugar will be fine,
regardless, because most of the volunteers are ignoring the kerfuffle
and continuing to code, test, and tweak. I'm still recruiting
localizers and thinking about the design possibilities for textbooks
and manuals for use on a ubiquitous hardware and software platform.
And recruiting artists for one of them that I have mostly worked out.

>  Edward Cherlin: If OLPC the organization isn't meeting your needs, start
>  your own. We started our own here in Nepal and it was the best thing we
>  could have done.

That's funny. I thought that's what _I_ said, about forking Sugar.
Well, I haven't given up on Nicholas yet, so you're going to have to
either put up with it or filter it. We're not stopping the argument
until we get answers one way or another.

Walter is currently thinking about what to create and how. Mary Lou is
in the middle of Pixel Qi's A funding round with the venture
capitalists. I don't know what Ivan is doing. But I'm still here,
trying to get it through Nicholas's skull that _he_ is the problem
here. Right now he is dangerously close to, "When I want to hear
_your_ opinion, I'll *tell* it to you."

Thank you for your support.

>  --
>  Bryan W. Berry
>  Systems Engineer
>  OLE Nepal, http://www.olenepal.org
>
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-- 
Edward Cherlin
End Poverty at a Profit by teaching children business
http://www.EarthTreasury.org/
"The best way to predict the future is to invent it."--Alan Kay