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Old 06-10-2007, 07:29 AM   #64
alex_d
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alex_d doesn't litteralex_d doesn't litter
 
Posts: 303
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Join Date: Dec 2006
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Quote:
You seem to like using strong words, but that makes it hard for me to guess whether you are being serious here or not.
Yeah, you got me. That I do :-/

But still, I think OLPC is a very bad program. I think giving children computers is a good thing, but the OLPC people have tried hard to take away exactly what makes computers boosters to intelligence and bridgers of a divide in skills.

They thought, "oh, kids are stupid and macs are great so let's dumb it down as much as we can." The philosophy behind OLPC is to make an appliance. You press one button, you read a book. You press another button, you surf the web.

Figuring tools out makes people smarter. Figuring computers out makes people smarter. Figuring computers out also gives you skills that can fetch a good job and grow the economy. They've thrown all of that completely away. They've thrown money away. And the failure of this project will curtail other similar, but more effective initiatives.

So I'd have to say that on this point, my wording was not strong enough.


This ASUS book with Windows XP would make the perfect OLPC. In particular, having windows is very important. Windows is the only operating system that both has an easy learning curve and a lot of depth. It's like a ramp that lets you become more and more skilled without having to read manuals or try very hard. MacOS and Linux do only one or the other. Linux is especially bad because 99% of the support forums and other resources that one needs to learn to do ANYTHING non-trivial are in English.
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