XplanaZine

By Leigh Gautreau, Guest Contributor

“It’s an education project, not a laptop project,” according to Nicholas Negroponte, founder of Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Media Lab, who has made One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) his life’s mission. OLPC hopes to promote the constructionist theory of intuitive learning, laid out by MIT Professor Seymour Papert in the 1960s. The XO laptop created by OLPC features a unique user interface, Sugar, which enables students to collaborate on activities (applications) through a mesh network that provides connectivity even in the absence of Internet connection. The activities on the XO laptop were designed to enable children to harness their innate creativity and to alter underlying code. The XO laptop debuted at the January 2005 World Economic Forum in Switzerland and was heralded as the $100 laptop. In November 2007, the XO laptop went into large-scale production, with a unit cost of $188. However it is hoped that economies of scale will aid in reducing the price, thereby making it more attractive to developing countries.

One Laptop Per Child’s XO laptop hinges on: Constructionism

The visionaries of One Laptop Per Child believe that the most effective way to combat poverty and promote peace around the world is to educate the world’s children. One Laptop per Child is neither a laptop distribution scheme nor a race to sell the most laptops to the developing world; rather it is a project to promote the constructionist learning paradigm. OLPC hopes to encourage children to learn how to learn, to give them a window on the world, to enable them to unleash their creativity, so that they may grow and help their countries to compete in the ever-changing global information economy. A number of technological advancements have been introduced in the XO laptop to foster the constructionist approach to learning.

• The Sugar user interface
• The Journal file organizing feature
• The mesh network
• The use of open source software

The Sugar interface is a vast departure from the standard ones used today, resulting from the small screen of the XO laptop and the desire to make the XO highly collaborative. Sugar allows the user to share and simultaneously edit files. When a user selects file-sharing, a color-coded icon of the file becomes available on the network (about 400 color combinations exist). A slider key allows the XO user to pan through four different zoom levels that provide the user with information about the status of his or her activities and greater network. The first zoom level pertains to the main activity in use. The second zoom features all opened activities as a ring at the center of the screen, with each as a different fraction of the ring based on size and system requirements. When the ring is full, no additional activities can be opened. The third zoom is the user’s XO avatar surrounded by the avatars of the selected friends in the mesh network. The forth zoom shows a spatial representation of all of the users connected to the mesh network.

The innovative mesh network facilitates the exploitation of Sugar’s collaborative features. In the mesh network, each laptop acts as both a router and laptop. When one laptop is switched on in proximity to Internet connection, it can relay its connection to other laptops within the mesh. Internet connection shared through the mesh diminishes with distance, but even in the absence of Internet connection information can be shared between laptops. One key feature of the mesh network is its ability to disseminate updates to thousands of laptops from a remote location. The network obliterates the need to build an extensive Internet infrastructure in countries where general infrastructure is lean at best, and provides children access to connectivity and collaboration they would not otherwise have.

Another integral part of the One Laptop Per Child’s educational mission is the inclusion of open source software in the XO laptops. Open source software not only represents a cheaper alternative to traditional shrink-wrapped, proprietary software, but also allows for code alteration. This idea of a children’s open source programming language can be traced to the 1960s with Logo, put in practice by Seymour Papert. OLPC’s open source software will focus on the creation of drawigs, songs, stories, games, and programs to foster constructionist learning.

One Laptop Per Child’s XO laptop hinges on: Developing World Needs

One Laptop Per Child aspired to create a laptop to meet the requirements of the developing world, considering the issues of power consumption, durability, and expense. The XO laptop design lacks a hard drive, or any moving parts, making it robust and unique. It consumes just 2W of power compared to the 25-45 W of power of traditional laptops. OLPC chose an AMD 433 MHz Geode LX 700 processor, which much slower than contemporary laptop processors, but saves energy since it does not require a fan and is designed to shut itself down. The WiFi adapter is suited to the developing world as it can operate independently of the main processor through its own built-in low power chip. Its dual antennas (rabbit ears) are capable of boosting the range of connectivity. The laptop screen is a 7.5 inch dual mode display featuring a full color mode which consumes 1W of power, and a ultra low power black and white mode which consumes 0.2W of power and is readable in direct sunlight. This display configuration results in a cost savings from $2 to $4 per diagonal inch over traditional displays. The laptop battery, composed of either 2-4 cells lithium ferrous phosphate (LiFePO4) or 6 cells nickel metal hydride, can hold its charge longer (6 to 20 hours vs. 4 hours) and can be charged more times prior to replacement (2000 times vs. 500 times). The laptops can also be charged with a 18W power adapter, a solar panel, or a manual pull-cord with 10 minutes of charge for each minute of pulling.

Power conservation is not the only concern that must be addressed in designing laptops for children in the developing world. In addition, laptop durability must also be tackled. The laptops must be able withstand possible dropping, submersion, scratching, dust, etc. Durable design features include:

• Waterproof keyboard
• Waterproof, dust-proof hard plastic case
• Antennas’ locking mechanism
• External port cover

OLPC’s primary strategy to reduce the price of the XO laptop was to leverage economies of scale. The original goal had been to offer laptops to seven countries in lots of 250,000. The base price of the XO laptop at the beginning of production at Quanta Computer, Inc Taiwan was $188/laptop, with a projected scale of 3 million units required to reduce the price to $100/laptop. The first mass production in November 2007 slated to produce only 300,000 laptops. Delays in production caused by Quanta meant OLPC’s production volume was off by 10%. However, even if they would have been able to reach full production volume, OLPC lacked the necessary interest to sell 3 million. When production began the only firm commitment was from Uruguay for 100,000 laptops. OLPC sealed a deal with Peru for another 250,00 laptops on November 30, 2007.

What went wrong?

Late design upgrades in addition to the inability to realize the economies of scale had hurt OLPC’s ability to sell their laptop at $100. OLPC upgraded the XO laptop’s processor (from an AMD Geode Gx2 500 to an AMD Geode LX 700) and its memory (from 128 MB DDR 266 to 256 MB RAM) in late April 2007, in an effort to make the XO faster and more energy efficient, but at the expense of a higher price tag.

Offering the XO laptop at a higher price put it in direct competition with Intel’s Classmate PC and Asus’s Eee PC. Asus is selling its Eee PC for profit in the United States with a price point of $399, enabling it to offer the same laptop to schools in the U.S. and abroad for $199. Asus has also entered talks with various government entities and has looked into diversifying its offerings to fulfill demand at different price points (a $500 model will feature a larger screen, while a $349 and $299 model will be more cost effective). Furthermore, Intel’s Classmate PC is offered to governments in the developing world for educational purposes at a price point of $200-300. OLPC’s founder Nicholas Negroponte has accused Intel of selling the Classmate PC below cost in an attempt to push OLPC out of the market. Intel has maintained that any under-pricing was a vehicle to establish a new market in the developing world. Intel has cannibalized some of OLPC’s market share in the developing world since its inception, selling the Classmate PC to governments in Nigeria, Libya, and Pakistan – all of which had originally spoken with OLPC. In July 2007, Intel and OLPC put aside their differences and drafted a partnering agreement; OLPC will begin developing a laptop based on Intel components in January 2008.

In addition to Asus and Intel, other splinter competition exists. Quanta, the maker of the OLPC’s XO laptop announced in March 2007 plans to sell $200 laptops using the underlying technologies associated with the XO laptop. In India, after the initial rejection of the XO on the basis of fears surrounding the health and psychological impacts of providing children with laptops, two low cost laptop designs have since emerged. When Nicholas Negroponte stepped onto the uncharted frontier of laptop deployment with his $100/laptop vision, his goal had been to educate the developing world’s youth, not to lasso in laptop sales. But because the laptop market in the developed world is so saturated, computer companies are looking to increase their sales in the developing world, further complicating OLPC’s mission to educate children with the unique innovations found in the XO laptop.

The Classmate PC and Eee PC are easier sells than the XO laptop because there is less fear of the unknown associated with them. For one, Classmate and Eee both run Windows, commonly considered the worldwide standard for computing, whereas the XO utilizes the Sugar open source user interface that requires users to break from the familiar. Governments in the developing world wonder why they are being sold laptops with non-standard software, and fail to see Sugar’s technological innovations and the learning paradigm it seeks to instill. They only see value in instructing children on how to use standard global software, which pits OLPC in competition against Microsoft. In fact, Microsoft recently announced that it will offer developing countries a $3 educational software package (including Windows, a student version of Microsoft Office, and other educational programs) and it has already received commitments to buy from Libya, Egypt, and Russia.

Additionally, governments see OLPC as a liability because it is not a traditional computer industry giant that can provide post-sales service. OLPC has never promised post-sales service either. Instead, it has maintained that if and when the computers have problems the children can fix them. Expecting governments to spend a large chunk of their education budgets on laptops to be fixed by children is incredible, no matter how robust the laptop. Libya withdrew its decision to buy 1.2 million XO laptops because of their lack of Windows, service, and teacher training, and bought 150,000 Classmate PCs instead. Governments might also be scared to buy the XO because of associated infrastructure costs not spelled out upfront. A pilot study performed at the Galdima School in Abuja, Nigeria provides a rough price estimate for installing the infrastructure to support the OLPC project:

$5,000 - 15KVa electricity generator (power supply)
$3,000 - VSAT dish (Internet connectivity)
$50 - WiFi access points (connect laptops to VSAT & one another, provided by Accelon)
$100 - electrical wiring of the classrooms (facilitate battery recharging)
$600 - solar panels (alternate power source)
$250 - gang charger
$9,000- total initial installation costs

With an estimated 41,531 primary schools in Nigeria and a $9000 initial installation cost at each school, the cost of XO implementation equals $374 million, equivalent to an additional $24 per child on top of the $100 per child per laptop. Besides installation costs, once the electric generator is installed its associated life cycle costs are not trivial as it requires costly gasoline and repairs.

Dealing with governments has an associated volatility. When Thailand’s Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra was overthrown in a military coup, so too was his promise to buy the XO laptop for his people. Not only does OLPC face political uncertainties and competition, but recently a copyright-infringement lawsuit was filed against them by the Nigerian Lagos Analysis Corp of Natick, claiming that OLPC stole its keyboard design, even though the keyboard was designed prior to the Nigerian patent filing. OLPC is operating in a difficult space. Governments are unable to recognize and appreciate its mission, and are buying their competitors products despite lack of the unique developing world laptop tailoring.

In response to lower than anticipated sales in the developing world, OLPC announced a scheme to allow consumers in the United States and Canada to purchase a laptop for themselves for $399, meanwhile donating a laptop to a child in a developing country. This initiative, “Give One, Get One” (G1G1) started on November 12, 2007 and was to last 2 weeks, but as a result of overwhelming response the deadline for the program has been extended to December 31, 2007. In the first 9 days of the G1G1 campaign 45,000 two laptop orders were made, with nearly half of those orders being placed on the first day. Since its inception the G1G1 campaign has received approximately $2 million in orders a day totaling 190,000 laptops (half of which are being donated to children in the developing world).

OLPC has also encouraged countries and charities in the developed world to donate XO laptops to the developing world, where giving 100-1000 laptops each laptop would cost $299/laptop, 1,000-10,000 laptop donations would cost $249/laptop, and 10,000+ laptop donations would cost $199/laptop. Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim has purchased 50,000 XO laptops for distribution in Mexico.

Despite all of the obstacles OLPC faces in terms of selling the XO laptop, it is not in grave danger of folding. According to Robert Fadel, OLPC’s director of Finance and Operations, OLPC has received $16.5 million in contributions from its corporate benefactors this year and it stands to receive $1/laptop to cover its administrative costs. OLPC had $8.7 million on hand in September 2007, its budget for 2007 is estimated at $9.5 million, and its revenues for 2006 (even before the sales of any laptops) were $7.6 million.

 Check out the official One Laptop Per Child Web site by clicking HERE.