Nicholas? [LWN.net]

Nicholas?

Posted Jan 7, 2009 20:49 UTC (Wed) by jspaleta (subscriber, #50639)
In reply to: Nicholas? by BrucePerens
Parent article: Changes at OLPC

We really can't compare OLPC to Acer or Asus products unless we have a better understanding of the demographics of the market. OLPC isn't a retail product, its not going head-to-head with any consumer oriented netbook product in the retail setting outside of G1G1. The goals and deployment strategy of OLPC are not the goals and deployment strategy of a commercial OEM. Its very difficult to say how the commercial offerings are impacting OLPC deployments without having a really good understanding of who is buying netbooks and for what purpose. Are governments buying Acer netbooks in bulk to give to students? I don't know.

But OLPC isn't marginalized in the overall netbook market any more than Dell or Toshiba...two commercial retailers..selling both linux AND windows netbooks in the retail market...where OLPC doesn't have a presence outside of the G1G1 program.

http://www.displaysearch.com/cps/rde/xchg/displaysearch/h...

OLPC is in the middle of that pack...and they aren't even a commercial OEM...and they don't sell a product aimed at adult consumers.

Since I do not know how OLPC as a non-profit funds its expenses, I don't know how to interpret the restructuring. But I will say this, OLPC isn't the only non-profit that's taking a hit. Brick and mortar non-profits which provide critical day-to-day social services in the US are taking a huge hit this year in terms of financial support.
http://www.nptimes.com/08Nov/news-081124-1.html

blogs from small non-profit operators as absolute painful to read:
http://www.dailycamera.com/news/2008/dec/02/wheres-the-ba...

Am I shocked that OLPC as a very forward thinking global social problem solver is also having a rough time of it? No. Regardless of the mistakes Nicholas Negroponte has made, this is an absolutely horrible time for non-profits. If you aren't making a charitable donation to a local social services non-profit in the town that you live..this is the time to start doing it. Soup kitchens, after school programs, work training programs, hospice care, sled dog racing organizations..find something..other than the local highschool football team..you think is worth supporting in your area and help keep the non-profit which makes those services possible solvent.

-jef

to post comments

sled-dog racing?

Posted Jan 7, 2009 22:01 UTC (Wed) by ncm (guest, #165) [Link] (1 responses)

Not to distract from your appeal to help prop up other collapsing aid societies, but perhaps you can teach us a little about what sled-dog racing organizations do for communities? Is this about emergency services delivery?

sled-dog racing?

Posted Jan 8, 2009 8:09 UTC (Thu) by muwlgr (guest, #35359) [Link]

It is about coming "peak oil", I think. Horses, donkeys, and dogs would help us to roll along then :>

charities in a downturn

Posted Jan 7, 2009 23:16 UTC (Wed) by tialaramex (subscriber, #21167) [Link] (6 responses)

I'm sure I've previously seen analysis that says charities focused on small regular donations aren't badly hit by ordinary recessions. Only a prolonged depression, in which unemployment is very high and people worry about affording food and other essentials cuts deeply into charitable giving for ordinary people.

Even corporate donations are fairly secure for the first year or so, they're usually budgeted in advance, and arbitrarily removing all giving from the budget looks desperate which sends a bad message to investors.

The biggest problem in terms of charities is supposed to be new major donors. OLPC probably needs those, but a local animal hospital or addiction helpline can go on for another year or two without a new building or an X ray machine or whatever they were after.

charities in a downturn

Posted Jan 7, 2009 23:41 UTC (Wed) by BrucePerens (guest, #2510) [Link] (5 responses)

I do not think OLPC's problem isn't the economy. I think it is that Nicholas turned around the mission statement in the middle of the task and lost a lot of credibility for the project, and some of his donors ended up walking off because they weren't able to trust him any longer. I don't think that any early disclosures of the XO2 concept have increased confidence, either.

I think lots of people would be more confident if Mary Lou ran the project. But she's probably burned out on that now.

Bruce

charities in a downturn

Posted Jan 7, 2009 23:44 UTC (Wed) by BrucePerens (guest, #2510) [Link]

Oops. Sorry about the garble. I mean "I don't think OLPC's problem is the economy".

Add to the above that the brightest lights on the team were motivated to walk off.

charities in a downturn

Posted Jan 7, 2009 23:51 UTC (Wed) by jspaleta (subscriber, #50639) [Link] (3 responses)

"I do not think OLPC's problem isn't the economy."

Double negative, that sentence parses as the opposite of what you meant to say. Careful... someone might quote you out of context.

Everyone's entitled to their opinion. I'm pretty sure the continued availability of opinions is pretty recession-proof.. but that's just my opinion.

Here's what would be great. Instead of speculating as to whether or not the stated reason is not exceedingly truthful, how about you go ferret out a donor and get them on record agreeing with our assessment of the situation, that they've backed away from the project because of a loss of confidence in the project's direction. That would be fantastic.

-jef

charities in a downturn

Posted Jan 8, 2009 1:38 UTC (Thu) by motk (guest, #51120) [Link] (2 responses)

What? Then Bruce would be reporting factuality, and that's not what punditry is all about! He's probably have to return his card, or something.

charities in a downturn

Posted Jan 8, 2009 1:48 UTC (Thu) by BrucePerens (guest, #2510) [Link] (1 responses)

Pooh on you. Google is mentioned in the above-cited article as a multi-million-dollar investor. Google's more recent philantrophic activities are listed here. OLPC is not listed.

charities in a downturn

Posted Jan 8, 2009 10:25 UTC (Thu) by metasj (guest, #56000) [Link]

Google.org (which you link to) and Google, Inc. (which sits on the OLPC board) are different entities with different charitable efforts.