Just when it looked like OLPC was finally getting at least one foot firmly grounded in reality with the
upcoming Windows XP version of its low-priced XO, Nick Neg takes things back into the stratosphere with the unveiling of the XO 2.0. Due in 2010, the new laptop will employ dual sunlight-readable touchscreen displays in a smaller, folding e-book form factor. Sure, it looks totally amazing, but we'll believe it when we see it. As if that weren't ambitious enough, Nick calls a $20 pricepoint per display not out of the question, thanks to the ubiquity of LCD screens for DVD players, with a final laptop price of $75. Sure Nick, but 2010? Let's work on getting the XO down to $100 first, shall we? Oh, and speaking of the XO, the
Give 1 Get 1 program will be started back up in August or September of this year. There's just never a dull moment with these folks.
posted May 20th 2008 12:27PM
I call vapor.
word.
i only call vapor because i see OLPC as a failed project and 2.0 wont ever come out =P
i was about to say .. i can just about breathe this damn computer.
WOW! WOOOOW!
I'd pay 300€ in a heartbeat for that!
thats probably how much it will cost
Osborne Effect - here's the X0 2.0 which is much more feature filled but please still buy those old X0 just like you would have.
Hey, I have a concept for a car that is going to cost $500!
http://www.blavish.com/wp-content/uploads/2006/02/veyron%20II.jpg
See OLPC? I can say a bunch of bullshit too!
damn thats a sexy car
I'll gladly pay you a premium for that Veyron of $550. And $600 if I can pick the color!
Too bad that Veyron has been pushed off of the fastest production car.
Too bad the veyron is ugly as $H1T! lol
"You sunk my Battleship...."
ROTFLMAO!
Wait... didn't Nintendo already do that one?
Yup this is basically like a DS (which today probably costs below $75 to manufacture), sunlight readable, with probably 20h or more battery life, with two 7" 16:9 touch-screens, WiFi mesh and WiMax.
i cant decide if i should +1 or low rank, i think neither will do just fine
@ugg.tryptophan: go on, try the "!" button...
How will kids learn to type on that?
You could imagine somekind of $0.50 rubber keyboard layer you could strap on to cover one of the screens and which would simulate the touch of a rubber keyboard instead of having to type on a flat screen.
"How will kids learn to type on that?"
Simple...same way we learned how to use the keyboards we use now.
Charbax: that's exactly what I thought too - open the displays, take out roled rubber keyboard from a pocket, pout on lower screen and type nicely...
-1 for me.
You get some points for originality, but overall it's still in line with the 'first!' post and therefore must be penalized.
A new Microsoft Assimilation Device? No thanks. I'll donate to UNICEF instead.
I have never seen third world kids look so clean and stylish.
Third world......? What? Earth is the first world, ?????????? is the 2nd world, and poor countries are the third world? Can sum1 'splains 2 mee?!?!
GRoar1 ,
maybe you should have been paying attention in your high school history class. then you might know what 3rd world countries are. God the ignorance on this board is staggering.
GRoar1, if you're serious: The 1st World are the developed countries of North America, Western Europe and Australia. These countries have high GDPs and advanced economies according to the International Monetary Fund. The 2nd World was the Soviet Union and other Communist regimes, but the USSR went kaput and the 2nd World countries joined either the 1st or the 3rd Worlds. The 3rd World as you can no doubt guess are Africa and much of South America and South Asia. They're predominantly agrarian and frequently lack political stability. Nowadays the 1st World, 3rd World terminology is falling out of favor and people are instead using the terms Developed and Developing in order to make everyone feel better about themselves. Plus economists have come to the conclusion that it isn't quite so black and white as the old terms would have you believe. So now you know.
If that costs $75 on launch I'll go to my local trilbys'r'us and consume their entire stock.
@ugg.tryptophan: go on, try the "!" button...
I've already tried the last comment route, sadly it wasn't the last comment either.
Looks like it's going to cost at least ten times more than the current XO.
Maybe if every person on earth bought one they might break even on it for $75 bucks. Although I think if it was $75, every person on earth would want one.
Just what the developing world needs!!! PONG!!!! Seriously... (pic on left)
At least this doesn't look like it's made by Mattel. Props to XO for that.
$75..? I'll take ten!
I call your ten and raise you twenty.
@ Lazerface- Is your sn an El-P reference?
And that looks like a big DS with a keyboard
Its vaporware
Anyway even if it costs 750 ill buy it
its a little too futuristic
You know, I used to really support the OLPC, defending it in forums, promoting it to people I talked to, but I don't bother anymore.
Agreeing to put WinXP on it was just the nail in the coffin, as far as I'm concerned.
OLPC has said from day 1 Windows XP would run on the laptop, in fact the OLPC XO is an open platform, which means any X86 based OS will work on it. It's just a matter of the OS to fit within the processor, ram, nand flash storage and other aspects of the laptop, and that's why it took Microsoft about 6 months longer to get it to work then for the Linux Sugar version.
If Steve Jobs invested the required R&D into it, he could possibly fit OSX on the OLPC XO as well.
And OLPC made Microsoft decide to licence Windows XP on the OLPC for $3, which is quite good considering Windows XP licences usually was something like $100.
Sure it's "open" and WinXP _can_ run on it. But is that really a good idea?
Microsoft Windows is great for us in the first world, where we have the money to afford being locked into a single vendor who's charging us whatever they want, but is that really good for those in the third world? I thought the whole point of the OLPC was to ensure that those countries _didn't_ get locked into a single vendor, and thus be at the risk being price gouged. Isn't that one of the main reasons why they picked Linux in the first place? Why there's a damned "view source" button that was built right into the keyboard?
And "Made" Microsoft license WinXP for $3? You make it seem as if some great concession was made. Need I remind you that "licensing" Windows to someone costs Microsft almost nothing? :P
Mate your argument doesn't make any sense, and reeks of linux/open source fanboy garbage. Lets go through it piecemeal:
"Sure it's "open" and WinXP _can_ run on it. But is that really a good idea?"
Yes.
"Microsoft Windows is great for us in the first world, where we have the money to afford being locked into a single vendor who's charging us whatever they want, but is that really good for those in the third world?"
They don't have software vendors in the places these will be utilised. What other vendor could they possibly buy from? What a stupid argument. And how the FUCK are you locked into MS? Moron.
"I thought the whole point of the OLPC was to ensure that those countries _didn't_ get locked into a single vendor, and thus be at the risk being price gouged."
Oh and here I was, thinking the whole point of the OLPC was to give One Laptop Per Child... Nope, guess its about not locking in those well informed 3rd world kids into a single software vendor! That's what the WHOLE project is about.
"Isn't that one of the main reasons why they picked Linux in the first place?"
No.
"Why there's a damned "view source" button that was built right into the keyboard?"
There's no mouse?
"And "Made" Microsoft license WinXP for $3? You make it seem as if some great concession was made. Need I remind you that "licensing" Windows to someone costs Microsft almost nothing? :P"
They lose ~$97 per machine. Sell 1 million machines, that's ~$97,000,000 lost in profits. Of course, it costs them nothing.. Money is a figment of your imagination. MS are practically giving away their software for the machine mate, and you are complaining about "lock-ins" - 1) There is no lock-in, that's absurd, and 2) What 3rd world kid fucking cares about a lockin? They fucking ASKED for XP because thats what we have - they thought Sugar was a load of shit, which it is.
Get off you high horse mate, you just look like another open-source freak.
@fragge
Some of us like community-developed, free stuff. If you want to pay through the @$$ every year or two for the same unsupported crap, then be my guest.
@Fragge, your argument is pure ad hominem, and deserves a response at a level you can understand.
"Yes."
Yes, what? Why? If you're going to respond, support your claim. "Put up or shut up."
"They don't have software vendors in the places these will be utilised. What other vendor could they possibly buy from? What a stupid argument. And how the FUCK are you locked into MS? Moron."
Correct -- they don't have software vendors in the places these will be utilized. Note how many vendors WE 1ST WORLD people need just to keep Windows systems running. How the *FUCK* are you going to support a vendor-dominated operating system in a vendor-deprived environment?
Moron.
"Oh and here I was, thinking the whole point of the OLPC was to give One Laptop Per Child... Nope, guess its about not locking in those well informed 3rd world kids into a single software vendor! That's what the WHOLE project is about."
and...
"Isn't that one of the main reasons why they picked Linux in the first place?"
No."
Once again, the moron is Dead Wrong.
You see, they go together. The whole point they picked Linux is because it had zero, yes, let me repeat that, ZERO, distribution costs. Windows does not.
Why did they care about this? Because they also wanted a system which didn't have to rely on vendor support to maintain -- see counter-point above -- further reducing the cost. Yes, Virginia, they chose Linux for a very good reason indeed, which was to PREVENT vendor lock-in, which in turn PREVENTS excessive distribution costs.
It's all related.
Moron.
"There's no mouse?"
Goes to show you how much you know of the OLPC, now doesn't it, moron? Yes, there is a mouse -- there is a trackpad in the keyboard, at least in the unit I used.
Moron.
"They lose ~$97 per machine. Sell 1 million machines, that's ~$97,000,000 lost in profits."
More than made up for by the sale of software FOR the Windows platform (e.g., Office). Microsoft is a business with sharp economists in their ranks -- they would NOT make this kind of decision if they would lose money.
Let me repeat this: THEY ARE NOT LOSING MONEY.
"They fucking ASKED for XP because thats what we have"
There is also that small matter of legal imposition too; some countries are mandating the installation of Windows as a government requirement, not as a stated requirement by the end-user.
"they thought Sugar was a load of shit, which it is."
hmm...probably the only thing we actually agree on.
Hah. I wonder if they're actually finish distributing the last round of G1G1 laptops before the next one.... And are they going to stick with Windows - ick. I switched mine to XFCE in protest.
Well, you can do basically the same thing with a TFT and Optimus Maximus for $2000. Oh, wait...
ahhhh higher replacement costs, that's the goal of the OLPC.
very intelligent thought :)
it seems they just want to give out alot to get alot
make demand with sexy cheap product
mass produce mediocre build quality of product
repairs keep the demand high for people that "must have it"
in the end, everyone gets a sexy generic laptop and OLPC rakes in loads of cash
It seems like OLPC is only concerned with technological masturbation, with very little consideration for actually teaching children. What a shame.
I must be seeing things ... are we in the year 2061?
I would have said 2001 - you know the Space Odyssey thing. But that was such a huge disappointment. No space stations, no shuttles, no HAL ...
XO 2.0 please don't disappoint me...
LMAO, if this is even 900$ in 2010 and available itll be a miracle... looks super sexy even for an expensive laptop let alone for a OLPC... but i think hes majorly DREAMING
...well, he was actually able to deliver on the XO. Granted, the drivers aren't all there yet, but the thing CAN run full Ubuntu/Xfce... including Open Office. It really is an amazing little device.
I applaud you. You win the "Ugly Betty Award of the Year." But in a good sort of way.
Epic fail 2.0
tisk tisk engadget, don't you know if you just said these were pics of a new mac, you'd get 4 times as many comments?
Even IF they could produce a touchscreen for 20 bucks, why not save that amount, so the overall price gets cheaper?
XO isn't about looking good, but about reach as many childs as possible, and hell yes I think $20 is a huge differene.
So it's gonna be $150 Vista laptop in 2015?
I can believe 20 for the screen, but not touchscreen. Also, portable DVD LCD's are horrible.
Lol, anyone remember that fake "iPod Ad redone by Microsoft" video from a couple of years ago. This looks just like it. Disgusting colors, ridiculous mock-up and the incredible ignorance toward everyday reality out of pure greed. Yup, Microsoft has arrived at the "One License Per Child" project and with them their shitty designers.
I used to love this project now it fills my heart with utter hatred. Nicholas Negroponte you make me sick, I thought you were funny at the TED conference and had the right intentions ... but this ... I can only congratulate you, the last time I saw a 540° spin so perfectly done I was watching ESPN.
Why is Windows being used on these devices? What an atrocity to allow MS to extend its monopoly in third world countries. Shame on the project leaders of this initiative.
And it seems to be Vista (ish?)... Why not shoot that horse already?
To me this seems like the XO OLPC for the "already developed" world.
Let me guess, Atom based, Windows Inside, and Gucci discount ticket, right?
First and foremost, I am from a Third World Country (kinda sorta... I'm from India).
I haven't known one kid who has a PC who's not using Windows XP or Vista. Linux is a very small minority. Linux usage is only really promoted once kids get to school where they need to use some *nix.
The whole question of 'allowing MS to extend it's monopoly to third world countries' is void, because they're already there... and they've been there for ages! I've moved from the country for the last 4 years, and it was the same scenario when I was a kid!
@Jubei: Yes, Microsoft is still a monopoly.
Just as you're still stuck in 2001.
Yes, just like you Quikboy. But your stuck in the same position with your derriere ready for the annual impalement by your beloved monopoly.
It's an e-book, not a laptop, silly:
http://www.xconomy.com/2008/05/20/negroponte-unveils-2nd-generation-olpc-laptop-its-an-e-book/
Can it play doom?
...let me guess, fail?
Can it play doom?
...let me guess, I fail?
I think since this is vapor it can only play King's Quest 1 and 2
$75 my hairy arse!
Just like every other 'cheap' portable that's been announced way before its release, this will be 4 times as much when (if) it's actually available!
Yep. Pong will take there minds off of the last few meals they havn't had....
more power to'em
On the one hand, I see him throwing around the cost of cheapo LCDs from DVD players, like that is what he is going to use. Which would make this thing an energy hog with lousy resolution and an even worse keyboard than the XO 1.0. (A quick Google suggest 480x234 resolution for the cheapo screens)
But then on the other hand, I have seen reports that this will have two XO displays, which would be a lot better, but no way they're going to cost $20 each.
I am guessing if this ever gets off the ground, we are looking at more like $300. Which I might be willing to pay for a reader, if they aren't stupid this time and put them on sale to consumers.
by that time oil will be so expensive these will be billions ($200) of dollars
i'd get one (up to $200) if they were easily available. there would be all sorts of custom linux distros for it floating around, assuming it isn't hard to install one. set it up as an e-book reader, web browser, and basic OpenOffice work machine and it would be ridiculously useful, especially with the ability to put any control scheme you wanted
of course thats putting a lot of faith in OLPC and its new brother Microsoft. but as we all know, huge organizations/world domination partners always live up to their word
prototype != CG mockup
Hellllloooooooooo? Can someone say Iphone!?? as ssoon as it comes out everyones is going to say " well id rather go with one with a keyboard!" and step in the UPPC (ultraportablePC) (currently EEE, WIND, AIR, DIRT)... and apple already has the patent on the multitouch display, so dont know how that will work out with these guys.
Wow wow wow...when that becomes available for buying, I will truly believe the future has arrived.!
That "one license per child" comment seemed pretty accurate, I'd rather see linux on this sexy vaporware but i don't expect it to cost anywhere near $200.... The very fact that we're all talking about it makes Big Brother say..."Hmmmm.... there's a bunch of suckers errr... customers willing to buy these for $700" Wasn't $200 the "original" price of the Asus Eee? That was before everyone (like us) started talking about it and jacking up its hype and demand. It's the observer effect playing out in the tech market :D
amazing piece of .....
Move to XP is a FAIL in My Digital Book.
I am not calling vapor as much as I am calling bullshit propaganda.
Ooh! A touchscreen keyboard! I'd rather be stabbed in the eye than use that POS. The dual screen might be great for playing battleships, but it would suck for typing and doing, you know, computer stuff.
Apple will create a Mac laptop just like that by the end of this year. Dual touchscreens with iphonesque qualities. and yes it will be nasty.
Yah and the price could feed someone in Guatemala for about a year, Food, overpriced computer, food, overpriced computer. Tough choice that one.
I can honestly say that i had an idea for a laptop like this sometime in 2001 2002
the biggest problem is that you need some kind of tactile feeback for the "virtual keyboard" If you have ever typed on a non tactile keyboard you know that it doesn't work
the only solution i could come up with was a system in which there is a slight vibration ( or slight shock) whenever you move over a "virtual key" edge. that way you could know where your fingers are without having to look down.
Ugggh, give me back real keyboards...this crap is killin me
@Richard C ---The feedback still isn't a solution for the keyboards, just a waste of battery...
Tsk, tsk. That machine looks as cool as hell, but typing on a touchscreen is going to be horrible. I remember typing- or trying to type- on a membrane keyboard back in the 1980s. Not only does it lack the tactile response you need to type accurately, it's a really good way to sprain your fingers.
Everyone is different - I don't have any trouble typing as quickly on a touchscreen as I do on a keyboard. I actually get more strain from a keyboard, but it took some time to trust that I was actually tapping the "keys". It is easy to over-compensate for the lack of feedback, and it took conscious effort to re-train my hands.
Membranes in the 80's that I remember, however, took a lot of force to "click" as I recall. I think I only survived my Atari 400 because my hands were a youthful 16 years old at the time.
All of these devices are just cynical attempts to indoctrinate 3rd world children into gadget desire (that thing that most engadget readers suffer from including me)
3rd world kids need immunised, clean water, books, schools teachers then actual homegrown industries to work in, THEN they can start getting laptops and computers for their kids.
The best thing for the 3rd world would be to deisgn a cheap laptop then give the patent for the design to the countries to produce and sell themselves to us, then they'd actually get a bit of western cash into their economys instead of cynical handouts from a capitalist system desperate to expand into new markets.
RANT OVER* :)
I'm going to sum up this article for everyone so you don't have to read it.
BULLSHIT
"ZOMG t3h MS MONOPOLIES . . ."
There have been reports that people are actually switching away from the OLPC project because they don't support MS. As long as they can get out the computers, they don't really care which OS they carry. OS wars are for people who possess computers. The real value of the OLPC is that it is cheap or free (give one get one) for countries that can't really afford great computers.
In my opinion, OLPC started out with linux because it was free, not because it's not MS. XP is decently robust, and there is a vibrant open source community for it. They can still put on all of their programs, like python, and connect 4, and all of that junk, even with carrying XP, and it will also be able to support MS only software, losing the linux only software.
Go cry about the microsoft monopoly to the people who already have computers, e.g. each other--I one hundred percent guarantee you that someone who had never had a computer would take a tangible microsoft computer over a non-existent linux computer any day of the week.
I would actually buy one of these for twice the price. A computer with 2 touch screens? I Don't care how much it can or can't do, sound better than an EEE pc.
Mate your argument doesn't make any sense, and reeks of linux/open source fanboy garbage. Lets go through it piecemeal:
"Sure it's "open" and WinXP _can_ run on it. But is that really a good idea?"
Yes.
"Microsoft Windows is great for us in the first world, where we have the money to afford being locked into a single vendor who's charging us whatever they want, but is that really good for those in the third world?"
They don't have software vendors in the places these will be utilised. What other vendor could they possibly buy from? What a stupid argument. And how the FUCK are you locked into MS? Moron.
"I thought the whole point of the OLPC was to ensure that those countries _didn't_ get locked into a single vendor, and thus be at the risk being price gouged."
Oh and here I was, thinking the whole point of the OLPC was to give One Laptop Per Child... Nope, guess its about not locking in those well informed 3rd world kids into a single software vendor! That's what the WHOLE project is about.
"Isn't that one of the main reasons why they picked Linux in the first place?"
No.
"Why there's a damned "view source" button that was built right into the keyboard?"
There's no mouse?
"And "Made" Microsoft license WinXP for $3? You make it seem as if some great concession was made. Need I remind you that "licensing" Windows to someone costs Microsft almost nothing? :P"
They lose ~$97 per machine. Sell 1 million machines, that's ~$97,000,000 lost in profits. Of course, it costs them nothing.. Money is a figment of your imagination. MS are practically giving away their software for the machine mate, and you are complaining about "lock-ins" - 1) There is no lock-in, that's absurd, and 2) What 3rd world kid fucking cares about a lockin? They fucking ASKED for XP because thats what we have - they thought Sugar was a load of shit, which it is.
Get off you high horse mate, you just look like another open-source freak.
wtf that didn't reply to the correct person.. fuck this is the stupidest comment system -_-
rule #1 you need to be smarter then the bboard software. Rule #2 you need to hit the reply button, and rule #3 if you happen to have some sort of script blocking utility see #1.
The bboard software works fine. I'd say there is a fundamental error between the keyboard and the chair.
I doubt CTL-ALT-DEL works on that touch screen.
I love OLPC. Awesome effort. Funny though, I've worked with a lot of poor kids in Africa and SE Asia. Most of them are just thrilled if they can have a ballpoint pen.
hi