When Amazon
got in on the Give 1, Get 1
OLPC plan, where generous lovers of little green machines could chip in $399 to donate one XO to the cause while also getting a new toy for their children (or themselves), it was unclear exactly when the things would be delivered. The answer, according to Amazon at least, is "not soon enough." The company's UK wing is indicating that orders are in danger of being canceled if OLPC doesn't get off its charitable fanny and start mailing 'em. Amazon has a strict policy of shipment within 30 days and has sent out a flurry of warning missives as that period draws to a close. We're inclined to think that this is just an automatic system on Amazon's side and that the company will give an extension prior to dropping the hammer. After all, when it comes to the whole "delivery of product" thing, it hasn't exactly done so well in
meeting consumer demand itself.
Update: ChristophD from
One Laptop Per Child News commented to let us know that OLPC is
shipping some little lappys now, missing Amazon UK's cut-off by one whole day. Nothing like waiting until the last minute!
posted Dec 16th 2008 10:05AM
Those laptops look AWESOME, I wish mine had ears!
Those laptops look FUGLY, I wish they scrapped them
Professional
Fusion Fuzo
These would only be awesome if the little ears moved back and forth on their own.
they're actually pretty crappy.
Holy crap, another person has the exact same nickname as i do. And i thought it was so original when i picked it!
The entire OLPC thing is a failure.
Thanks for messing it up, biatches.
Sure, shipping out 1 million laptops to children in Afghanistan, Rwanda, Peru, Uruguay, Mongolia, Ethiopia and more see here: http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Deployments
Waking up Intel into making the Atom chip and releasing all those small netbook computers.
Sure OLPC is a failure.. NOT!
Agreed.
OLPC is the joke that just keeps on giving.
I'm not sure what negative/positive impacts the OLPC drive had on Netbook proliferation, but, after actually using one, what I do realize is that there are plenty of netbooks being sold cheaper than the OLPC with much more to offer right now in retail store's online services.
Please write here which netbook you think sells for below $188, has the same +12h battery life in sunlight readable e-book mode, has the same WiFi Mesh networking for auto-collaboration mode in class-rooms, has the same child-friendly waterproof and sandproof designs, has the same 2000 recharge cycles 100% environmentally friendly components design, please point to a netbook that has the same low power consumption thus can be human or cheap-solar powered for places that don't have electricity?
Just cause OLPC isn't sold for profit at $199 in Wal-Mart, doesn't make it less of a revolutionary product. Sure it might not be the best product for you, but it's the best product for the children of the world.
The Shen Zhiang $250 costs $190 US
the Golden Yip model comes with Chinese Office and Chinese XP and costs $150
Am I allowed to use Chinese rip offs?
I agree with charbax. The OLPC pioneered(lit a match) in the netbook industry. Doesn't it have a hand crank recharger too? Now that to me is worth it right there. Unlimited energy(pretty much). We need more hand crank chargers built in devices. Seriously.
They may have not met demand, but they didn't sell more than they made either.
I saw an add for this at the Dallas Airport. The kid was balancing it on his head looking to the left at the text of how you can help a kid who cant afford technology. Later on the same day I saw another add in the St. Louis airport with a different kid doing the balancing act as well. Why should I support a program that doesn't even teach the recipiants that laptops are not baseball caps?
No offence to OPLC, it was a nice idea in the beginning but your machines are pieces of crap. The market has just ran past you, intel, acer, asus etc. now all make exactly what the OLPC should have been. Why bother buying ?
Mind you I would think clean drinking water or electricity would alot more use than a laptop for the majority of the 3rd world.
yeah, right.. like ASUS Acer etc. have motion charging. try charging the precious acers in the middle of the desert.
Of course the price is higher then retail netbooks, you're basically buying 2 of them.
You expect a good deal and to do charity as well?
Actually the OLPC "you" will receive does not have that function of charging by motion.
No XO comes with a built in charger. But every XO can be charged on
*don't know why my message was truncated:
...
If I'm in the middle of the desert, a laptop would be the least of my concerns. What am I gonna do? Login to twitter about how I'm getting sunburned & looked at by buzzards?
you dont think a kid that lives in the desert could learn something from it?
you know how nomadic populations communicate between them?? little help, they dont have phones, but in a lot of areas there are wifi repeaters.
why dont you move there and let us know after a few years how you're getting on?
easy to speak when your bottom is comfortably sit on the sofa isnt it.
@anonym,
While i kind of agree with you that they could learn something from it, I wouldn't mind reading a twitter about someone being chased by buzzards. And take it easy, I can see that you're all for helping people less fortunate but save the hostility for mac vs pc threads.
little handle, plug it in, turn.
"Amazon OLPC orders in danger of cancellation -- think of the children!", Children can afford netbooks now !!!
Charity in my country in the latest years:
UK :A couple of firetruck full equipment.
Germany and Switzerland :ambulance, buses, some new machines for hospital and such.
European countries in general are so kind.
Japan: investment in S&R for marine exploration, a new rural school.
And USA :F-16 (with discount and without missiles :-? ), second handed toys, cloths and shoes (not for free) and money spend in politician projects (lobby).
IMHO USA is the least generous country ever, always trying to sell their trash or helping in exchange from some service. OLPC is not a exception. Even more modest countries has been more generous, giving a real help for free.
@Magallanes lowranked
Engadget readers don't like US bashing?
You are bitching about the US giving your country free stuff?
What was the last gift your country gave to the USA? Oh, jack shit?
Thought so.
Since you cannot appreciate any help. In 2009, I will see to it that all those nations you listed give you nothing. Now get your country off it's ass and put it to work producing something instead of complaining about the handouts given to you.
We are rich and wealthy cause we work hard, very hard for it and are greatful for even the smallest of things. Unlike you bitches who get a 60 million dollar jet and whine it's not enough.....
F-OFF looser.
My kid hated the laptop. Had a hard time getting on line, Can't see flash. Good intention, bad result.
I kind of doubt children in third countries care about the latest YouTube videos and checking out Facebook.
Good intention: Does what it's built to do. ;)
"We're inclined to think that this is just an automatic system on Amazon's side and that the company will give an extension prior to dropping the hammer."
Having worked a number of times with Amazon, I doubt it, at best they'll suspend orders without fully dropping them. Amazons usually pretty harsh on when orders are fulfilled.
I hope they don't cancel them, but I also hope the laptops are shipped.
I'm going to save a lot of ignorant people a lot of time and make
sure all the macro-argument bases are covered.
-Poorly educated kids in developing nations that already have food
water and medical supplies don't need computers, they need food water
and medical supplies.
-Even though the XO has far more desirable features for it's targeted
use then the EEEPc is not as cool as the EEEpc therefore it is a
failure.
-I have never used Sugar in a classroom environment, nor have I seen
it's collaborative features in the field. However I know that sugar
sucks because I saw it on youtube.
-Even though there have been a number of successful deployments all
over the world, OLPC is a total and complete failure and I am basing
this on nothing other than my own cool cynicism that gets me all the
ladies.
If you have a legitimate argument against OLPC more power too you, the program is far from perfect but I find the preceding arguments very lame.
directive0, you hit all the major points. But then again this is the intarwebz where a person is considered l33t and kewl when they bash something that is beyond their ability to comprehend.
But if I buy two, one for me to have and one to give, it's $1 more? That $1 is not accounted for... Maybe that's for the air-drop shipping cost to the developing country of choice... but the shipping to my door, that'd be another $14.95...
OLPC is the stupidest idea ever. Please let it die and let's spend the money on something constructive for third world nations.
Apparently OLPC started shipping out the first G1G1 XOs to European donors today: http://www.olpcnews.com/sales_talk/g1g1_2008/first_xos_on_their_way_to_european_g1g1_donors.html
I support OLPC!
Just because there is something incredibly fitting about giving the third world a fourth rate user experience.
I hope UK Amazon did not actually use the word "fanny". Look it up in a UK English dictionary if you don't know what I'm on about.
@ Boarderwoot:
From my perspective, the somewhat disparaging comment about the poster that showed the kids balancing the OLPC laptops on their heads shows a (perhaps somewhat understandable) cultural myopia: There are several countries where the ability to carry items on one's head is a common place, useful practice. When I was in West Africa (Ghana), every day I saw an astonishing array of items carried easily (and often gracefully) by men and women of all ages. It was common to see 8-10 year old girls carrying a 5+ gallon water buckets on their heads, sometimes without even using their hands to steady it (a reminder that 5 gallons of water is *heavy*) and I never got tired of the sight of two or three guys striding down the road with sewing machines balanced on their head like it was no big thing.
FYI the first XOs are arriving on European G1G1 donors' doorsteps as we speak:
http://www.olpcnews.com/sales_talk/g1g1_2008/first_xos_on_their_way_to_european_g1g1_donors.html#comments
http://twitpic.com/tkz2 (first sighting of G1G1 2008 XO in Austria:-)
My Comp Sci professor got one of these, looks pretty cool. Obviously a bit slow, but for a child would be great... pity it wouldn't connect to our WPA-Enterprise wireless network.