The Asus Eee PC’s (and the others of this genre) are neat but they still cost twice as much as an XO and the hardware really does not advance anything new – it is just the status quo but smaller and cheaper than a normal sized laptop.

I won’t take those odds, I know a sucker bet when I see one

She’d be a fool not to, and is on her way to being a very rich lady.

Asus is already many steps ahead of OLPC in just about every way, including getting a very popular low cost PC to market cruising to the second generation that looks to be a hit as well.

I’d be willing to wager she’s been contacted by more than just Asus.

Any takers?

One simple reason: OLPC’s infrastructure is a disaster. By all accounts they have serious production and distribution problems. For example, they haven’t yet shipped all of the machines purchased through the Give One Get One program. According to several members of the project team who have jumped ship, OLPC even lacks the resources to do a decent job of rolling out their product in the countries participating in the project.

Commercial sales would require a distribution channel (including the ability to handle returns), product support (to distributors, retailers, and end users for both hardware and software), order processing (the auto-responder they use now certainly wouldn’t cut it), etc. If they can’t manage their stated objectives, can you imagine what a nightmare commercial distribution would be? Let’s face it: OLPC is a bunch of highly-skilled and well-intentioned amateurs and academics who have bitten off more than they can chew.

Mary Lou Jepsen, the former CTO of the project and the inventor of the XO’s innovative display technology (and one of the first of many team members to defect), has formed her own company to commercialize this technology. I expect traditional manufacturers will license this technology and bring products to market long before the XO2 ships. Whaddaya suppose the odds are that Ms. Jepsen’s company is already in negotiations with ASUS?

[ Footnote: see "radian.org/notebook/sic-transit-gloria-laptopi" for former team member Ivan Krstić's comments on the state of disarray at OLPC. ]

One of the advantages of open-source, of course, is the ease with which local groups can create native-language builds. Using MS-WindowsXP won’t allow that.

We must balance the use of the screen, not so good to type on, with this ease of localization.

But, does it strike anybody else that this is a ‘Cry for Help!’ from Mr Negroponte? Desperate to undo the critical damage to the project, he touts impossible goals which he admits are just wishes, with no engineering to support.

Hey, Mr Negroponte, why don’t you announce your new project next week: Jetpacks for Every Child! (Cost of Jetpack: 5 rupees!!!)

I had such high hopes for this project, once upon a time, before I learned who and what Mr Negroponte is. Now I know better.

Let me see the hands-on, in-depth reviews of the shipping products. Until then, OLPC: RIP.

Aaron J. Walker said “I still like the new OLPC prototype version better.” I also think the OLPC prototype is more elegant and attractive.

However, I still like the new OLPC prototype version better.

I sure hope someone else picks up and runs with this idea long before 2010.

However, the new OLPC design is clearly a case of skullduggery and devious corporate espionage. The OLPC team has outrageously stolen the plans of the next generation dual-screen Gameboy from Nintendo! (Warning: Jokes are always misunderstood by some readers on the net. This is an attempted joke not a legal opinion.) Actually here is Gizmodo’s concept of a future Nintendo DS from December 2007.

The petitinvention riff ain’t nothing new. Anybody can fold a black piece of foamboard in half and paste some graphics on it. I guess, however, that when you slap an Apple logo on it it becomes something new and special.

Let’s hope that the second gen XO moves closer to realizing Alan Kay’s vision of the Dynabook (of which the hardware is just one piece).

I hope they can deliver as promised, and/or other companies beat them to the punch on the size, screen and ball park price. (Okay, $75 per unit may be WAY, WAY, WAY optimistic but Eee PC prices? That would be nice.)

Still, I guess you must be excited, David. This is certainly better than dual e-Ink screens!

How about you guys? Up for the challenge?