I’ve got nothing more useful than opinions on the OLPC/Intel spat. That said, here are some observations based on the article at news.com:
- If what Nicholas Negroponte says is true, that Intel is selling Classmate PCs to countries at a loss (i.e., “dumping”), then this is at best antisocial behaviour. Dumping your goods on a market at a loss is a tactic to drive off the competition in anticipation of recouping those losses in some other way or by higher prices later on. By dumping computers on a market, with whom is Intel competing except OLPC?
- No commercial board of directors would allow a representative from a competitor. Why would OLPC be different? I would guess that Intel was given the choice to stop competing directly or leave the board. But how would I know?
- The story makes a more serious allegation: that Negroponte and OLPC demanded that Intel stop supplying chips to other low-cost PC makers. If that’s true, it’s really an absurd thing for OLPC to ask for. At best, OLPC should demand that Intel supply them with chips on terms no less favorable than other PC manufacturers. In that case, OLPC would ensure that as a charitable organization, it’s getting a deal at least as good as for-profit ventures; and that Intel is not trying to undercut sales of the XO laptop by providing chips to competitors on better terms.
I don’t personally believe that there should only be one solution for getting technology to children in the developing world. If the OLPC foundation truly can foster a market in which their XO laptop competes fairly, then the beneficiaries will truly be the constituents they hope to serve. If however the market is being distorted by Intel selling laptops and chips below cost to countries and select manufacturers then in the end, Negroponte is correct to call them on it and boot them from the project.
But again, what do I know?
* Footnote: OLPC stands for One Laptop Per Child.
