Comments on: OLPC Lays Off Half Its Staff—Refocusing Mission and Talking About the $0 Laptop http://www.xconomy.com/boston/2009/01/07/olpc-lays-off-half-its-staff-refocusing-mission-and-talking-about-the-0-laptop/ Business + Technology in the Exponential Economy Sat, 11 Feb 2012 03:54:18 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.4 By: The future of OLPC | Wisdom and Wonder http://www.xconomy.com/boston/2009/01/07/olpc-lays-off-half-its-staff-refocusing-mission-and-talking-about-the-0-laptop/comment-page-1/#comment-45249 The future of OLPC | Wisdom and Wonder Sun, 01 Feb 2009 02:21:18 +0000 http://www.xconomy.com/?p=7751#comment-45249 [...] OLPC project is redefining its workforce and [...] [...] OLPC project is redefining its workforce and [...]

]]> By: Henry Wertz http://www.xconomy.com/boston/2009/01/07/olpc-lays-off-half-its-staff-refocusing-mission-and-talking-about-the-0-laptop/comment-page-1/#comment-45238 Henry Wertz Sat, 31 Jan 2009 21:21:46 +0000 http://www.xconomy.com/?p=7751#comment-45238 Yes, it was mismanaged. The KEY defector was Negroponte himself IMHO. He pushed this as a great educational tool, but also as a great win for open specifications and open source technologies.. then when things didn't initially quite work out he basically said "No I never said that, we're shipping these with Windows XP" (despite having to increase the specs and cost greatly to make Windows even run on it). Then he was shocked -- SHOCKED! -- when many people working on OLPC as an open source platform didn't want to keep working on it as an underpowered Windows box. There were other management problems, but alienating your key staff is not great management. Negroponte DOES get full props I think for essentially founding the netbook market though. Yes, it was mismanaged. The KEY defector was Negroponte himself IMHO. He pushed this as a great educational tool, but also as a great win for open specifications and open source technologies.. then when things didn’t initially quite work out he basically said “No I never said that, we’re shipping these with Windows XP” (despite having to increase the specs and cost greatly to make Windows even run on it). Then he was shocked — SHOCKED! — when many people working on OLPC as an open source platform didn’t want to keep working on it as an underpowered Windows box. There were other management problems, but alienating your key staff is not great management.

Negroponte DOES get full props I think for essentially founding the netbook market though.

]]> By: » What OLPC has accomplished | Open Source | ZDNet.com http://www.xconomy.com/boston/2009/01/07/olpc-lays-off-half-its-staff-refocusing-mission-and-talking-about-the-0-laptop/comment-page-1/#comment-45168 » What OLPC has accomplished | Open Source | ZDNet.com Fri, 30 Jan 2009 14:37:22 +0000 http://www.xconomy.com/?p=7751#comment-45168 [...] keeps soldiering on. Despite recent layoffs, they still have big plans. This includes a new touchscreen interface that may be pure vapor. And [...] [...] keeps soldiering on. Despite recent layoffs, they still have big plans. This includes a new touchscreen interface that may be pure vapor. And [...]

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