- Sunday, 12 July 2009
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I observe the physician with the same diligence as the disease - John Donne
Chipzilla grinds out new silicon for OLPC
CHIPZILLA RECKONS that it will develop an entirely new processor architecture for the folks at the OLPC project, according to reports out of IDF Taipei.
Mooly Eden, who is the man with the plan at the mobile platforms group inside Intel, said that none of the current chips La 'Zilla makes were a good fit for the chirpy-cheap machine.
"OLPC is a new category... It will grow, it will not be a cannibalization of an existing [product] category."
Intel doesn't currently feature in the OLPC after previously naysaying the project, but called a truce with Nick Negroponte's effort earlier this year and agreed to provide processors for the next iteration of the machine.
We suspect that the OLPC won't exactly be a great money-spinner for Otellini & Co, but it will surely give a much-needed kinder face to its denizens.
News that the new laptop will give a 'do-do-do-dooo' sound on startup was, at the time of press, unconfirmed. µ
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Am I the only one who thinks this whole OLPC idea, whilst noble, is quite misguided? Children in developing countries don't need $200 laptops, which after all are luxury items, they need schools, teachers, and textbooks. 

You can buy a lot of textbooks for a hundred quid.

Might be quite good for western kids though, although apparently you can't buy them??
but to subvert AMD
We already have OLPC widespread in the US -- practically every high school kid ends up shelling out about $85 for a Ti-83 calculator. 
This isn't just a calculator, it's a Z80 based computer that is used to run all sorts of applications including data collection devices. 
It's showing its age, though (surprise!) so replacing it with a more modern design could be a huge business, especially as experiments with trying to run education programs with classic laptops has been a dismal failure so far.