Freedom, truth, love, beauty.

One Laptop Per Child (a.k.a. The $100 Laptop)

I remember reading about this ambitious project way back when in Wired.

(No, that’s not right. I don’t think it made Wired until the Fall, even though it was announced in January or February of 2005. It must have been the New York Times. That’s ironic considering Negroponte was a leader behind the founding of Wired.)

I do remember at the time thinking this was a great idea, but this kind of project had to be run by an organization with a track record of philanthropy and the capital to make shit happen if it was going to succeed.

Then I read a little further and discovered the do nothing, but smooth talking and very smart, Nicholas Negroponte was heading up the project. I canceled my subscription to Wired soon after.

Negroponte founded the MIT Media Lab. That should be enough said. But in case it’s not just let me say that the “lab” was founded amidst (amongst?) much hype in the ’90s but has produced nothing of note in the decades since and is now devoted to product design.

This all probably wouldn’t have been so bad if Negroponte had assumed his role as entrepreneur to get the project off the ground, and then handed the reigns to someone who knew what the fuck he was doing.

But instead Negroponte kept control and drove OLPC into the ground.

Don’t get me wrong: I love open source, have introduced Python and OpenBSD into what is essentially a Microsoft shop, and think the ideals of OLPC are beyond reproach and must be libre to succeed.

It’s just too bad Negroponte is yet another ultra-left idealogue that can’t get shit done. (See also: Impeaching Bush II, Democrat-Controlled Congress)