Intel Quits Group Trying to Provide $100 Laptops

Jan 06, 07:43 AM

Intel has announced its withdrawal from the One Laptop Per Child educational computer organization, which it joined in July after years of public squabbling between Intel's chairman, Craig Barrett, and the group's founder, Nicholas Negroponte.

The low-cost laptop, originally priced at $100, has captured the public imagination but also created intense controversy because it was viewed as a potential competitor for both Intel and Microsoft in the developing world.

The machine, which is based on the freely available Linux operating system and comes with educational software, is now built with a microprocessor made by Intel's archrival, Advanced Micro Devices.

The PC, called the XO, is being sold for about $200 apiece to governments and institutions.

Late Thursday, an Intel spokesman said the company shared with One Laptop Per Child, or OLPC, the vision of putting computers into the hands of children, but the two were not able to work out what he described as "philosophical" differences.

Intel did not attend a recent board meeting of the group in Florida, according to a person with knowledge of the events, who asked not to be named because he had not been given authority to describe the events. That set off a bitter private dispute, which led to the Thursday announcement.

"We've reached a philosophical impasse," said Chuck Mulloy, the Intel spokesman. "Negroponte had asked us to exclusively support OLPC-based platforms."

For emerging markets, Intel has been backing its own, more expensive Classmate PC, which sells for about $300. Mulloy said Intel was unwilling to walk away from support agreements that the company had made for that machine and other systems.

Intel also said it was able to develop a prototype of an XO computer with an Intel chip.

An OLPC executive, Walter Bender, accused Intel of failing to deliver on its promises of cooperation with the group and said that Intel had continued to try to undermine the group's initiatives.

"I think that as an organization, Intel is about competition; they are not about learning," said Bender, the group's president for software and content.

There were reports in recent months that though an Intel executive joined the group's board and the company contributed an undisclosed amount to the organization, Intel has continued to compete actively with OLPC in trying to make educational computing sales to governments.

In November, after the promised high-volume sales to governments failed to materialize, the organization began a $399 "Give 1, Get 1" promotion, in which people could buy XO machines and subsidize gifts to educational programs. OLPC said it distributed about 50,000 computers in the United States during the promotion.

The laptop, made of shiny green and white plastic, is stripped down: There is no CD/DVD drive, no hard drive and only a 7.5-inch, or 19-centimeter, screen. The Linux operating system does not run Microsoft Office, Photoshop or any other standard Mac or Windows programs. The membrane-sealed, spillproof keyboard is too small for touch-typing by an adult.

The laptop uses a new battery chemistry, called lithium ferro- phosphate. It runs at one-tenth the temperature of a standard laptop battery, costs $10 to replace, and is good for 2,000 charges - versus 500 on a regular laptop battery.

The laptop consumes an average of 2 watts, compared with 60 watts or more on a typical business laptop.

Originally published by The New York Times Media Group.

(c) 2008 International Herald Tribune. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved. Intel Quits Group Trying to Provide $100 Laptops
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