OLPC and Intel Join Hands for a Noble Technological Cause

One Laptop per Child (OLPC) Association and Intel Inc. have agreed to come together to give fruition to their common goal of providing a laptop for every child. However, their individual approaches towards this goal have been different in the recent past.

The companies have visualized their products competing with each other, and have adopted harsh attitudes toward one another in recent times in the push for popularity. The OLPC project is aimed at enhancing the child's experience and extending its personal development beyond the classroom, using an open-source technology. On the other hand, Classmate PC is designed to focus on the student and the classroom.

While OLPC’s laptop XO aims at enabling the individual child and is directed towards teaching children to use technology in innovative ways, Intel has designed its Classmate PC for students in a classroom environment and is being pitched as a “learning-assistant”.

OLPC's XO laptop offers a new Linux-based software platform with features like a built-in video camera, high-resolution dual-mode screen, and a longer battery life, all priced at about $175. The Classmate PC, on the other hand, has a powerful processor, the hallmark of anything Intel, supports unmodified Windows and Linux software, and costs about $250.

However, irrespective of their diverse vision, both have temporarily come to an agreement to work together on this common goal. Intel will now be a part of the OLPC Board of Directors, while continuing work on its Classmate PC. The advantage for OLPC in having Intel on board is some funding in realizing its dream project, and in capitalizing on the “Intel” brand to scale up its marketing.

OLPC will use Intel processors in the servers that are required to manage the XO laptops. However, in spite of the deal, XO laptops will continue to have AMD inside. The decision of replacing it with an Intel processor, if required, will lie solely with OLPC.

According to Nicholas Negroponte, the brain behind OLPC, the collaboration will ensure that maximum number of children get to use laptops. Being a world leader in technology, Intel is expected to put its best foot forward in successfully executing this project.

Even if Intel continues to work independently on its Classmate PC program, the Intel-OLPC collaboration will continue to explore avenues of extending technology to meet educational needs.