At the end of an otherwise tepid presentation at the Intel Developer Forum today, Dadi Perimutter, head of Intel’s Mobility Group, dropped a bomb (via PowerPoint) on his audience: a mysterious tablet device, which could well be the next generation of the Classmate OLPC competitor. If that is the case, the OLPC might really have something to worry about. Sugar, the “revolutionary” Linux-based OS originally developed for the OLPC, is already in development for the Classmate project, not to mention that fact that this new picture indicates that Intel may have taken a few of Nick Negroponte’s visions for the OLPC XO-2 to heart, and possibly to production.
In its constant battle with the OLPC, Intel is selling half a million Classmate laptops to Portugal at maximum price of US$78 each. An impressive deal… until they tell you they are going to make them in Portugal. I smell Euro-politics everywhere here. Well played, Senhor Intel. [The Register]
Intel’s for-profit take on the OLPC concept will soon share a UI with its spiritual predecessor. Walter Bender, the guy who made the original child-friendly Sugar interface with the OLPC project, told PC Magazine that Sugar will be adapted to the Classmate PC. Intel had previously disassociated themselves with the OLPC program because they really wanted to continue developing the Classmate. Because I guess earning money from the emerging world is more satisfying and because, you know, Intel needs more. That and more gas on the OLPC and Classmate flame war. [PC World]
We spotted what we expected to be Intel’s Classmate successor sometime ago, but now things have become official. The Classmate 2 PC was announced at Intel’s Developer Forum in Shanghai, and the spec improves on the original machine’s capabilities little by little.
Nicholas Negroponte has started a bitch-fight against Intel because, according to him, they are trying to drive him out of business by underpricing their OLPC rival, the Classmate. He says that Intel “should be ashamed of itself” arguing that by bringing a low-cost laptop to developing countries, they hurt “his mission enormously.” His mission. Intel’s Chairman Craig Barrett calls the notion “crazy.” I’m going to go a step further and say that Negroponte’s arguments are absolutely stupid. Clickity-clack on the jump to see more about the OLPC vs Classmate clash.
