14 DAY TRIAL // The OLPC initiative seems to be in the spotlight lately, following the organization's conflict with chip manufacturer Intel. A few days after Intel waved goodbye at the ex-partner OLPC, the foundation's founder Nicholas Negroponte changed his mind and reached out to Intel, in what seems to be a true hardware soap-opera drama. Of course, just like any divorce being canceled, it's 'for children's sake'.
The most important reason for OLPC to turn its back at Intel was the chip manufacturer's reluctance of discontinuing its competitive product, the Classmate PC. Negroponte changed his mind and came 'in peace' to ask Intel get back to the project. Intel is ready to make a comeback and even has unveiled a new low-power platform for ultra-mobile computing (codenamed Menlow) to compete with (read 'replace') AMD's Geode processor in the next generation OLPC products.
OLPC spokespersons said that the foundation did not force Intel to choose between the Classmate PC and the XO notebook. Moreover, the OLPC initiative is allegedly welcoming the Classmate competition. "It was very unfortunate what happened with Intel, and I hope there's a way of rebuilding it in the future because there's no interest in OLPC pushing Intel out. It just is not in our interest. Our goal is to get this to as many children as possible," said Chairman and founder Nicholas Negroponte.
According to Negroponte, Intel misinterpreted the foundation's declarations, got angry and went home to play with its own toy. "The picture that painted was one of OLPC being anti-competition, which is ridiculous. We'd like to see as many laptops out there as possible and kids have the widest choice possible," he stated.
Intel manager Agnes Kwan said that Intel was open to fair suggestion about renewing its partnership with the OLPC foundation. However, the partnership would not mean that there will be no tensions between the two parties, since Negroponte's foundation will always have a tooth against the Classmate.