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Fedora devs keeping OLPC sweet with Sugar From the 'Green Tech' files:
TORONTO. Remember the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) project? I sure do. Back in 2006, I remember very well watching Nicholas Negroponte take the stage at LinuxWorld to pitch the effort. The effort was supposed to be provide a Linux based operating system and easy desktop environment for children around the world. The Linux used ended up being Red Hat's community led Fedora distribution with a user interface known as Sugar. The actual OLPC hardware is known as the XO. At the FUDcon Fedora conference held in Toronto (and wrapping up today), I sat in on a key session where software developer Steve Parrish (pic above, credit: Sean M. Kerner) explained one of his key goals in working on the Sugar interface. "My biggest goal is to make sure the first gen XOs don't end up in landfills, Parish said. "I want to make sure they stay current and we get as much life as we can out of the platform."I thought that statement was astounding. Here we are with an effort trying to help the world's children and there is a legitimate concern that the platform (or at least the first gen) could end up as garbage. The key of course is continuous improvement and updates, which is where developers like Parrish come into play. During the session at FUDcon, there was a debate among session participants about why certain countries (Uruguay in particular) were not actively participating (if at all) in the ongoing software development process. Sugar and the promise of the XO desktop are no longer limited to just XO's anymore though. There is now a Sugar on a Stick effort that places the full Sugar interface on top of a Fedora OS that will run from a USB key/stick. Developer Sebastian Dzialias (who was also in the OLPC session), said that a new version of Sugar on a Stick was coming this Tuesday - codenamed Blueberry. It's a good thing too, the promise of the XO and its desktop, deserves better than to end up in a landfill. 0 TrackBacksListed below are links to blogs that reference this entry: Fedora devs keeping OLPC sweet with Sugar. TrackBack URL for this entry: https://swarm.jupitermedia.com/mt-tb.cgi/9363 2 CommentsLeave a comment |
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I never really agreed with the premise of giving kids laptops vs. making sure they're properly fed/clothed/housed first. That said, if you're going to do laptops for kids in impoverished countries like that, Free Software is (of course) the right way to do it. The ideals were good; the tools were there and ready to go.
The problem came when Microsoft saw the implications, got scared to death of the idea of about a billion kids growing up with FOSS, and used their muscle to hinder OLPC's progress. Intel got scared of all the AMD Geode chips that would've been sold. So, once again, you had "Wintel" derailing a good project. And due to their combined lobbying dollar$, they got away with it. Nick Negroponte allowed his own ideals to get compromised by the lobbying of Intel Classmate + Windows XP Starter Edition. He should've held firm.
I've tried out the Sugar interface. If I just remember to think like a kid (easy for me to do!), it's easy to use. It's intuitive. And I'm glad the Fedora Project is continuing to maintain it.
--SYG
The XO as originally delivered provided Web access without sound, and modifications to provide sound within the browser have generally been failures. I hope a future Sugar release will attempt to resolve that.