Negroponte Slams Intel For Classmate PCs

Founder of the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) project, Nicholas Negroponte has accused Intel, of trying to jeopardize OLPC’s plans to get affordable laptop computers to children in developing countries.

According to Negroponte, Intel is selling Classmate, its low-cost computer for children, for less than cost, which is undercutting OLPC’s scheme and is hurting its plans. He also said Intel should be ashamed of itself for negative marketing campaigns against the OLPC project in developing markets.

In an interview, Negroponte claimed the government of Nigeria had showed him a document distributed by Intel, highlighting the shortcomings of OLPC machines compared to its own Classmate device. He also blasted Intel’s CEO Craig Barrett for calling the OLPC machine a gadget.

Negroponte stressed that Intel is out to sabotage the project because all the OLPC machines have rival, AMD processors in them. He told the media that the OLPC project is now caught in the middle of the vicious war between the two rivals, AMD and Intel. In the same interview, Negroponte said that he would have 3 million orders for the $100 laptop, if not for Intel’s new Classmate PCs for school kids.

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The sub-$400 Classmate PCs are designed for children in kindergarten through high school students in emerging nations, with 1 GB of flash memory instead of a hard drive.