I’m totally unimpressed by the reported behaviour of Intel over the One Laptop Per Child initiative. This initiative seeks to provide kids in the developing world with their very own low cost (less than $100) laptop running free open source software.
Intel were a partner in this enterprise but have now pulled out amidst claims that their business practices are less than ethical. It all sounds fairly typical big business practice until you consider the following two points:
- The bespoke One Laptop Per Child laptop runs using an AMD processor – Intel’s main rival in that field, and;
- Intel are pushing their own more expensive laptop which uses their own processor and runs, yes you’ve guessed it, Microsoft Windows.
Call me a cynic but I smell a “Wintel” move to cash in on a charitable initiative! Why else would they be pushing a more expensive processor and the world’s most expensive operating system?
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