Men Free Blog

There’s been a rash of defections at OLPC lately, with NickNeg himself looking to leave soon, so it’s nice to hear that the charitable endeavor is filling in the vacancies. Only it’s not, really. Although Negroponte has said that’s he looking for someone “similar to Kofi Annan” to lead the project, it looks like he’s just shuffling people around, instead promoting part-time CFO Charles Kane to President and COO. Negroponte is going to focus on fund-raising and promotion, while Kane will handle the day-to-day matters of actually manufacturing and distributing the laptops. That’s certainly a good first step — and perhaps Charles Kane is really Kofi Annan’s long-lost twin — but with developers suddenly miffed over Negroponte’s overtures to Microsoft and talent leaving from the top, it seems like OLPC would do well to bring in some fresh vision and leadership, no?

The OLPC XO — it’s all rainbows, hugging, and laser beams of learning, right? Maybe not, kind reader. Apparently, users of the the diminutive, educationally themed laptop are experiencing a rash of “stuck key” issues which are causing tons of headaches (and possibly some heartbreak as well). It seems that keys are becoming stuck in activated positions, and / or are being triggered by key presses nearby. The company is aware of the problem, but can’t pinpoint a single cause, as the components are made by a variety of manufacturers. For now OLPC is asking customers to RMA the laptops so they ca get the repairs they so desperately need, though we’re not sure how this is going to play out in the developing areas where the XOs are being rolled out. Well, they can probably just take them to the hospital.

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