Intel backs project to give laptops to poor kids
BOSTON (Reuters) - Intel Corp. said on Friday it would support a non-profit foundation's project to put computers in the hands of poor children around the world, reversing its long-standing opposition to the proposal.
The world's biggest chipmaker will join the board of the One Laptop Per Child Foundation, which developed the XO laptop -- a personal computer that it plans to put into production in September and sell for $176.
Intel markets the Classmate PC, a computer that competes with the foundation's XO laptop.
The two parties said they would be able to incorporate each other's technologies, and would also consider collaborating on developing a laptop.
"We are going to have complementary product lines," said Intel Vice President Will Swope.
Both Intel and the foundation said they had yet to address whether the chipmaker would be able to commercialize the XO's display and power management capabilities, which use what industry analysts widely regard as breakthrough technologies.
The One Laptop Per Child project is the brainchild of Nicholas Negroponte, the former chief of the Massachussetts Institute of Technology Media Lab.
The foundation plans to sell the multimedia laptops to government agencies around the world, requiring each country to buy hundreds of thousands of the devices, then give them to impoverished elementary school children at no cost.
Until now, Intel has criticized the approach, promoting its own Classmate PC, which it distributes in smaller numbers to poor children in developing countries, giving educators instruction in how to use the devices in their classroom.
Negroponte had accused Intel of trying to undermine the project in a string of recent media interviews, including a recent appearance on the CBS news magazine "Sixty Minutes."
MYSPACE
Walter Bender, a senior official with the foundation, told Reuters his group was currently in talks with three other companies that might join its board. He declined to name them.
Bender also said News Corp.'s MySpace division may develop a special Web community for the school children who get the laptops. It would be separate from the company's current offering, which bans children of elementary school age.
News Corp. already has a seat on the foundation's board. Other backers include Intel rival Advanced Micro Devices Inc., which makes the microprocessor that runs the XO laptop, and Web search company Google Inc., which is providing e-mail accounts and free back-up services.
Software maker Red Hat Inc. which developed computer programs for the device using the Linux operating system, is also on the board.
Microsoft Corp., which is not on the board, is trying to develop a version of Windows that will work on the XO laptop.
Will Poole, a corporate vice president with the No. 1 software maker, said the company had yet to succeed in getting the operating system to run on the XO.
Analysts who have seen early versions of the XO laptop say the group has made breakthroughs in developing a low-cost, high-resolution color screen that can switch into a black-and-white so that it can be viewed in the sunlight.
They have also praised its durable construction and low-energy consumption technology, which allows it to be run on hand-crank-generated power.
