At Davos, the Squabble Resumes on How to Wire the Third World

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January January 29, 2007
At Davos, the Squabble Resumes on How to Wire the Third World
By JOHN MARKOFF
DAVOS, Switzerland, Jan. 28 — Here in the Swiss mountains at the World Economic Forum, the annual conclave of world leaders, concerns over a growing digital divide this year have taken a back seat to the challenge of climate change.

Being out of the limelight, however, has not dimmed passions over what the best way is to deploy computers in the developing world. The controversy boiled over on Saturday at a breakfast meeting here where Craig R. Barrett, the chairman of Intel, squared off with Nicholas P. Negroponte, the former director of the M.I.T. Media Laboratory, whose nonprofit organization One Laptop Per Child is trying to develop a low-cost computer for the 1.2 billion children in the developing world. His prototype XO computer is designed to sell for $100 by the end of 2008.

Intel has also contributed significant resources to the cause, including its own design for an inexpensive laptop computer, albeit one that is currently more expensive than Mr. Negroponte’s.

On Saturday, Mr. Barrett, speaking about Intel’s efforts to train teachers to use personal computers, said that it is impressive to see what students “are able to accomplish with some help from a teacher,” adding, “You can literally change people’s lives.”

But Mr. Negroponte suggested that Intel executives had engaged in a campaign to discourage world leaders from committing to purchasing his laptop systems. Mr. Negroponte also accused Intel of marketing its strategy to the developing world.

“Craig and I sometimes argue, and he called our thing a ‘gadget,’ ” Mr. Negroponte said, referring to the XO. “I’m glad to see he’s got his own gadget now. Craig has to look at this as a market, and I look at this as a mission.”

Other executives suggested the dispute was doing little to forge a common strategy to use computing to advance economic and educational development.

“I do hear marketing going back and forth between you,” said Michael J. Long, a senior vice president at Arrow Electronics, an industry components supplier. “We ought to concentrate on how we can help. The question is what can I do when I leave this room.”

The dispute between Mr. Negroponte and Mr. Barrett, who was formerly Intel’s chief executive and who is now chairman of the United Nations Global Alliance for Information and Communications Technologies and Development, covered both substance and philosophy at the annual digital divide meeting, which has been presented for three years by David Kirkpatrick, a columnist for Fortune magazine.

Also present at the meeting was Michael S. Dell, chairman of Dell Inc., as well as top executives from Sun Microsystems and Advanced Micro Devices.

Mr. Negroponte, who has quarreled publicly with both Microsoft and Intel executives in his quest to give simple portable machines to hundreds of millions of children, has long been known for his iconoclastic positions on economic development and education.

Recently at the Digital, Life, Design conference in Munich, he introduced himself as the “good bin Laden” — a reference to the notion that his low-cost laptop is terrorizing some companies in the computer industry because of the possibility that it will transform markets for personal computers in the developing world.

At the Davos session, Mr. Barrett sketched out a four-point program for getting involvement from emerging economies including affordable hardware, low-cost data communications, local curriculum and educators.

In contrast, Mr. Negroponte offered a vision based on working through children. He attacked projects that instruct teachers and students how to use programs like Microsoft Office.

“I think they should be making music and playing and communicating,” he said. “It has to be a seamless part of their lives.”

Despite initially trying to persuade Intel to back his project, Mr. Negroponte has chosen to use a low-power processor from Advanced Micro in his laptop, which was being exhibited here at a hotel near the conference center where the annual World Economic Forum is held.

It is still not certain whether Mr. Negroponte will succeed in his crusade. At the meeting, he said he now has eight handshake agreements with heads of state, including the recent additions of Rwanda and Uruguay.

However, he has also said that he will not begin manufacturing the laptop in volume unless he has firm commitments from one country each in Asia, South America and Africa. Other countries that have expressed interest include Brazil, Argentina, Libya, Nigeria, Thailand, Ethiopia, Pakistan and Mexico.

During an interview here, he said he now expects firm commitments by March and for manufacturing to begin in April.

Despite his publicly combative stance with respect to Intel, Mr. Negroponte has apparently moved to patch up his disagreements with Microsoft, and a version of Windows may be available from governments that chose that software instead of the Linux that the One Laptop Per Child organization is developing.

One Laptop officials said that the computer might cost $10 to $20 more to run Windows, because of hardware support.

Separately at the meeting on Saturday, John Gage, the chief researcher at Sun Microsystems, proposed an industry plan to deploy advanced data networks in developing economies with contributions of engineering staff time of 1 percent.

Mr. Gage, who headed the NetDay project for connecting American schools to the Internet, said that rural areas in the developing world would cost as little as a $1,000 a kilometer, compared with $1 million to deploy a network over the same distance in New York City.
29, 2007
At Davos, the Squabble Resumes on How to Wire the Third World
By JOHN MARKOFF
DAVOS, Switzerland, Jan. 28 — Here in the Swiss mountains at the World Economic Forum, the annual conclave of world leaders, concerns over a growing digital divide this year have taken a back seat to the challenge of climate change.

Being out of the limelight, however, has not dimmed passions over what the best way is to deploy computers in the developing world. The controversy boiled over on Saturday at a breakfast meeting here where Craig R. Barrett, the chairman of Intel, squared off with Nicholas P. Negroponte, the former director of the M.I.T. Media Laboratory, whose nonprofit organization One Laptop Per Child is trying to develop a low-cost computer for the 1.2 billion children in the developing world. His prototype XO computer is designed to sell for $100 by the end of 2008.

Intel has also contributed significant resources to the cause, including its own design for an inexpensive laptop computer, albeit one that is currently more expensive than Mr. Negroponte’s.

On Saturday, Mr. Barrett, speaking about Intel’s efforts to train teachers to use personal computers, said that it is impressive to see what students “are able to accomplish with some help from a teacher,” adding, “You can literally change people’s lives.”

But Mr. Negroponte suggested that Intel executives had engaged in a campaign to discourage world leaders from committing to purchasing his laptop systems. Mr. Negroponte also accused Intel of marketing its strategy to the developing world.

“Craig and I sometimes argue, and he called our thing a ‘gadget,’ ” Mr. Negroponte said, referring to the XO. “I’m glad to see he’s got his own gadget now. Craig has to look at this as a market, and I look at this as a mission.”

Other executives suggested the dispute was doing little to forge a common strategy to use computing to advance economic and educational development.

“I do hear marketing going back and forth between you,” said Michael J. Long, a senior vice president at Arrow Electronics, an industry components supplier. “We ought to concentrate on how we can help. The question is what can I do when I leave this room.”

The dispute between Mr. Negroponte and Mr. Barrett, who was formerly Intel’s chief executive and who is now chairman of the United Nations Global Alliance for Information and Communications Technologies and Development, covered both substance and philosophy at the annual digital divide meeting, which has been presented for three years by David Kirkpatrick, a columnist for Fortune magazine.

Also present at the meeting was Michael S. Dell, chairman of Dell Inc., as well as top executives from Sun Microsystems and Advanced Micro Devices.

Mr. Negroponte, who has quarreled publicly with both Microsoft and Intel executives in his quest to give simple portable machines to hundreds of millions of children, has long been known for his iconoclastic positions on economic development and education.

Recently at the Digital, Life, Design conference in Munich, he introduced himself as the “good bin Laden” — a reference to the notion that his low-cost laptop is terrorizing some companies in the computer industry because of the possibility that it will transform markets for personal computers in the developing world.

At the Davos session, Mr. Barrett sketched out a four-point program for getting involvement from emerging economies including affordable hardware, low-cost data communications, local curriculum and educators.

In contrast, Mr. Negroponte offered a vision based on working through children. He attacked projects that instruct teachers and students how to use programs like Microsoft Office.

“I think they should be making music and playing and communicating,” he said. “It has to be a seamless part of their lives.”

Despite initially trying to persuade Intel to back his project, Mr. Negroponte has chosen to use a low-power processor from Advanced Micro in his laptop, which was being exhibited here at a hotel near the conference center where the annual World Economic Forum is held.

It is still not certain whether Mr. Negroponte will succeed in his crusade. At the meeting, he said he now has eight handshake agreements with heads of state, including the recent additions of Rwanda and Uruguay.

However, he has also said that he will not begin manufacturing the laptop in volume unless he has firm commitments from one country each in Asia, South America and Africa. Other countries that have expressed interest include Brazil, Argentina, Libya, Nigeria, Thailand, Ethiopia, Pakistan and Mexico.

During an interview here, he said he now expects firm commitments by March and for manufacturing to begin in April.

Despite his publicly combative stance with respect to Intel, Mr. Negroponte has apparently moved to patch up his disagreements with Microsoft, and a version of Windows may be available from governments that chose that software instead of the Linux that the One Laptop Per Child organization is developing.

One Laptop officials said that the computer might cost $10 to $20 more to run Windows, because of hardware support.

Separately at the meeting on Saturday, John Gage, the chief researcher at Sun Microsystems, proposed an industry plan to deploy advanced data networks in developing economies with contributions of engineering staff time of 1 percent.

Mr. Gage, who headed the NetDay project for connecting American schools to the Internet, said that rural areas in the developing world would cost as little as a $1,000 a kilometer, compared with $1 million to deploy a network over the same distance in New York City.