Ambitious OLPC program dealt a blow: Intel decides to quit venture
Millions of poor children, who had been given a hope to get an access to inexpensive technology, that would give them a better start in life - the OLPC program, seem to have received big jolt. Intel has dropped the plan to contribute towards the collaboration with OLPC, which started in July for sharing money and technical expertise. CES in Las Vegas was to showcase a prototype of an OLPC-designed laptop using an Intel chip. But, Intel pulled out after the project's board demanded the chipmaker's to stop supporting other efforts in emerging markets.
According to Intel spokesman Chuck Mulloy:
We've reached a philosophical impasse with OLPC. We can't accommodate that request.
The One Laptop program, which already faced some difficulties in meeting the expected price range, was founded in 2005 by Nicholas Negroponte, former Media Lab director at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Intel's decision has just toughened the road for the achievement of this ambitious project.
Via: Time
