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Negroponte Says OLPC Will Open Source XO Hardware Design

The talk Nicholas Negroponte gave at the TED Conference this weekend ignited discussion on several fronts. Liz Gannes at GigaOM reports that Negroponte credits the OLPC for the rise of the netbook market, and CNET has additional information about OLPC's plans to open source the XO laptop's hardware schematics.

Would netbooks exist now if the OLPC hadn't announced its plans for a "$100 laptop" a few years back? Probably, but it's not unreasonable to imagine that the interest shown by the general public in the "$100 laptop" concept drove commercial manufacturers to develop and produce powerful-yet-inexpensive laptops faster, and in greater numbers, to a larger target market than they would have initially considered.

The other area Negroponte discussed -- opening the XO hardware -- doesn't initially, perhaps, seem as entertaining to debate as the netbook claim. The implications of open sourcing the XO hardware design are well worth consideration.

The OLPC has a turbulent history. Launched with initially with the customized, child-friendly "Sugar" desktop running atop a modified Fedora Linux install, OLPC later announced the XOs could optionally ship with Windows (thanks to a partnership with Microsoft). This was a source of unrest internally, and is a reason cited for the departure of former president Walter Bender. The beginning of 2009 brought significant staff and development cuts.

Negroponte's statement that the OLPC is opening the XO hardware so that others might modify, build upon, adapt it further is not only a smart move -- it's one that demonstrates that while there are misgivings about some aspects of the project its heart is in the right place.

CNet reports that Sugar development is now entirely in the hands of Sugar Labs and the open source community. Certainly OLPC must be weighing the real possibility its hardware will outlive the organization (at least in its current iteration). Opening the hardware isn't about simplifying upgrades -- it gives rise to the possibility that this hardware could continue to function for years in ways the manufacturer would never have imagined. Opening the hardware will draw awareness to, and build interest in further development. This could certainly benefit the OLPC now -- ensuring the project's survival, perhaps, or at least making a tricky spot easier to navigate.

Open sourcing the hardware ensures the concept of the OLPC survives. Will it take a few versions of the XO (or machines based on the XO schematics) to hit the $100 price point and fit the needs of those it originally set out to serve? Maybe. Will the OLPC deliver that particular machine, or will it be another project? There's no way of knowing -- but Negroponte can say without reservation (or risk of argument) that the OLPC was the pioneering idea behind its development.

• open source
• hardware
• linux
• Fedora
• olpc
• Sugar Labs

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