[Its.an.education.project] An OLPC Development Model

[Jim Gettys]

> > unfortunantly my time constraints drasticly limit the code I can  
> > work on,
> > so I am mostly a tester and a provider of resources to nearby  
> > developers
> > (I just received my two g1g1 machines back from the USC hackathon)
> 
> 
> There is agreement that unmodified Linux software should run as well  
> as possible in Sugar.

Well said, Bert.

> 
> There is no agreement that this would imply we do not need Sugar, or  
> that activities written/adapted specifically for Sugar would not  
> provide an order of magnitude better learning experience. That's the  
> whole point of starting this endeavor in the first place.
> 
> - Bert -


I have always believed we need Sugar.  One only has to watch a child
struggle with a conventional desktop (Windows, Linux or Mac) to see the
need (I have 2 children who have gone through this phase over the last 6
years).  It's a tribute to the learning ability of children that most
master computers; but our kids have the HUGE advantage of literate
computer literate parents.  It's way harder, as in much of the world,
you have illiterate  or computer illiterate parents available.

Watching a child navigate/use a file system in the process of learning
to read and write is a way to observe a frustrated child.

And I want Sugar apps to be able to at least be somewhat usable on
conventional desktops, as a way to suck kids (and developers) in to
something much better.  All or nothing choices make transitions much
more difficult.
                                  - Jim

-- 
Jim Gettys <jg at laptop.org>
One Laptop Per Child