[Sugar-devel] [UKids] Re: The future of Sugar on XO-1s

[Adam Holt]

On Mon, Apr 11, 2016 at 1:06 PM, Dave Crossland <dave at lab6.com> wrote:

>
> Hi
>
> On 11 April 2016 at 10:41, Adam Holt <holt at laptop.org> wrote:
>
>> On Sun, Apr 10, 2016 at 11:40 PM, Dave Crossland <dave at lab6.com> wrote:
>>
>>>
>>> Are you saying that some corresponding laptops were NOT given to poor
>>> kids as promised, and the foundation just netted the cash? :)
>>>
>>
>> [Yes]
>>
>
There is no simple yes/no answer to your question as you and ten-cent
journalists would understandably love, when measurement was simply not part
of OLPC's culture.  As Negroponte devoutly proclaimed.  I bought a tough $1
tape measure at the hardware store yesterday, and should ship it to him
with a proper thank-you note for bringing us where we are today, as
historians are today beginning to assess OLPC's long-term legacy more
properly.

That's a bold assertion, but fair enough. In the worst imaginary scenario,
> the OLPC Foundation board transferred the money into their personal Panama
> accounts, or spent it on lavish junkets, or whatever.
>

Be judicious in never attributing to malice (
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanlon's_razor) what can be explained by lack
of servant leadership (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Servant_leadership).


> In the best case it was used to fund the organization unwisely until it
> was all gone.
>
> Last week I obtained a copy (for $0.01 + postage) of "Learning To Change
> The World" and in Chapter 4, page 75, it says
>
> After the February 2008 board meeting, OLPC and the Sugar community split.
> One month later, Sugar Labs was founded as an independent non-profit
> organization that would continue to drive the development and dissemination
> of the Sugar learning software. In the immediate aftermath of the split,
> OLPC rapidly expanded its staff, going from fewer than twenty full-time
> employees to nearly sixty.
>
>
> I imagine that is about $4M/year in wages. That in itself seems completely
> unwise when the organisation was failing to close large sales. You also
> allege it was spent on same-day flights. I could believe it.
>
> But, well, whatever. This was a long time ago. Whatever way the money was
> spent, it was spent, and is long gone. The foundation was eventually wound
> down, the association was eventually wound down, and now there is just this
> husk of OLPC Inc today, with to-date-anonymous-to-me workers dutifully
> supplying XO-4s to anyone who will order them, and paying ol' James here on
> contract to do needed technical maintenance work.
>
> Is anyone involved in any of the bad behaviour you are alleging still
> involved in OLPC or Sugar Labs today?
>
> Even if they are, I don't see value in guilt tripping them about what
> happened; nor really am I too curious about chasing down what actually
> happened, unless you have a plan to recover the money and avoid defamation
> lawsuits ;)
>
>
>
>> Why sugar-coat the truth?
>>
>
> Negativity corrodes enthusiasm. Being factual is fine, being grumpy is not
> :)
>
> --
> Cheers
> Dave
>
> --
> Unsung Heroes of OLPC, interviewed live @ http://unleashkids.org !
> ---
> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups
> "Unleash Kids" group.
> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an
> email to unleashkids+unsubscribe at googlegroups.com.
> For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
>
> --
> Unsung Heroes of OLPC, interviewed live @ http://unleashkids.org !
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.sugarlabs.org/archive/sugar-devel/attachments/20160411/767bdac8/attachment-0001.html>