[sf-lug] OLPC to become more like Microsoft...

[jim stockford]

    i read the article as a move toward using the tools
and conventions of business to forward OLPC goals.
That in itself is no more like microsoft than it is like
IBM or Oracle or Apple or Smith and Wesson or
Goodwill Industries or San Antonio Shoes or any
other enterprise that's addressing a wide-spread
market.
    what are the values of the new executive team and
how will they shape their new corporate culture?

    as a note, the people at microsoft are no different
from those at other companies in the "computer
industry." the greatest of american sports is the free
enterprise game, and most of the top executives are
ferocious winners.
    bill gates and steve balmer should take their greatest
pride in the fact that they were able to marshall and
coordinate their enormous team of highly talented
employees.
    the reason why microsoft is dangerous is that it's
very well-positioned with a well-known name and cash
rich and run by highly talented people all of whom
want their annual bonus, which they can only get if
they improve market share and grow profitable
revenues, hence their sometimes damaging maneuvers.

    if the new OLPC is more successful, it will be thanks
to the drive, maybe the ruthless drive, of the capitalist
managers they bring on.



On Mar 9, 2008, at 4:44 PM, Asheesh Laroia wrote:

> On Sat, 8 Mar 2008, bobbie sellers wrote:
>
>> <http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080307-olpc-project-looks- 
>> for-new-leadership.html>
>
> This article discusses OLPC's idea of having a CEO to better-organize  
> its
> efforts to distribute cheap, Open-Source(/Free-Software)-based laptops  
> to
> children in the developing world to encourage participatory learning.
>
> That sounds great to me.  If it's "like Microsoft," it's in increasing  
> the
> organization's ruthless efficiency; but it doesn't strike me as  
> becoming
> "like Microsoft" in any problematic way.
>
> What do others think?
>
> -- Asheesh.
>
> -- 
> And in the heartbreak years that lie ahead,
> Be true to yourself and the Grateful Dead.
>  		-- Joan Baez
>
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