Intel leaves the OLPC after dispute
Well, that was short: Intel has announced it is leaving the One Laptop Per Child project.
The news, first reported Thursday by The Wall Street Journal in an e-mail alert, comes just six months after Intel and OLPC founder Nick Negroponte agreed to settle their differences and join forces, united in their goal to bring computing power to emerging nations. The breakup comes after Negroponte apparently wasn't willing to share Intel with others.
According to Intel, Negroponte asked the chipmaker to stop selling its Classmate PC while it was part of the OLPC, which is currently shipping its XO laptop based on a chip from AMD. The Classmate PC was one of the sources of friction between Negroponte and Intel before they joined forces in July. Negroponte went on 60 Minutes in May and accused Intel of dumping Classmate PCs below cost in order to keep OLPCs out of the hands of needy children.
