In an e-mail (1) from Nicholas Negroponte to FAIR on 2007-01-19, Negroponte fails to address the points of criticism that FAIR posed on OLPC in a press release last week.. Nevertheless he demands from FAIR an apology or alternatively enter into a “win or lose” battle. In FAIRs answer (2) to Negropontes e-mail the Norwegian NGO express their concern that the OLPC project may cause negative effects on poor countries. Even though the OLPC drive for free content and tailored software solutions are ideas long shared by FAIR, we fear the risks tied to the OLPC project, and question if all the necessary applications will be able to run simultaneously on the limited capacity of the OLPC.

Wrong and misleading information
In the e-mail from Negroponte he continues to mix the target groups, and uses misleading information. Negroponte states that "The developing world does not need children learning IT”, which is true only for children younger than 12 years of age. Negroponte still ignores the needs of the older half of his target group, and focuses on the younger half of his target group, aged 6-12 years. This group does not even need an expensive tool like OLPC to learn learning, according to FAIR.

Erroneous calculations and extremely high costs
In the e-mail from Negroponte his calculations of “OLPC's total cost of ownership and connectivity” are erroneous. The numbers simply do not add up. As FAIR stated in our press release (3) from 2007-17-01, a regular school of 1000 pupils need to invest more than USD 200.000,- to join the OLPC programme.

Better solutions
In Negropontes e-mail to FAIR he requests a better solution for poor countries than OLPC's current project, and FAIR hereby recommend three alternatives, which are all based on one PC-lab per school instead of one laptop per child. The costs in all three alternatives include 40 computers per school, network equipment and servers. With respect to recycled equipment, re-installation costs and shipping are included, and recycling also adds the benefit of being the most environmentally friendly.

One solution is the preferred solution in rich countries today, i.e. to use PC-labs of new Pentium 4 (or equivalent) computers. This costs USD 20.000,- per school (10% of OLPC). Another good solution we are experienced with is to use PC-labs with recycled Pentium 3 and Pentium 4 computers. This costs USD 1.500,- per school (1,5% of OLPC).

The solution we believe is preferable for OLPC is to use PC-labs with the OLPC as clients, with a Thin-Client server and Thin-Client boot media on the OLPC. This costs USD 10.000,- per school (5% of OLPC). This is by far the best choice for the OLPC project today. Not only does it reduce the investment cost by a factor of 20, in fact making the OLPC model viable, but it also reduces the technological risks of the project considerably, as including a thin client in OLPC will enable it to run any needed application via the server from day one.

It stands clear to FAIR that the latter solution is such a good alternative for OLPC to pursue that we strongly recommend OLPC to re-evaluate their model. Our suggestion is simply that OLPC first distribute One pc-Lab Per School in all developing countries, and thereafter look to the possibility of expanding the concept into One Laptop Per Child. Only by doing this, the project set the need of the poor countries first, rather than insisting on One Laptop Per Child, which yields high production volumes and therefore first of all will benefit the organization OLPC and their subcontractors.

(1)(2) Enclosure: E-mails between Nicholas Negroponte and FAIR
(3) http://www.ntb.no/article.aspx?Section=NTBPRM&RefID=2426708&MainGroup=8192

Contact information:
Knut Foseide, President
Tel: +47 23 12 21 05
Fax: +47 23 12 21 01
Mob: +47 90 19 80 10
E-mail: knut@fair.no

Vegard Munthe, Head of International Operations
Mob: +47 47 86 08 83
E-mail: vegard@fair.no

FAIR (www.fairinternational.org) is the only humanitarian organisation in Scandinavia which is working towards the spread of ICT in developing countries. The organisation transfers technology and knowledge from Scandinavia to the school and health sectors in the world’s poorest countries. All products and services are donated as gifts and free of charge to the recipients. FAIR’s users are hundreds of thousands of students in hundreds of schools in 15 of the world’s poorest countries. FAIR is also Norway’s leader in the recycling of ICT; over 80% of all the equipment we receive is reused in our projects, whilst less than 20% of the equipment is recycled for its constituent materials in the traditional way. All ICT equipment we transfer to our aid projects is eventually returned to Norway and recycled at approved waste reception facilities when the equipment is scrapped in the recipient country. FAIR is financed by NORAD, the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, UNESCO and the following 55 Norwegian and Swedish companies: A-Pressen, Allkopi, Amnesty Norge, Cowi, Creditinform, Den Norske Legeforening, Det Kgl. selskap for Norges Vel, Det Norske Arbeiderparti, Drømtorp VGS, EL & IT Forbundet, Fast Search & Transfer, Fellesforbundet, Flytoget, FO, Forbrukerrådet, Fredrikstad kommune, GE Money Bank, Glava, GRIP, Handel og Kontor, Heidenreich, Höegh Autoliners, Husbanken, JCDecaux, Kripos, LHL, Lindorff, LO - Landsorganisasjonen i Norge, Multiconsult, Nasjonalt folkehelseinstitutt, Næringsakademiet, Norconsult, Norges Fotballforbund, Norsas, Norsk Industri, Norsk Tjenestemannslag, Norwegian, SAS, Statens forurensningstilsyn, Sørmarka AS - LO kurs og konfereansesenter, Star Tour, Stavanger Aftenblad, Stavanger Kommune, Stiftelsen Norsk Luftambulanse, Storebrand, Strand og Grindahl, SV, Sykehuset i Vestfold, Technor, Tellus Foundation, Universitetet for miljø- og biovitenskap, Utlendingsnemnda, VPS, Wallenius Wilhelmsen and WWF. Organisation’s name: FAIR International

Established: 2002

Number of employees: 16

Vision: FAIR has set a vision to become a premier ICT supplier providing world leadership in cost effective computer networks and communications solutions. FAIR further aims to position itself as the leading organisation striving to bridge the global digital divide.

Management: Knut Foseide is President of FAIR International. Foseide is the founder of FAIR and the computer security company SafetyCable AS. FAIR’s aid work is led by Vegard Munthe, Head of International Operations, who is co-founder of FAIR and the software company Copyleft Software AS.

Products and services: FAIR offer a holistic approach to the transfer of technology and knowledge between the north and the south, including hardware, software, installation, training, support, maintanance, software development, take-back system for EE-waste, advisory and last but not least – financing. Financing means that FAIR offer a financial model where a combination of the government, companies and private persons in the country of origin cover all the costs for the transfer of technology and competence to the recipient country in the south. The reipients are not charged for FAIRs products and services.