The Sirius Handheld Computing Platform

The OLPC Sugar laptop is a more powerful machine from a hardware specs point of view. However, for much less money, and with far greater openness and control, we hope the Sirius will be able to carry out all the tasks Sugar can. And more.

The OLPC initiative again relies on Linux. If you search on the web you will find CNet News.com stories reporting that Nicholas Negroponte, the founder of the OLPC project has expressed his frustration with the fact that the use of Linux is causing the design to become too "heavy". Once again the same mistake is being made in using a desktop operating sytem for an embedded application. Thus, greater hardware requirements are being necessitated and cost is being driven up.

The one advantage OLPC has over the Simputer is that Negroponte is a key industry figure and can get a lot of support from large companies like AMD and Redhat. He is relying on volumes of dozens of millions of these laptops in order to drive costs down. To give you an example, even when the laptops come out initially the cost will not be $100 - but more like $165. Even at volumes around 5-6 million units. Only when the volume goes above 10 million or so will the device approach $100.

Unlike Sirius, which you can build in your spare time, order a kit for, or buy a single ready made unit, OLPC laptops cannot be individually bought. Only a country can sign on to the OLPC programme and order millions of units for its citizens. We think this is too large of a commitment to new, untested technology. Why should a country like Pakistan pay - say $100 million dollars - for 1 million devices? Why shouldn't developing coutnries have the flexibility to buy 10, 100, 1000 or 100,000? And if they are spending this money, why not invest it in a product that can be built in their own country, enhanced by their local industry so that two goals can be achieved; better computing resources for public schools AND the promotion of the local IT industry in developing countries.