So the OLPC is getting into a few peoples hands, but I came across the most strange of strange comparisons on the O’Reilly Radar blog space. I first have to thank my friend David Haimes for first pointing me at this.
So lets start with the Amazon Kindle. There’s plenty already said about its industrial design out there in the blogsphere but I fear the same fate as the Sony E-Reader. Why? Well I guess that I’m some sort of 40-something stick in the mud. I know when I started to fool around with Wordstar on an x8080 with CP/M, my Dad said that I was a complete fool. Bear in mind he was a University Lecturer in all things very complicated that I never really got my head around, but he used a manual (read not even electric) Olympic typewriter. He had custom ordered it (I’m guessing in the 1960’s) with extra symbols like a 1/2 and other way out mathematical symbols. So I remember making my own “Top Trump” cards using this device and trust me when I say this, it took no prisoners. I think to some extent its why I still type with two fingers at a speed that at least keeps up with the nerds that can touch type. Tipp-ex and Wite-Out were some years away from being available in rural England so its all about accuracy and not the ability to locate the delete key with your pinky.
What’s my point? Well I still print stuff on to paper to review. You know, design documents, long email threads, papers etc. I thumb my way through 5-7 magazines a month (at least Evo, Macworld, Fast Company, Wired and British GQ) and whatever books lay to hand. Why? Well I like the tactile feel of paper. I like turning pages. I like the portability and the fact the I never need to charge a book when its running low on power. Its the ultimate of low powered portable devices.
I am my dad. Holly crap Batman. Maybe Hendrickson is right in his O’Reilly piece, its the way ahead for mass distribution of materials for education. Give it out electronically on demand on something that on a good day with the wind behind it plays like a book. It the same sort of way AstroTurf is like like grass right. But where do I, or more importantly my children, scribble notes of their current sweethearts for future generations to enjoy? Who knows. But its all going digital all very quickly. Times are a changing my friends.
And the OLPC? Well its still so much more way cool than a Kindle. Case rested.
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