Venezuela Purchases a Million Intel Classmates

An anonymous reader submits news of the million-laptop order from Venezuela of Intel's version of the kid-friendly laptop. The computers are produced in Portugal. "The machines, rebranded 'Magellan,' will also come with Linux pre-installed as opposed to Windows XP. This order alone is 50% bigger than the entire OLPC project has managed to sell worldwide."

Made up or unsourced quotes?

[1u3hr]

This paragraph in the submission:

"The machines, rebranded 'Magellan,' will also come with Linux pre-installed as opposed to Windows XP. This order alone is 50% bigger than the entire OLPC project has managed to sell worldwide."

But despite the quotemarks, this is NOT in TFA. No mention of Linux, or the name "Magellan". Hopefully the anonymous submitter didn't just make it up, it would be nice the source was cited. We all know how carefully Slashdot is in vetting its articles, after all, so I'm sure it's all verifiable.

Re:Made up or unsourced quotes?

[zeraeiro]

Part is true. I'm from Portugal and all over the media you hear everyday everywhere "The first Portuguese computer ever made (...)". They don't even mention it's a Intel Classmate. http://ww1.rtp.pt/noticias/index.php?headline=98&visual=25&article=356756&tema=29 [ww1.rtp.pt] Not sure about the scale of the order in comparison to OLPC.

OLPC

[Eukariote]

This order alone is 50% bigger than the entire OLPC project has managed to sell worldwide.

And guess who is to blame for OLPC failing to gain much traction? http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/article4472654.ece [timesonline.co.uk] Yes, Intel mostly. Can't allow there to be so many AMD chips out there...

Re:Made up or unsourced quotes?

[The Dotmeister]

Actually the name isn't "Magellan" but "Magalhães", and it dual boots (at least in Portugal) Windows XP and Linux CaixaMágica (a portuguese distro) as you can see here http://www.eescolinha.gov.pt/equipamento.html [eescolinha.gov.pt].
It's being sold to kids in primary school for 50 euros and it comes with an option for mobile internet, which you can buy from mobile carriers. If you're not a primary school student, well you've got to pay 285 euros for one.

Re:Made up or unsourced quotes?

[Anonymous Coward]

The name has been translated, the portuguese name is "Magalhaes" (actually there should be a "~" above the second "a", but when I post it looks strange, damn language coding confusions).

There are news here http://waterseven.universebox.com/?p=128, here http://sol.sapo.pt/PaginaInicial/Economia/Interior.aspx?content_id=109149 and here http://www.correiomanha.pt/noticia.aspx?contentid=604E90A9-501B-4A0B-AB89-67561B30D7B1&channelid=00000011-0000-0000-0000-000000000011.

All in portuguese. You can try to autotranslate and become even more confused.

Classmate, Magellan, Venezuela and Portugal

[lejerdemayn]

Even though TFA doesn't mention it, it's true that the computer being sold is called Magellan. It's basically a rename of Intel Classmate, with 1/3 of it being produced in Portugal. It was launched a few days ago over here (Portugal). The computer is being given (almost free) to kids in the 5th grade, and sold to the public for ~285 euros. Imo, it's just sad to see what I believe is a waste of public funds! First, the government is pouring cash into Intel's pocket for a sub-product, when it could've allied itself with the OLPC. Second, they think that by throwing fishing sticks at people, they'll learn how to fish. The computers will most likely be used for IM (MSN), social network (hi5) and warez. As for this deal with Venezuela, Chavez and Socrates (portuguese prime minister) are having some deals, and this is just another one. Portugal also has a huge community in Venezuela (around 1 million iirc).

Re:Made up or unsourced quotes?

[Chemicalscum]

Here we are in Portugese from a Portugese IT site is says that Magellan will be sold to Venezuela with Canaimo Linux installed:

"na Venezuela o sistema operativo Canaima (baseado em Linux)"

http://ciberia.aeiou.pt/?st=10098 [aeiou.pt]

Linux is the operating system of the Bolivarian Revolution.

"Canaima is a GNU / Linux distribution based on Debian which is emerging as a solution to meet the needs of end users office of the Venezuelan National Public Administration (APN) and to comply with the presidential decree no. 3.390 sobre el uso de TecnologÃas Libres en la APN. 3390 on the use of Open Technologies in APN."

http://canaima.softwarelibre.gob.ve/ [softwarelibre.gob.ve]

Actually, this source is well-regarded

[burnitdown]

"The Bell Curve"? Are you fucking kidding me? Where do you get your reading list, the Josef Mengele Book Club?

Godwin's law [wikipedia.org] in action: if you can't beat 'em, call them fascists.

The Bell Curve is still widely regarded as the definitive tome on an unpopular but valid scientific pursuit. Why are you trying to censor science for your personal preferences of what you think reality should be? What are you afraid of?

It's the new Scopes trial: can you accept thinkers like Pinker or Herrnstein/Murray, or must we find some way to shut science out of the debate?

Re:quick, bomb them

[KGIII]

I'm not sure what country you are hailing from but it is IUD. Intra-uterine device.

Re:Made up or unsourced quotes?

[The Dotmeister]

The little I know about Portuguese culture brings me to expect a lot of these machines will be sold for %= EUR, but not to kids only. There's ways to abuse the system, and I suspect it will be abused.

There's always ways to abuse the system, but as far as I know, to be eligible to buy one for 50 euros you need to go into your kids school, fill a form, wait for verification and then wait for a notice to receive your "Magalhães".

Re:lolwut

[DrSkwid]

> The machines, rebranded 'Magellan,' will also come with Linux

I tracked down an attribution [theinquirer.net] - with pictures of the device

"This is effectively a second-generation Classmate PC, and integrates a Celeron ULV part and uses Linux, although down the line it is expected to migrate to a fully Atom-based system with a "lighter version of Windows" (whatever that is)."

The Portuguese have also bought 500,000 of the same devices. [eweek.com]

Re:Made up or unsourced quotes?

[blind biker]

I think it's you who is naive, if you think it's just as likely to happen in Sweden or Finland. Your naivity can be explained with lack of knowledge. I have lived in various parts of Europe, and have lived for almost 40 years. And I have seen the level of corruption in southern and eastern europe. I have learned the various cultural traits of the people of Europe. Each has its pros and cons. I just prefer living in Finland, after seeing the rest. A culture that leads to corruption also leads to a weaker economy (which may or may not be important for you) and a general lack of order and accountability. It's really stupid to say that there are no cultural differences between countries, and that those cultural differences don't contribute to certain behavioural patterns - like, for example, gaming the system. I was born in a country where everyone tries to game the system, to screw up his/her fellow. I have seen other countries, seen shades of grey. One can see a lot of stuff, if he/she travels and lives in various places in his/her lifetime, like I did.

But you know what: your kind of delusion is popular around here. A lot of people who are just as naive as you are. So, you're preaching to the choir and perhaps you get kicks out of that. You're still wrong, though. There are differences between cultures, differences conducive to behavioural patterns, whether that fits into your worldview or not.

Re:Made up or unsourced quotes?

[Zarluk]

Well, the GP was talking about Portugal (the prices he cited are the portuguese ones), not Venuzuela.

Re:The benefits of not ordering with Windows

[puto]

As someone who has relatives in Venezuela, and who has been there before and after the Chavez regime. He is hardly a good leader. Crowd control with rubber bullets and Cuban interregators for those who choose to protest, again that makes a good leader? I was born in the US but have lived in several south american countries. I hold citizen ship in Colombia and Panama due to family ties. Venezuela is much worse for the wear than it was 10 years ago. Chavez funds Farc in Colombia, and as someone who has been on his knees, assault rifle at his head, explaing why he spoke spanish with an american accent, I cannot say anything good about the man, or his peers. Colombia is taking a stand against the guerillas, they are bringing themselves up, and Chavez does not want to have his people see prosperity in democracy when it is right next door. Go to both countries, and tell who is better off.

I have one of this in my house right now!

[Anonymous Coward]

I am portuguese. My daughter already has one of this, since she goes to the school where our prime-minister "delivered" the first computers. I would like to say this: I am _very_ impressed by this tiny thing. Granted, Caixa Magica distro sucks big time (its an ugly, unpolished piece of crap). Granted, the only option is in fact to use XP with it. But the XP installation comes loaded with educational apps, and defaults to an "alternative" desktop suited for small kids (lots of colour, a wizard and all).
But, the computer isn't ugly, isn't heavy, and in reality is assembled in Portugal. It has a reasonable spec for the cost - including webcam, 30Gb HDD, 1024x600 display (rather nice actually, very readable), wi-fi, cable net and 2 USB 2.0 ports. I am very glad that my daughter has one (even though it will cost me 50 â).
As far as Caixa Magica, well I guess one could wipe it from the disk and replace it with (insert favorite distro). I know I will.
I think this is a visionary move. Sure, too bad about the operating system. Who cares? My daughter has been using my Ubuntu laptop since she was 4, and she is able to jump between both operating systems with ease - she actually doesn't care what OS is in the machine. I told her "look, this one is linux, and that one is windows, so some things are different, you may need some help finding your way around". Her reply was "don't worry dad, if I have any trouble I will ask for your help".
Still hasn't.

Re:The benefits of not ordering with Windows

[Gavagai80]

I think he sounds stark raving mad. I had no idea national leaders could be like that

You must not have seen a national leader before. Most of them are like that.