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But again, you're assuming that that's a bad thing. In fact if they were still doing the same thing that they were 14 years ago it would mean that they had failed their mission of helping bring low powered devices to the underprivileged. They jump started a market that has created dozens of competitors that are competing to provide the best value for the lowest price to the market with their own niche fits and geo locations and sourcing deals, etc, etc.

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It’s a bit like saying the OLPC project failed. Their hardware was never ubiquitous, but they lit a fire under the seats of the industry giants that caused things like netbooks and the modern laptops built almost specifically for schools (cheap, indestructible, easy to maintain), and many schools save resources by getting students electronic versions of their books.

I use one of those myself when I don’t want to carry dead weight.

Of course, I’d love if the OLPC project lived up to their promise, but that was the stretch goal.

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