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OLPC is probably looking for a non X86 architecture for XO-2, probably ARM, where several providers can provide the processor. Using ARM Cortex, OLPC can use any of Texas Instruments, Mavell, Freescale, Samsung, Qualcomm, Nvidia and others, all interchangeably, independently of the deals that will be put in place. The idea being that having all these ARM Cortex providers being more or less compatible with each other, enabling minimal changes in motherboard designs to have them all be compatible, this enables competition in the processor market. This will more quickly drive the prices down much further. This is the only way you can optimize the interpretation of Moore’s law which says that you can cut the price and power consumption of laptops by half every 18 months.

There is a basic reason AMD is not too enthusiastic about this whole new low cost laptop market. The reason is written on the wall, everyones can see it coming, cheaper laptops means it will be much harder to find profits in the industry. AMD isn’t exactly having an easy time already as things are today, Intel’s profit margins and overall income have shrinked 90% in 2008 compared to 2007.

I believe OLPC should use Google Android with Sugar on top, and they should increasingly rely on cloud computing such as the recently rumored Google Web Drive service to store and share all the data on. With XO-2, you should much further synchronize the way the school servers synch storage, processing power and contents to and from the cloud. Basically what you get is an overly simplified Internet access terminal, one with a small ARM Cortex processor behind the next generation of even lower power and lower cost Pixel Qi screens. One that just relies on basic Google Gears for local content caching, and let most of the rest happen using the much cheaper cloud.

$100 laptops using ARM are possible today already. Chinese GPS manufacturers are making them already using uber simple Linux and last generation MIPS or ARM processors:http://techvideoblog.com/category/laptops/

This makes it obvious that OLPC can achieve a $75 price point on XO-2, consider also the advantage of using a dual touch-screen, is that ou can even more easilly mass manufacture exactly the same model for the whole world. Since all the different keyboard layouts and all of the local interfaces are simply going to be a software function of the touchscreens. Mary-Lou Jepsen has done it once already. She can do it again.

- Obama should call Google up and they arrange for a basic subscription fee that gives access to all digitized books, in and out of copyright. With opt-out option for all rights holders. That basic subscription fee may be around $5 per month. Access to all the books would be without DRM, the rights holders can if they insist opt to use DRM, but by default all books should be without.

- Later Obama and Google should figure out to pay writers though taxes. If everyone pays an average of $5 per month, we would have enough mone not only to pay all writers, bloggers, journalists, there would be enough money right there for paing for all music, movies and TV productions. This would set a whole new opening of the art creation process, removing all the commercial aspects of it. Giving control back to the artist.

- Artists should get paid by popularity and quality of their works. Measures quite simply using server statistics, file playback logs (voluntary last.fm scrobbler like plugins installed everywhere) and using a ratings system (Love/Block, just like Last.fm).

What needs to happen as soon as possible. Google needs to release a kind of Android platform for E-Ink devices. We need a $100 pocketable E-Ink ebook reader hardware available worldwide as soon as possible. With built-in HSDPA, WiFi, 700mhz free wireless broadband. With wacom or other touchscreen technology for easy navigation and for note taking. Including collaborative note taking and commenting for all texts.

Sugar has been spun off of the main OLPC branch anyways starting months ago. So I guess it should be kind of natural, especially during this financial and lending crisis, that the main OLPC branch shouldn’t be the one carrying all the software load in terms of paying for further Sugar development. With the latest Sugar release for the OLPC version 8.2.0, Sugar for OLPC is now stable.

Sugar Labs as I understand it is now tied closer with Red Hat’s Fedora project, and it’s being made for more platforms such as to run on those netbooks and other devices.

OLPC needs to focus on content, on educational strategies, to develop pedagogical guidelines to present to teachers as recommendations for how to successfully implement OLPC, how to use computers and the Internet in education. Taking into account all the different environments, some places that don’t have a lot of Internet, some places that don’t have good electricity, some places where kids have more or less troubles to educate themselves.

OLPC needs to continue revolutionizing the computer industry. That is why XO-2 is very important. Lowering the amount of components in the laptop should be a priority. Focus should be put on engineering and firmware programming, making of drivers for the next hardware.

You can’t just sit back and wait for Intel to make the $100 laptop. Intel’s current stragtegy is only to pull up the pricing of the average netbook with all kinds of whistles that they are introducing with the approval of the new Atom Z processor. Such features as the Intel Classmate tablet, Sony Vaio P, MSI hybrid netbook, Vista.. all those things are very carefully designed by Intel to inflate the price of the average netbook sold. Intel and the rest of the established computer industry are loosing huge profit margins on having to provide netbooks instead of the previous years mid-range laptops that had dual-core, high power consumption graphics and all kinds of gimmicks that could push up pricing. Thanks to OLPC, the laptop industry’s profit margins are quickly going away.

OLPC needs to pull the pricing further down and as quickly as possible. I believe that AMD has pretty much conceded that they are not very much interested in lower laptop prices. AMD netbooks are higher priced. AMD doesn’t seem to come with the next more optimized lower cost and lower power successor to the AMD Geode LX900.

OLPC needs to look for a cheaper, simpler and lower power architechture. I believe that one can only be ARM Cortex A8 or A9 depending on the planned timing of initial large scale hardware deployments of XO-2 model. There are a whole range of companies now making those ARM Cortex A8 processors. Marvell for one has probably already proposed such solutions to OLPC, Texas Instruments has a good one, Qualcomm and Freescale are demonstrating such prototypes at CES right now. Laptops to be sold commercially with profit at $199, thus could probably be built by a non-profit at half that price when all components are optimized, when the screen is the latest Pixel Qi, when a deal for mass production is signed.

Software for XO-2 could be optimized and tweaked best by Google, IBM or some other companies like that who contribute to embedded Linux projects. Using Google Android I think would be the perfect solution. Google wants more Internet access to more people in developing countries. If Google themselves don’t soon release the reference design for the $100 XO-2 Google Android laptop, then OLPC should do it as a priority. Using Android as the platform for XO-2, this way you know you get the best possible software optimizations by the worlds definite best software company.

Killing Intel and Microsoft off in the process would just be a very welcomed bonus.