08 Jan 09 Global Dadmins OLPC Cut 50% And Refocus

If companies were people, OLPC would certainly fit the dadmin mold.  So it saddened us to read that OLPC would be cutting 50% of their workforce, passing out pay cuts to the lucky 32 survivors, and “refocusing” on their mission.

Chairman Nicholas Negroponte cited the economic downturn for the reduction.  Nicholas softened the news with optimism about building the next generation OLPC and a mention of a $0 laptop for “the Least Developed Countries”.  While noble, OLPC doesn’t have a very good track record of sticking to price points, not to mention less than astounding production.  Getting these issues worked out with a full team without cutting the price would be hard enough.  OLPC should learn to crawl before learning to walk.

Refocusing on our mission

Tags: developing nations, economy, G1G1, OLPC, XO-1