Comments on: I am in your OLPC, reverse engineering your Keyboardz http://afromusing.com/2007/11/30/i-am-in-your-olpc-reverse-engineering-your-keyboardz/ Africa and Beyond! Wed, 21 Mar 2012 09:03:07 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Bibletimeline http://afromusing.com/2007/11/30/i-am-in-your-olpc-reverse-engineering-your-keyboardz/comment-page-1/#comment-142130 Bibletimeline Fri, 19 Sep 2008 19:44:08 +0000 http://www.afromusing.com/blog/2007/11/30/i-am-in-your-olpc-reverse-engineering-your-keyboardz/#comment-142130 Bibletimeline…

Alright.  So I thought Iâ??d share with you some of my research over the past couple of weeks.  This isnâ??t comprehensive, but it is close.  Let me say thanks to those of you who have assisted me in either resources or general information.  If the…

]]> By: Ntwiga http://afromusing.com/2007/11/30/i-am-in-your-olpc-reverse-engineering-your-keyboardz/comment-page-1/#comment-53515 Ntwiga Wed, 05 Dec 2007 14:58:30 +0000 http://www.afromusing.com/blog/2007/11/30/i-am-in-your-olpc-reverse-engineering-your-keyboardz/#comment-53515 Afro,

Great title, great post.

Some thoughts: you ask “Maybe I am looking at this all wrong, Is Negroponte pimping the â??education projectâ?? in pursuit ofâ?¦what?”. Well, maybe the answer is indeed in plain sight. Maybe he just wants to provide technology access to the masses like he keeps telling us he wants to.

And here is another thought for you: if the OLPC team did indeed go to Nigeria to look for inspiration for the design of the product, it is heartening that they are looking to the populations that will actually use these products for design and usability clues instead of sitting in Boston or LA or wherever and saying “hey, thats what the kids/world/users/consumers need”.

I have in the last month or so found myself increasingly frustrated with this attitude to design and product creation when I have to “fix” my computer for my 4 year old who wants to use it but cannot understand why in the world Windows keeps doing stuff and getting in his way.

Find out what your users need and want and give it to them. End of story.

]]> By: Josh http://afromusing.com/2007/11/30/i-am-in-your-olpc-reverse-engineering-your-keyboardz/comment-page-1/#comment-52620 Josh Mon, 03 Dec 2007 13:54:49 +0000 http://www.afromusing.com/blog/2007/11/30/i-am-in-your-olpc-reverse-engineering-your-keyboardz/#comment-52620 Hi Julia: My name is Josh Goldstein, graduate researcher at Harvard's Berkman Center. I would like to invite you to an event, but I don't have your email address. Can you send it my way? jgolds AT cyber dot law dot harvard dot edu thanks josh Hi Julia:

My name is Josh Goldstein, graduate researcher at Harvard’s Berkman Center.

I would like to invite you to an event, but I don’t have your email address. Can you send it my way?

jgolds AT cyber dot law dot harvard dot edu

thanks josh

]]> By: Joshua Goldstein http://afromusing.com/2007/11/30/i-am-in-your-olpc-reverse-engineering-your-keyboardz/comment-page-1/#comment-52619 Joshua Goldstein Mon, 03 Dec 2007 13:52:34 +0000 http://www.afromusing.com/blog/2007/11/30/i-am-in-your-olpc-reverse-engineering-your-keyboardz/#comment-52619 Hi Julia: My name is Josh Goldstein, graduate researcher at Harvard's Berkman Center for Internet & Society. I would like to invite you to an event but I do not have your email address. Please send it to jgolds AT cyber dot law dot harvard dot edu Josh Hi Julia:

My name is Josh Goldstein, graduate researcher at Harvard’s Berkman Center for Internet & Society. I would like to invite you to an event but I do not have your email address. Please send it to jgolds AT cyber dot law dot harvard dot edu

Josh

]]> By: Ssembonge http://afromusing.com/2007/11/30/i-am-in-your-olpc-reverse-engineering-your-keyboardz/comment-page-1/#comment-52197 Ssembonge Sun, 02 Dec 2007 03:58:16 +0000 http://www.afromusing.com/blog/2007/11/30/i-am-in-your-olpc-reverse-engineering-your-keyboardz/#comment-52197 I was confused when I first read this news article as I thought copyright is for words or drawings/art. I would have thought the Lagos guys should have patented their idea. Instead it looks like they copyrighted. What? I have no clue. Without seeing their documents, I think they may have blundered. I've spoken to a few people in Kenya about patenting their works but they thought I was a joke. The thing is that a good patent attorney costs money. Because they can't afford one, I offered to broker financing in return for a cut of future royalties, if any. Basically, they file a patent with myself and the finaciers as asignee's or co-inventors. The odds are against Lagos Analysis Corp. If they couldn't hire a patent attorney, how do they expect to hire a good lawyer to fight for their case. OPLC can drag their ass in court for years and bankrupt the nigerians. I was confused when I first read this news article as I thought copyright is for words or drawings/art. I would have thought the Lagos guys should have patented their idea. Instead it looks like they copyrighted. What? I have no clue. Without seeing their documents, I think they may have blundered.

I’ve spoken to a few people in Kenya about patenting their works but they thought I was a joke. The thing is that a good patent attorney costs money. Because they can’t afford one, I offered to broker financing in return for a cut of future royalties, if any. Basically, they file a patent with myself and the finaciers as asignee’s or co-inventors.

The odds are against Lagos Analysis Corp. If they couldn’t hire a patent attorney, how do they expect to hire a good lawyer to fight for their case. OPLC can drag their ass in court for years and bankrupt the nigerians.

]]> By: Erick http://afromusing.com/2007/11/30/i-am-in-your-olpc-reverse-engineering-your-keyboardz/comment-page-1/#comment-52033 Erick Sat, 01 Dec 2007 21:55:12 +0000 http://www.afromusing.com/blog/2007/11/30/i-am-in-your-olpc-reverse-engineering-your-keyboardz/#comment-52033 We'll see how it turns out. In the meantime, <a href="http://www.olpcnews.com/hardware/keyboard/olpc_patent_infringement_scam.html" rel="nofollow">Miss Anita</a> has joined the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advance_fee_fraud" rel="nofollow">419 scammers</a> :-) . We’ll see how it turns out. In the meantime, Miss Anita has joined the 419 scammers :-) .

]]> By: AfroMusing http://afromusing.com/2007/11/30/i-am-in-your-olpc-reverse-engineering-your-keyboardz/comment-page-1/#comment-51866 AfroMusing Sat, 01 Dec 2007 16:41:02 +0000 http://www.afromusing.com/blog/2007/11/30/i-am-in-your-olpc-reverse-engineering-your-keyboardz/#comment-51866 Hello Erick, Thank you for the link to OLPC news. I am not familiar with patent offices in Nigeria, but i would imagine that they are not online like it is in the west. I wish we had a reader from Nigeria who is familiar with how IP and patenting works there...will ask some of the friends i have to chime in. I am abit saddened though not surprised to see comments about this being a possible scam. I am yet to meet/talk to the guys from Lagos Analysis corp, but i would imagine Reg Hardware (and other news outlets reporting this story) would do some due diligence before reporting this. I dont think Lagos Analysis would sue a highly visible foundation just to make a buck if there wasn't cause (imo that would be a rather silly scam). If their tech was lifted they have every right to be heard out and compensated. The OLPC team is of a high callibre and i hope they can be open about what went down if anything... Hello Erick,
Thank you for the link to OLPC news. I am not familiar with patent offices in Nigeria, but i would imagine that they are not online like it is in the west. I wish we had a reader from Nigeria who is familiar with how IP and patenting works there…will ask some of the friends i have to chime in. I am abit saddened though not surprised to see comments about this being a possible scam. I am yet to meet/talk to the guys from Lagos Analysis corp, but i would imagine Reg Hardware (and other news outlets reporting this story) would do some due diligence before reporting this. I dont think Lagos Analysis would sue a highly visible foundation just to make a buck if there wasn’t cause (imo that would be a rather silly scam). If their tech was lifted they have every right to be heard out and compensated. The OLPC team is of a high callibre and i hope they can be open about what went down if anything…

]]> By: Erick http://afromusing.com/2007/11/30/i-am-in-your-olpc-reverse-engineering-your-keyboardz/comment-page-1/#comment-51834 Erick Sat, 01 Dec 2007 14:46:10 +0000 http://www.afromusing.com/blog/2007/11/30/i-am-in-your-olpc-reverse-engineering-your-keyboardz/#comment-51834 Here is an excerpt from <a href="http://www.olpcnews.com/hardware/keyboard/olpc_patent_infringement_scam.html" rel="nofollow">OLPC News</a> : After reading that story I went to look for the Nigerian Patent Office's website, unfortunately according to the WIPO (World Intellectual Property Organization) directory there's no such thing. Probing further I found that the Nigerian Industrial Property Offices use a @yahoo.com e-mail address. That was the point where I stopped my search for an online-version of Patent # RD8489 even though I would really liked to take a look at it! The author's comment is a bit dismissive, but his research introduces some doubt. Here is an excerpt from OLPC News :

After reading that story I went to look for the Nigerian Patent Office’s website, unfortunately according to the WIPO (World Intellectual Property Organization) directory there’s no such thing. Probing further I found that the Nigerian Industrial Property Offices use a @yahoo.com e-mail address. That was the point where I stopped my search for an online-version of Patent # RD8489 even though I would really liked to take a look at it!

The author’s comment is a bit dismissive, but his research introduces some doubt.

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