经济不景气 OLPC裁员人力砍半留下的32名员工降薪

CNET科技资讯网1月9日国际报道 OLPC周三宣布将把人力砍半，留下来的员工薪资调降，同时进行业务重整。

创始人Nicholas Negroponte原先成立该组织的宗旨是提供低价电脑给发展中国家的儿童，他这次在博客中写到，受到经济不景气影响，不得不进行裁员，裁员后公司剩下32名员工：

“Like many other nonprofits that are facing tough economic times, One Laptop per Child must downsize in order to keep costs in line with fewer financial resources. Today we are reducing our team by approximately 50% and there will be salary reductions for the remaining 32 people. While we are saddened by this development, we remain firmly committed to our mission of getting laptops to children in developing countries. We thank team members who are departing for their contributions to this important mission.

Restructuring brings with it pain for some of our friends and colleagues who are being let go. These are people who have dedicated themselves to the advancement of a noble cause, and to say that we are exceeding grateful for the time, the ideas, the energy and the commitment they have given OLPC does not -- cannot -- adequately express our admiration or our gratitude. The fact that there are 500,000 children around the world who have laptops is testament to their extraordinary work and is already a key part of OLPC's legacy.”

Negroponte提到公司将会把重点放在第二代机器，但Sugar操作系统的开发则会交给开放源代码社区。

该计划最近又开始进行买一送一的活动，亦即在Amazon.com买两台机器，一台买家自用，另一台则会送去给发展中国家的儿童。

该XO笔记本电脑内含Windows XP与Linux-based的Sugar操作系统。之所以会加入XP是因为发展中国家不想买没有微软操作系统的装置。

OLPC成立三年来历经不少波折，XO笔记本电脑从原先100美元目标调升为188美元、部分国家中途退缩；英特尔也在2008年一月退出，宣称OLPC施压它不得与XO笔记本电脑做竞争。