Open Contradictions

Nicholas Negroponte is skating on very thin ice. Even suggesting that OLPC should get into bed with Microsoft will have far reaching (detrimental) effects in the world of Open Source development.

Linux.com reported ...

Reactions to the story this morning on the OLPC developers channel on irc.freenode.net ranged from shock to anger, with one developer saying that it is "utter crap, and is exactly the opposite of why I support this project."

Notice the very carefully chosen words, "...why I support this project." My bet is that they were spoken by an individual who has donated his/her time to the OLPC project. Negroponte is risking future projects by debasing the value of donated time.

Personal experience tells me that many people will make personal sacrifices (donations) that no amount of money can buy. The value to the giver of such a donation is in contributing to a project that has social value and has integrity. If the giver believes that the integrity of a project is compromised then their personal sacrifice or donation is compromised.

Watch out for the old maxim: "Burn me once, shame on you. Burn me twice, shame on me!"

If Negroponte burns the contributions for this project who will step up for the next one?