OLPC fights back after Intel announces its withdrawal from OLPC project

Oh dear, there’s rows happening down at CES 2008. . .

Both Intel and OLPC spoke to the BBC’s Jonathan Fildes regarding their split last week and it turns out there’s more to it than we first thought. Let the name calling begin.

Head of OLPC, Nicholas Negroponte, accused Intel of underhanded tactics when it came to selling rival computer, The Classmate PC.

Of course Intel denied everything. Company bigwig, Paul Otellini, said an accusation that the firm had failed to deliver on promises was "hogwash" and insisted that Intel had fulfilled every obligation it had committed to.

Negroponte then went as far as to claim Intel had tried to sell computers to their customers even after they had signed contracts with them. He gave the example of Peru, where Intel sales staff tried to persuade the country’s vice-minister of education, Oscar Becerra Tresierra, to buy the Intel Classmate PC even though Peru had placed an order for 270,000 machines from OLPC.

He then went on to say that every time it happened, Intel said they could change.

"Each time it happened they said they would correct their ways. It’s a little like cheating on your spouse, or alcoholism, or something you just can’t eventually fix and we had to finally part ways."

We’re not sure how smart it is to compare Intel’s sales tactics to adultery or alcoholism but it sure is funny. . . Read the full story from the BBC here.

Intel announced it’s withdrawal from the OLPC project last week citing "Philosophical differences" as the reason for parting ways. The company also said that the charity had asked them to cease support non-OLPC platforms, including the Classmate PC, and to focus on the OLPC platform exclusively.