Changes

I have had some success, but there are many frustrations, the Journal interface being the most egregious.  Some notable troubles:

I have had some success, but there are many frustrations, the Journal interface being the most egregious.  Some notable troubles:

* I spend an inordinate amount of time deleting Journal clutter.  It should be possible to turn automatic logging off, since not all activity will necessarily be worth tracking.  Better yet, include a GUI for setting filter options for what will be logged, and what will not be logged

* I spend an inordinate amount of time deleting Journal clutter.  It should be possible to turn automatic logging off, since not all activity will necessarily be worth tracking.  Better yet, include a GUI for setting filter options for what will be logged, and what will not be loggedov

* The flat file display of directories on USB or SD devices also clutters the Journal.  Especially annoying is when a complete web page is saved on another computer and viewed on an XO (for example tutorial information about the XO).  The detail data in the subdirectory makes it hard to find the root HTML file to view the page.  Moreover, as nearly as I can tell, it is not possible to save a complete web page using only the XO.  Something is saved, but it displays incorrectly when viewed later.  This is of fundamental importance for areas with little or unreliable internet service.  A child finds something at school, he saves it so he can read it later at home where there is no internet, and what he gets is some partially readable glop.

* The flat file display of directories on USB or SD devices also clutters the Journal.  Especially annoying is when a complete web page is saved on another computer and viewed on an XO (for example tutorial information about the XO).  The detail data in the subdirectory makes it hard to find the root HTML file to view the page.  Moreover, as nearly as I can tell, it is not possible to save a complete web page using only the XO.  Something is saved, but it displays incorrectly when viewed later.  This is of fundamental importance for areas with little or unreliable internet service.  A child finds something at school, he saves it so he can read it later at home where there is no internet, and what he gets is some partially readable glop.

* The OLPC developers guide extols the Journal as a replacement for file hierarchies, and suggests that such hierarchies are unnatural.  This is not true:  containers are very intuitive, especially for children.  Even in the most primitive hut, there is an area for cooking, which contains a larder which contains food items.  The cooking area also contains a storage area for utensils and an area for food preparation.  The hut itself contains a sleeping area, a cooking area, a latrine area and a social area, even if it is only one room.  Moreover, the hut is contained in a community, itself contained in a nation.  To assert that hierarchical organization is unnatural borders on blind hubris.  Hierarchical organization of information is no exception: bearing witness are the containers library, collection, shelf, volume, and page within the volume.  Indeed, the entire internet, the new global library, is intrinsically and irretrievably hierarchical.  Depriving children of these fundamental organizational tools is tantamount to crippling them.

* The OLPC developers guide extols the Journal as a replacement for file hierarchies, and suggests that such hierarchies are unnatural.  This is not true:  containers are very intuitive, especially for children.  Even in the most primitive hut, there is an area for cooking, which contains a larder which contains food items.  The cooking area also contains a storage area for utensils and an area for food preparation.  The hut itself contains a sleeping area, a cooking area, a latrine area and a social area, even if it is only one room.  Moreover, the hut is contained in a community, itself contained in a nation.  To assert that hierarchical organization is unnatural borders on blind hubris.  Hierarchical organization of information is no exception: bearing witness are the containers library, collection, shelf, volume, and page within the volume.  Indeed, the entire internet, the new global library, is intrinsically and irretrievably hierarchical.  Depriving children of these fundamental organizational tools is tantamount to crippling them.