Negroponte: Willing To Give Up Being Intel's David

On Friday, Nicholas Negroponte's One Laptop Per Child program shockingly said it would stop feuding with Intel and instead they'd work together.

Did I mention this was shocking? It's like Boston Red Sox fans deciding to stop hating the Yankees. Negroponte has candidly and acidly complained about Intel's tactics in the realm of cheap laptops for developing nations. He even laced into Intel on 60 Minutes. So I asked Negroponte how in the world this came about.

Here's the email he wrote back:

It was very simple. While I like being David and any David & Goliath war, I really had to keep the mission in mind: to maximize the number of kids who get connected laptops. Likewise, it did Intel no good to be the "bad guy." The decision was reached by working directly with Paul Otellini, with the full support of both boards. Worldwide response has been unequivocally raving, no rants or snide remarks about "you sold out." I am really glad we reached this agreement.

DAVOS, Switzerland: Nicholas Negroponte, co-founder and Chairman of the MIT Media Lab presents the "hundred dollar" laptop at the World Economic Forum in Davos 28 January 2006. AFP PHOTO FABRICE COFFRINI (Photo credit should read FABRICE COFFRINI/AFP/Getty Images)