There's nothing like allegations of predatory conduct to bring two organizations together. Nicholas Negroponte's One Laptop Per Child project has decided to bring Intel on board as a partner and a possible future supplier, just a few months after Negroponte went on 60 Minutes and essentially accused the chip maker of trying to destroy his low-cost PC project.

Intel’s agreement with the OLPC Foundation included a ‘non disparagement’ clause, under which Intel and One Laptop promised not to criticize each other, according to Nicholas Negroponte in the latest article in the Wall Street Journal.

Intel today resigned from the One Laptop Per Child Project's board of directors after refusing a request to abandon its Classmate PC program.

"Jabi Lake Secondary School, on the outskirts of Abuja in Nigeria, is the poster child for a project set up by chip-maker Intel aimed at bridging the digital divide."
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Mandriva today announced that the Nigerian government has selected Intel-powered classmate PCs running on Mandriva Linux for educational use in nationwide pilot in Nigeria. Mandriva is working with Intel Corporation and Technology Support Center Ltd. to provide 17,000 Intel-powered classmate PCs.

The One Laptop Per Child Project and Intel have put their differences aside, at least for now, as Intel agrees to take a seat on the OLPC Board of Directors. The new "peace" between Intel and OLPC will also involve the project receiving some funding from Intel, and according to a statement, "Intel and OLPC will explore collaborations involving technology and educational content."

Now that OLPC plans to distribute OLPC XOs in the States through OLPC America, I sent Agnes Kwan, Intel spokeswoman, an email asking if Intel planned to compete in this market with their Classmate PC.

Groklaw: OLPC has answered the LANCOR claims. And if you want to know what really happened between Intel and OLPC, I suggest you read this interview with Nicholas Negroponte in Fortune. Here's the meat of it:

Sure, the low-cost computers developed by OLPC and Intel may look cute, but actually using one reveals a host of shortcomings. In the OLPC XO, software was complicated and buggy. For weeks neither my brilliant niece, nor her well educated parents, could figure out how to get it to connect online. The Intel Classmate was no miracle of modern design, either.