BOGO laptop

[DesertRose]

Thanks for the information and clarifications. I can't even put into words (or at least words that the filter on this forum would not screen out) how I feel about Microsoft trying to thwart this effort. Every time I'm in Africa I see how little school kids have - in most countries school is not free nor compulsory - and yet they show up every day and work hard, sometimes 4+ kids sharing one desk if they even have desks.

Some might ask "well why give them computers?" These kids are all super smart, and eager - blazingly eager - to learn anything and everything. They soak it up. These little computers are like putting a turbocharge on an engine. It give them a tool, a boost, for what is already hidden inside. And helps them get ready for the modern world quickly.

Kofi Annan summed up the program so well:

“This is not just a matter of giving a laptop to each child, as if bestowing on them some magical charm. The magic lies within—within each child, within each scientist-, scholar-, or just-plain-citizen-in-the-making. This initiative is meant to bring it forth into the light of day.”

Founder Nicholas Negroponte is an amazing man. God bless him!

 

[DavidG]

As much as I bemoan the stranglehold Microsoft has on much of the marketplace, I'm not entirely certain we can point to MS for many of the OLPC problems. While not totally clear, it appears Negroponte may have asked too much of Intel.

Also, MS seems to be working WITH OLPC, at least for the time being.

 

[HenryJ]

We have had it now for a month or so. This little laptop is just amazing! What a wonderful teaching tool!

Simple complexity.

It has a program for piloting a sail boat, operating a submarine, controlling the locks on a dam, trajectory drops from aircraft, electrical schematic design, etc. Wonderful simple teaching programs. My seven year old son is creating electrical circuits with diodes, switches, batteries, rheostats, transistors, lights, etc.
Great way to show a twin switched light.

The camera, internet browser (opera based), wireless all work great. Networking is automatic and flawless between laptops. Groups can collaborate on projects.

It does not last as long on the battery as I would have expected, but it is small and charges quickly on any available power source.
The package is very nice and definitely user friendly.

I have not played with adding navigation or mapping yet. I still need to let some of the new 'puter wear off, so my son will put it down long enough for Dad to play with it

The other three laptops went to Nepal

 

[DavidG]

Very cool. Let us know what you come up with for navigation when you're allowed to play with it

 

[Tress]

Badd Azzz! Has anyone any more info about this thing, can you use MS office on it? Or some other typing software? Any word on the nav abilities? Either way its so cool and im tempted to get one just so i can play with it and know its abilities, cuz if it does what its supposed to then it might be a perfect thing for us to introduce to an organization in Nicaragua we will be working with for up to a year starting Dec! So ya, really really cool and im dying to hear what aone has to say about there experience with it. Thanks for the info though!!
:REOutIceFishing:

 

[suntinez]

version 2

Tossing aside its iconic green-and-white laptop with its distinctive antennas, One Laptop per Child (OLPC) is pursuing a smaller 2.0 version, scheduled for release in 2010, in which dual touch screens will replace the keypad. The new version will have lower power consumption and a $75 price--a figure that OLPC claims is achievable despite the fact that the current model, the XO, sells for nearly double the sum mentioned in its "$100 laptop" moniker.

But until the new machine comes online, the existing XO will continue to be sold. Only about 600,000 hard orders have come in--a far cry from the 100 million that, two years ago, Negroponte said he was hoping to obtain by 2008. And last week's announcement that the XO will have the option of using Windows or the existing Linux-based operating system has led to some debate among education officials. Yesterday, Oscar Becerra, a Peruvian education ministry official who directs the OLPC deployment under way there, says that he sees little value in adding Windows for computers in primary schools.


Full article here.

Windows, uhoh .....