OLPC XO

Have any of you been following the One Laptop Per Child program out of MIT? A professor at MIT had a vision to improve education throughout the world by putting computers in the hands of every child. Originally it was call the $100 laptop project but the cost has increased a bit to $188.

"Our goal: To provide children around the world with new opportunities to explore, experiment and express themselves."

[but] “It's an education project, not a laptop project.”
— Nicholas Negroponte

He had a team of engineers create a laptop computer totally different than any other. It had to be able to withstand the different environments and be able to work on very little power. This is what they came up with...



As he says, it's not about the computer itself, but about how he has gotten governments everywhere to rethink and put more focus onto education. The last few months, they have been deploying them in places like Mongolia and Peru. I will relay some of the stories about these tiny schools in the middle of nowhere and the reactions of the children who know nothing about the outside world and are all the sudden given the internet.

The computers link up when they are around each other allowing the children to work together on projects and the tons of applications it comes with.

The reason I'm telling you all this is because I am getting one today! They are not being sold in the states but they did a brief program at the end of the year called Give One Get One. For every one sold in the states, one would be sent overseas. I bought my two and should be getting mine. When I get it, I will tell you more about it, it really is amazing, i.e. nothing to do with Microsoft...