One Laptop Per Child—Give One Get One
I was looking into child-friendly laptops when I found out about the OLPC “$100 laptop” now called the XO. OLPC, an acronym for One Laptop Per Child, is a non-profit organization dedicated to giving children around the world the opportunity to “explore, experiment and express themselves” via these very cool laptops.
XO Band Demo
Students in Ban Samkha village in northern Thailand has formed a band playing traditional music with the XO.
The XO laptop is designed for children with the socio-economic and environmental issues of developing nations in mind, considering everything from extreme environmental conditions such as high heat and humidity, to technological issues such as local-language support. As a result, the XO laptop is extremely durable, brilliantly functional, energy-efficient, responsive, and fun. Take a look
David Pogue of the New York Times reviews the OLPC XO laptop
Since the laptop is available in the United States and Canada, albeit for a limited time, New York Times journalist David Pogue considers it fair game for his enthusiastic review.
About the Give One Get One program
OLPC is running a program in Canada and the United States called the Give One Get One program. Between November 12 and Novemer 26, 2007, for a donation of $399, one XO laptop will be sent to a child in a developing nation and one will be sent to your child in recognition of your contribution. This is the first time the XO laptop has been made available to the general public. Note that although they will try to deliver your laptop in December, they do not guarantee that they will be able to deliver it in time for the holidays due to limited quantities.
What can you do with them?
Lots. The concept is to give the children a laptop that adapts to their environment. The screen can be viewed in daylight, so the children can use them outdoors. The laptop is water proof, so if it started to rain, that would not be a problem. The computer comes loaded with free and open-source software which provide tools for writing, composing, simulating, expressing, constructing, designing, modeling, imagining, creating, critiquing, debugging, and collaborating. The computer does not have a hard drive or a CD-ROM drive. It does have a flash drive, and built in networking capabilities, video camera, and ports for earphones and a microphone. For a full list of the specifications, click here.
About the company, the laptop, and their vision
This clip takes a look inside One Laptop Per Child at One Cambridge Center in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Links
- one laptop per child website: http://www.laptop.org/
- The OLPC Wiki: http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Home
December 4th, 2007 at 7:39 pm
The Give One Get One program has been extended through December 31, 2007.
March 7th, 2008 at 1:58 am
I’ve had a disappointing result to my attempt to buy an OLPC laptop. The fulfillment company attempted to ship my laptop to me, but didn’t address the package properly. FedEx returned the package to the fulfillment company.
When I contacted OLPC about this, I first had to convince them that my package had shipped. Their records showed that it had not shipped. But they were convinced by the FedEx tracking record I showed them.
After being forwarded to a manage of their customer support I was told that they had no idea when they might be able to get me my laptop. They thought it might take months to have the laptop returned to them at which point they would attempt to deliver it again, but they actually could not even say for sure that it would happen within months.
Having read various comments from other users whose laptops weren’t delivered, I decided to ask for a refund. The refund has not yet posted, so I’ll need to call them back yet another time.
The following article discusses OLPC’s shipping problems:
http://wiki.laptop.org/go/How_laptop_delivery_breaks