The OLPC and Inquiries while Away

[vrooje]

I just found out about the One Laptop Per Child project while viewing a "best-of" video for the recent Consumer Electronics Show.

It's a very neat idea, a $100 laptop with no moving parts that is very basic in some ways, in others very advanced -- meant to be purchased in large quantities by governments (especially governments of developing countries) and distributed to school children.

They may make them available for retail at some point, though it's not clear just when that might be. The rumor is that it will cost us more than $100, because retail buyers will actually be purchasing two laptops -- one for themselves, and the other to send to a child somewhere.

I want one! Certainly not to replace my main computer, but it would be so much easier to travel with, and all I do on vacation or at conferences is read e-mail and browse the web (and manage inquiries, of course!) anyway.

No, this doesn't really have anything to do with anything; I just think it's really cool and this is one technology of which I'd gladly be an early adopter.

[Sue Dyer]

It would be good if they were wind up like the torches and radios! Laptop batteries seem to run down so quickly. Or solar power....

[vrooje]

Apparently they will make a wind-up lever available! I'd think they'd have to, since not all developing countries will have an abundance of available outlets.

And since there are no moving parts, the whole thing is supposedly much, much more power-efficient than usual.

I'm enamored, as if that weren't obvious.

[paolo]

In developing countries children will be able to connect to other nearby computers wirelessly, until they get to one chap sitting in a Starbucks with an internet connection. Then they will all be on that one connection. This is the explanation I heard on the radio the other day. But what will all these children be doing on the internet? Isn't there something more healthy/beneficial they could be doing with their time?