1st 10 OLPC units shipped
p2pnet.net News:- XO-1, first One Laptop Per Child units, are on their way at $150, each boasting Wi-Fi, a speaker and microphone, a webcam, a screen that can viewed in the sun, 128MB of memory, and 512MB of storage. And they’re running on Linux.
But there is something missining – the famous hand crank designed to make the units self-powering.
The first 10 hand-built models were produced at a cost of $150 each, with the next run in 2007 to produce another 900, with millions more to come, says ITWire, going on:
"With these massive volumes to come, the US $100 per laptop cost is predicted to then be reached, with a 2008 timeframe the stated goal. These 10 models are on their way to children who will be pilot testers using the final product.
"They were also tested at the US Department earlier this week, although exactly why their stamp of approval was needed in unclear. Nevertheless they were tested and passed with flying colours."
Who could possibly object to them? – wonders the International Herald Tribune.
Indian education secretary Sudeep Banerjee, for one. He says the OLCP project may, "actually be detrimental to the growth of the creative and analytical abilities of the child. And, "The last thing you want to do for a shared use computer is have it be something without a disk … and with a tiny little screen," says Microsoft philanthropist Bill Gates, with Intel chief Craig Barrett chiming in dismissively with, "I think a more realistic title should be ‘the $100 gadget".
Then you have environmentalists who say, "developing countries could be left with toxic mountains of defunct computers," says the story. And meanwhile, "the development camp has questioned whether it is worth spending $100 on a laptop, when so many schools don’t even have enough books."
If successful, the XO-1 could not only transform millions of children’s lives, it would also pose, "a formidable challenge to the tech industry, by questioning its price structure and introducing millions of young people to the free software of Linux’s Open Source operating system," says the Tribune.
There’s also another potential sour note. The OLPC laptops will come wired for sound. And that means the corporate music, movie and software cartels will be designing hard core ‘educational’ propaganda programs aimed at making sure ‘teaching’ under-privileged children intellectual property law will be among the first things the laptops will be used for; and, cartel ‘trade’ organizations such as the IFPI and BSA will be talking to governments and law enforcement agencies with a view to using them as corporate copyright cops.
Meanwhile, the next 900 units won’t go to kids in Third World countries, says ITWire. Instead, they’ll be for developers who’ll create software to run on the laptops, "including an ‘instant messenger’ chat program, similar to the ones we use today, so the kids connected via Wi-Fi can easily exchange messages with each other."
Other programs will no doubt include word processing, drawing, calculators, and so on, and a web browser.
Also See:
ITWire – Third world children to eventually get one laptop each, November 20, 2006
International Herald Tribune – One Laptop per Child: Computer designed for those who can least afford them, November 19, 2006
chiming in dismissively – Orders received for $100 laptop, August 2, 2006
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