The One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) initiative started by Dr. Negroponte from MIT is living up to it's early hopes of being the catalyst for change. While the  New units are now called XO and cost about $175 (still a terrific feat) to produce, they will be shipped to numerous countries over the coming months.

Aside from the great impact the broad, free distribution of wireless laptops to underserved youngsters around the world will have on their education, information skills, world view and family literacy skills there have already been dramatic results from this project across the manufacturing industry!

This electricity miser of a laptop uses tiny amounts of power (.8 watts ) compared to our usual units; can create local area communication networks aka in OLPC lingo a "wireless mesh;"  sports a powerful screen that is visible indoors and outside; and numerous powerful programs for learning and productivity on the Linux OS called Sugar.

We have seen computer producers creating competitive unites - hurrah! Let's drive the price down on laptops that people of all economic means can have access to. We expect that the current great interest and investment drive in finding green solutions will stir great interest in the XO aka OLPC project. Furthermore this project has done a great deal to push the merits of open source software to the forefront of awareness and validation for the general public. All great developments that give cause for me to say this OLPC project is already chasing the world for the better. Let's hope it reaches the young people of the world and their  families as soon as possible.

At Podcast for Teachers (www.podcastforteachers.org) we have been charting the development of this project for over a year. It is exciting to see that ingenuity and goodwill can drive some changes in industry that will have benefits for all.
 
Check out these links for more info

- OLPC website www.laptop.org/
- OLPC Wiki wiki.laptop.org/go/Home
- Episode 98 of Podcast for Teachers
- Episode 70 of Podcast for Teachers
- OLPC XO Article  Eweek.com article 8/13/07



Posted by
Kathy King
www.transformationeducation.com
Innovative Education with Vision