I don’t know how I missed this story yesterday, but my charming wife told me about it last night: the OLPC (“One Laptop Per Child”) initiative is having a hard time getting governments of developing nations to commit to buying the low-cost laptops they have developed, so beginning November 12 they are launching a sort of “buy one, get one” campaign. If you donate $399 to OLPC, they will give you one of the laptops AND provide one to a child in a developing nation.
The ruggedized, solar-powered, Wi-Fi enabled, child-friendly computers were specifically designed to be used by children in places where infrastructure is limited. Even though the original goal of creating a “$100 laptop” turned out to be beyond their grasp initially, at just under $200 the laptops are an astonishing accomplishment for the OLPC group. Their hope is that by enticing American consumers to purchase them as part of a donation program, they can jump-start their efforts to sell them to the recalcitrant bureaucrats around the world.
Frankly, I’m going to think about trying to get in on this program very seriously. We’d really like to replace Charlotte’s computer for Christmas, and this would be a good way to do it. If you’re not interested in buying two of the laptops yourself, you can, of course, just make a donation
