One Laptop Per Child - prototype video - O'Reilly Digital Media Blog

If you are unfamiliar with this initiative, you really should take a look at it on their website. It's funny that it has taken this long for it to happen and all the naysayers who said the project was doomed to failure and impossible to execute, are now jumping on the bandwagon to ensure their name is mentioned as a forward thinking company of the world looking to help people; truly pathetic really. In any case, this initiative will bring what you and I take for granted and consider a given to areas of the world where clean running hot and cold water is not even guaranteed. So why does a computer matter to people in these dire predicaments you ask?

Simple. Knowledge is power. These people are powerless because they lack the knowledge to do anything about it (or are oppressed by governments that try to keep that knowledge from them). Lots of people get the chance to go abroad and then return home to try to make a difference. What if we brought that ability to gain knowledge to them locally? Could the process of progress be accelerated for these people? Time will tell but at least someone is trying.

Oh, and if you wonder why neither Micro$oft or Apple have their OS running on these units, the answer is a simple one. The OLPC group did not want to be beholden to any one company. They wanted the OS to be open source so that developers around the world could constantly tweak and modify and expand its capabilities at will. Micro$oft would never do it and Apple would never do it to the extent that s required. As much as I think Apple could have modified OS X to meet the needs in a quicker fashion, I absolutely understand and agree with the group's refusal to use them.

Anyhow, take a read at their site and you should also check out http://www.onelaptop.org which takes you to a Wiki site I believe. It has a lot of information there too.

Enjoy.

One Laptop Per Child - prototype video - O'Reilly Digital Media Blog