No Plans to Commercialize the XO Computer
As much as I understand the reasoning behind this move, I hope there is a reconsideration given to those parts of the US that are extremely poor so those kids will also be given the opportunity to have access to knowledge and modern forms of education.
One Laptop per Child (OLPC), a non-profit organization with the goal of providing children in developing nations with laptop computers, today announced that contrary to previously published reports OLPC has no plans to make the XO laptops available for sale to the general public. OLPC’s focus is getting XO laptops into the hands of children in developing nations. Currently, official OLPC launch countries include Libya, Argentina, Brazil, Nigeria, Rwanda and Uruguay.
Following is a statement from OLPC founder Nicholas Negroponte:
Contrary to recent reports, One Laptop per Child is not planning a consumer version of its current XO laptop, designed for the poorest and most remote children in the world. XO will be made available to governments in very large quantities to be given to all children free, as part of the education system. Many commercial ventures have been considered and proposed that may surface in 2008 or beyond, one of which is ‘buy 2 and get 1.’ In addition, OLPC is launching OLPC Foundation later this month, specifically to accommodate the huge goodwill and charity that has surfaced around the idea of a $100 laptop.
About One Laptop per Child
One Laptop per Child (OLPC) is a non-profit organization created by Nicholas Negroponte and others formerly at the MIT Media Lab to design, manufacture and distribute laptop computers that are sufficiently inexpensive to provide every child in the world access to acknowledge and modern forms of education. The laptops will be sold to governments and issued to children by schools on a basis of one laptop per child. These machines will be rugged, open source, and so energy efficient that they can be powered by a child manually. Mesh networking will give many machines Internet access from one connection. The pricing goal will start near $100 and then steadily decrease.
Written by Jack Cook · Filed Under Laptops
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