The Children's Machine
Encyclopedia
One Laptop per Child (OLPC) is a project supported by the Miami-based One Laptop per Child Association (OLPCA) and the Cambridge
-based OLPC Foundation (OLPCF), two U.S. non-profit organization
s set up to oversee the creation of affordable educational devices for use in the developing world
. The project was originally funded by member organizations such as AMD, Chimei
, eBay
, Google
, Marvell
, News Corporation
, Nortel, Red Hat
, and Quanta.
In the first years of the project, the Association managed development and logistics, and the Foundation managed fundraising such as the Give One Get One campaign. In 2010 the Association set up a new office in Miami under Rodrigo Halaby, and currently oversees deployment and support for the XO-1.5 laptop
and its successors, and country partnerships. The foundation, led by Chairman Nicholas Negroponte
, currently oversees development of future software and hardware, including the OLPC XO-3
tablet.
in Davos, Switzerland, the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) announced it would back the laptop. UNDP released a statement saying they would work with OLPC to deliver "technology and resources to targeted schools in the least developed countries".
The project originally aimed for a price of 100 US dollars. In May 2006, Negroponte told the Red Hat's annual user summit: "It is a floating price. We are a nonprofit organization. We have a target of $100 by 2008, but probably it will be $135, maybe $140." A BBC news article in April 2010 indicated the price still remains above $200.
Intel was a member of the association for a brief period in 2007. It resigned its membership on 3 January 2008, citing disagreements with requests from OLPC's founder, Nicholas Negroponte, for Intel to stop dumping
their Classmate PC
s.
Ivan Krstić
(former OLPC Director of Security Architecture) resigned in late February 2008 because, he said, learning was not what the OLPC was about even for Negroponte (see quote below). On April 22, 2008, Walter Bender
, who was the former President of Software and Content for the OLPC project, stepped down from his post and left OLPC to found Sugar Labs
. Bender reportedly had a disagreement with Negroponte about the future of the OLPC and their future partnerships. Negroponte also showed some doubt about the exclusive use of open source software for the project and made suggestions supporting a move towards adding Windows XP
which Microsoft
was in the process of porting over to the XO hardware. Microsoft's Windows XP, however, is not seen by some as a sustainable operating system
. Microsoft announced on May 16, 2008, that they have let them have Windows XP for $3 per computer. It would be offered as an option on XO-1 laptops and possibly be able to dual boot
alongside Linux.
Charles Kane
became the new President and Chief Operating Officer
of the OLPC Association on May 2, 2008. In late 2008, the NYC Department of Education began a project to purchase large numbers of XO computers for use by New York schoolchildren.
Advertisements for OLPC began streaming on the video streaming
website Hulu
and others in 2008. One such ad has John Lennon
advertising for OLPC, with an unknown voice actor redubbing over Lennon's voice.
The 2008 economic downturn and increased netbook
competition reduced OLPC's annual budget from $12 million to $5 million and a major restructuring resulted effective January 7, 2009. Development of the Sugar operating environment
was moved entirely into the community, the Latin America support organization was spun out and staff reductions, including Jim Gettys
, affected approximately 50% of the paid employees. The remaining 32 staff members also saw salary reductions.
The XO-1, previously known as the "$100 Laptop" or "Children's Machine", is an inexpensive laptop computer designed to be distributed to children in developing countries around the world, to provide them with access to knowledge, and opportunities to "explore, experiment and express themselves" (constructionist learning). The laptop is manufactured by the Taiwan
ese computer company Quanta Computer.
The rugged
, low-power
computers use flash memory
instead of a hard drive, run a Fedora
-based operating system and use the Sugar user interface
. Mobile ad-hoc networking based on the 802.11s
wireless mesh network
protocol allows students to collaborate on activities and to share Internet access from one connection. The wireless networking has much greater range than typical consumer laptops. The XO-1 has also been designed to be lower cost and much longer-lived than typical laptops.
The laptops include an anti-theft system which can, optionally, require each laptop to periodically make contact with a server to renew its cryptographic lease token. If the cryptographic lease expires before the server is contacted, the laptop will be locked until a new token is provided. The contact may be to a country-specific server over a network or to a local, school-level server that has been manually loaded with cryptographic "lease" tokens that enable a laptop to run for days or even months between contacts. Cryptographic lease tokens can be supplied on a USB flash drive
for non-networked schools. The mass production laptops are also tivoized
, disallowing installation of additional software or replacement of the operating system. Users interested in development need to obtain the unlocking key separately (most developer laptops for Western users already come unlocked). It is claimed that locking prevents unintentional bricking
and is part of the anti-theft system.
Microsoft developed a modified version of Windows XP and announced in May 2008 that Windows XP will be available for an additional cost of 10 dollars per laptop.
In 2009, OLPC announced an updated XO (dubbed XO-1.5) that takes advantage of the latest component technologies. The XO-1.5 includes a new VIA
C7-M
processor and a new chipset providing a 3D graphics engine and an HD video decoder. It has 1GB of RAM
and built-in storage of 4 GB, with an option for 8 GB. The XO-1.5 uses the same display, and a network wireless interface with half the power dissipation.
Early prototype versions of the hardware were available in June 2009, and they are available for software development and testing available for free through a developer's program.
An XO-1.75 model is being developed that will use an ARM processor, targeting a price below $150 and date in 2011.
An XO-3 concept resembles a tablet computer
and is planned to have the inner workings of the XO 1.75. Price goal is below $100 and date is 2012. The XO-2 two sheet design concept was canceled in favor of the one sheet XO-3.
As of May 2010, OLPC is working with Marvell
on other unspecified future tablet designs. In October 2010, both OLPC and Marvell signed an agreement granting OLPC $5.6 million to fund development of its XO-3 next generation tablet computer. The tablet should use a ARM chip from Marvell.
to the languages of the participating countries.
Some 83,500 people participated in the program. Delivery of all of the G1G1 laptops was completed by April 19, 2008. Delays were blamed on order fulfillment and shipment issues both within OLPC and with the outside contractors hired to manage those aspects of the G1G1 program.
and Amazon.co.uk. This partnership was chosen specifically to solve the distribution issues of the G1G1 2007 program. The price to consumers was the same as in 2007, at US$399.
The program aimed to be available worldwide. Laptops could be delivered in the USA, in Canada and in more than 30 European countries, as well as in some Central and South American countries (Colombia, Haiti, Peru, Uruguay, Paraguay), African countries (Ethiopia, Ghana, Nigeria, Madagascar, Rwanda) and Asian countries (Afghanistan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Nepal). Despite this, the program sold only about 12,500 laptops and generated a mere $2.5 million – a 93 percent decline from the year before.
and Upstatement.
In October 2007, Uruguay placed an order for 100,000 laptops, making Uruguay the first country to purchase a full order of laptops. The first real, non-pilot deployment of the OLPC technology happened in Uruguay in December 2007. Since then, 200,000 more laptops have been ordered to cover all public school children between 6 and 12 years old.
President Tabaré Vázquez
of Uruguay presented the final laptop at a school in Montevideo
on 13 October 2009. Over the last two years 362,000 pupils and 18,000 teachers have been involved, and has cost the state $260 (£159) per child, including maintenance costs, equipment repairs, training for the teachers and internet connection. The annual cost of maintaining the programme, including an information portal for pupils and teachers, will be US$21 (£13) per child.
The country reportedly became the first in the world where every primary school child received a free laptop on 13 October 2009 as part of the Plan Ceibal
(Education Connect). However, the South Pacific island nation of Niue
also claimed this in August 2008.
Laptops have been delivered to the following countries, either following an order or as part of the Give One Get One program:
The OLPC project has received criticism both specific to its mission and criticism that is typical of many such systems, such as support, ease-of-use, security, content-filtering and privacy issues. Officials in some countries have criticized the project for its appropriateness in terms of price, cultural emphasis and priority as compared to other basic needs of people in third-world settings.
in Tunisia from November 16–18, 2005, several African officials, most notably Marthe Dansokho of Cameroon and Mohammed Diop of Mali, voiced suspicions towards the motives of the OLPC project and claimed that the project was using an overly U.S. mindset that presented solutions not applicable to specifically African problems. Dansokho said the project demonstrated misplaced priorities, stating that clean water and schools were more important for African women, who, he stated, would not have time to use the computers to research new crops to grow. Diop specifically attacked the project as an attempt to exploit the governments of poor nations by making them pay for hundreds of millions of machines. Others have similarly criticized laptop deployments in very low income countries, regarding them as cost-ineffective when compared to far simpler measures such as deworming
and other expenses on basic child health.
Lee Felsenstein
, a computer engineer who played a central role in the development of the personal computer, criticized the centralized, top-down design and distribution of the OLPC, calling it "imperialistic”.
John Wood, founder of Room to Read
, emphasizes affordability and scalability over high-tech solutions. While in favor of the One Laptop per Child initiative for providing education to children in the developing world at a cheaper rate, he has pointed out that a $2,000 library can serve 400 children, costing just $5 a child to bring access to a wide range of books in the local languages (such as Khmer
or Nepali
) and English; also, a $10,000 school can serve 400–500 children ($20–$25 a child). According to Wood, these are more appropriate solutions for education in the dense forests of Vietnam or rural Cambodia.
The Scandinavian aid organization FAIR proposed setting up computer labs with recycled second-hand computers as a more economical alternative. Computer Aid International
doubted the OLPC sales strategy would succeed, citing the "untested" nature of its technology. CAI refurbishes computers and printers and sends them to developing countries.
The OLPC project has also been criticized for allegedly adopting a "one-shot" deployment approach with little or no technical support or teacher training, and for neglecting pilot programs and formal assessment of outcomes in favor of quick deployment. Some authors attribute this unconventional approach to the OLPC promoters' alleged focus on constructivist education and 'digital utopianism'.
OS developed by Microsoft
alongside the regular, free and open Linux
-based "Sugar
" OS. James Utzschneider, from Microsoft, said that initially only one operating system could be chosen. OLPC, however, said that future OLPC work would enable XO-1 laptops to dual boot either the free and open Linux/Sugar OS or the proprietary Microsoft Windows XP. Negroponte further said that "OLPC will sell Linux-only and dual-boot, and will not sell Windows-only[XO-1 laptops] ". OLPC released the first test firmware enabling XO-1 dual-boot on July 3, 2008.
This option did not prove popular. As of 2011, a few pilots had received a few thousand total dual-boot machines, and the new ARM-based machines do not support Windows XP. No significant deployment purchased Windows licenses.
Negroponte and Charles Kane
made statements explaining OLPC's decision to enable XO-1 laptops to dual-boot either open source Fedora or proprietary Microsoft Windows XP:
A former intern in Peru criticised that because "laptops are getting opened and turned on, but then kids and teachers are getting frustrated by hardware and software bugs, don't understand what to do, and promptly box them up to put back in the corner."
On the software side, the Bitfrost security system has been known to deactivate improperly, rendering the laptop unusable until it is unlocked by support technicians with the proper keys. (This is a time-consuming process, and the problem often affects large numbers of laptops at the same time). The Sugar interface has been difficult for teachers to learn, and the mesh networking feature in the OLPC XO-1 was buggy and went mostly unused in the field.
The OLPC XO-1 hardware lacks connectivity to external monitors or projectors, and teachers are not provided with software for remote assessment. As a result, students are unable to present their work to the whole class, and teachers must also assess students' work from the individual laptops. Teachers often find it difficult to use the keyboard and screen, which were designed with student use in mind.
hardware, OLPC received criticism because of concerns over the environmental and health impacts of hazardous materials found in most computers. The OLPC asserted that it aimed to use as many environmentally friendly
materials as it could; that the laptop and all OLPC-supplied accessories would be fully compliant with the EU's Restriction of Hazardous Substances Directive
(RoHS); and that the laptop would use an order of magnitude less power than the typical consumer notebooks available as of 2007 thus minimizing the environmental burden of power generation.
The XO-1 delivered (starting in 2007) uses environmental friendly materials, complies with the EU's RoHS and uses between 0.25 and 6.5 watts in operation.
According to the Green Electronics Council's Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool
, whose sole purpose is assessing and measuring the impact laptops have on the environment, the XO is not only non-toxic and fully recyclable, but it lasts longer, costs less, and is more energy efficient. The XO-1 is the first laptop to have been awarded an EPEAT Gold level rating.
20 million, claiming that the computer's keyboard design was stolen from a Lancor patented device. OLPC responded by claiming that they had not sold any multi-lingual keyboards in the design claimed by Lancor, and that Lancor had misrepresented and concealed material facts before the court. In January 2008, the Nigerian Federal Court rejected OLPC motion to dismiss LANCOR's lawsuit and extended its injunction against OLPC distributing its XO Laptops in Nigeria. OLPC appealed the Court's decision, the Appeal is still pending in the Nigerian Federal Court of Appeals. In March 2008 OLPC filed a lawsuit in Massachusetts to stop LANCOR from suing it in the United States. In October 2008, MIT News magazine erroneously reported that the Middlesex Superior Court granted OLPC’s motions to dismiss all of LANCOR’s claims against OLPC, Nicholas Negroponte, and Quanta. On October 22, 2010 OLPC voluntarily moved the Massachusetts Court to dismiss its own lawsuit against LANCOR.
Other discussions question whether OLPC laptops should be designed to promote anonymity or to facilitate government tracking of stolen laptops. A recent New Scientist
article critiqued Bitfrost's P_THEFT security option, which allows each laptop to be configured to transmit an individualized, non-repudiable digital signature to a central server at most once each day to remain functioning.
In 2007, XO laptops in Nigeria were reported to contain pornographic material belonging to children participating in the OLPC Program. In response, OLPC made plans for adding content filters. The OLPC foundation maintained the position that such issues were societal, not laptop related. Similar responses have led some to suggest the OLPC takes an indifferent stance concerning this issue. According to Wayan Vota, Senior Director at Inveneo
and founder of the independent OLPC News, "The use of computers to look at porn is [a] social problem, not a hardware one... Children have to be taught what's good and what's bad, based on the cultural context."
, in June 2006, rejected the initiative, saying “it would be impossible to justify an expenditure of this scale on a debatable scheme when public funds continue to be in inadequate supply for well-established needs listed in different policy documents”. Later they stated plans to make laptops at $10 each for schoolchildren. Two designs submitted to the Ministry from a final year engineering student of Vellore Institute of Technology
and a researcher from the Indian Institute of Science
, Bangalore in May 2007 reportedly describe a laptop that could be produced for "$47 per laptop" for even small volumes. The Ministry announced in July 2008 that the cost of their proposed "$10 laptop" would in fact be $100 by the time the laptop became available. In 2010, a related $35 Sakshat Tablet
was unveiled in India, released the next year as the "Aakash".
OLPC later expressed support for the initiative.
In 2009 a number of states announced plans to order OLPCs. However as of 2011 none has begun deployment.
Cambridge, Massachusetts
Cambridge is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, in the Greater Boston area. It was named in honor of the University of Cambridge in England, an important center of the Puritan theology embraced by the town's founders. Cambridge is home to two of the world's most prominent...
-based OLPC Foundation (OLPCF), two U.S. non-profit organization
Non-profit organization
Nonprofit organization is neither a legal nor technical definition but generally refers to an organization that uses surplus revenues to achieve its goals, rather than distributing them as profit or dividends...
s set up to oversee the creation of affordable educational devices for use in the developing world
Developing country
A developing country, also known as a less-developed country, is a nation with a low level of material well-being. Since no single definition of the term developing country is recognized internationally, the levels of development may vary widely within so-called developing countries...
. The project was originally funded by member organizations such as AMD, Chimei
Chimei
Chimei refers, as an umbrella term, to one of the two major agrarian rebellion movements against Wang Mang's Xin Dynasty, initially active in the modern Shandong and northern Jiangsu regions, that eventually led to Wang Mang's downfall by draining his resources, allowing the leader of the other...
, eBay
EBay
eBay Inc. is an American internet consumer-to-consumer corporation that manages eBay.com, an online auction and shopping website in which people and businesses buy and sell a broad variety of goods and services worldwide...
Google
Google Inc. is an American multinational public corporation invested in Internet search, cloud computing, and advertising technologies. Google hosts and develops a number of Internet-based services and products, and generates profit primarily from advertising through its AdWords program...
, Marvell
Marvell Technology Group
Marvell is an American producer of storage, communications and consumer semiconductor products.Founded in 1995, Marvell Technology Group Ltd. has operations worldwide and approximately 5,700 employees. Marvell’s U.S. operating subsidiary is based in Santa Clara, California and Marvell has...
, News Corporation
News Corporation
News Corporation or News Corp. is an American multinational media conglomerate. It is the world's second-largest media conglomerate as of 2011 in terms of revenue, and the world's third largest in entertainment as of 2009, although the BBC remains the world's largest broadcaster...
, Nortel, Red Hat
Red Hat
Red Hat, Inc. is an S&P 500 company in the free and open source software sector, and a major Linux distribution vendor. Founded in 1993, Red Hat has its corporate headquarters in Raleigh, North Carolina with satellite offices worldwide....
, and Quanta.
In the first years of the project, the Association managed development and logistics, and the Foundation managed fundraising such as the Give One Get One campaign. In 2010 the Association set up a new office in Miami under Rodrigo Halaby, and currently oversees deployment and support for the XO-1.5 laptop
OLPC XO-1
The XO-1, previously known as the $100 Laptop, Children's Machine, and 2B1, is an inexpensive subnotebook computer intended to be distributed to children in developing countries around the world, to provide them with access to knowledge, and opportunities to "explore, experiment and express...
and its successors, and country partnerships. The foundation, led by Chairman Nicholas Negroponte
Nicholas Negroponte
Nicholas Negroponte is an American architect best known as the founder and Chairman Emeritus of Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Media Lab, and also known as the founder of the One Laptop per Child Association ....
, currently oversees development of future software and hardware, including the OLPC XO-3
OLPC XO-3
XO-3 is the upcoming planned tablet/laptop/e-book reader that is intended to be developed under One Laptop per Child initiative. The shaping is that of a tablet computer, replacing the canceled two sheet design concept of the XO-2. The inner workings are those of the XO 1.75 that will use an ARM...
tablet.
History
At the 2006 World Economic ForumWorld Economic Forum
The World Economic Forum is a Swiss non-profit foundation, based in Cologny, Geneva, best known for its annual meeting in Davos, a mountain resort in Graubünden, in the eastern Alps region of Switzerland....
in Davos, Switzerland, the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) announced it would back the laptop. UNDP released a statement saying they would work with OLPC to deliver "technology and resources to targeted schools in the least developed countries".
The project originally aimed for a price of 100 US dollars. In May 2006, Negroponte told the Red Hat's annual user summit: "It is a floating price. We are a nonprofit organization. We have a target of $100 by 2008, but probably it will be $135, maybe $140." A BBC news article in April 2010 indicated the price still remains above $200.
Mass production
Dumping (pricing policy)
In economics, "dumping" is any kind of predatory pricing, especially in the context of international trade. It occurs when manufacturers export a product to another country at a price either below the price charged in its home market, or in quantities that cannot be explained through normal market...
their Classmate PC
Classmate PC
The Classmate PC, formerly known as Eduwise, is Intel's entry into the market for low-cost personal computers for children in the developing world. It is in some respects similar to the One Laptop Per Child trade association's Children's Machine , which has a similar target market...
s.
Ivan Krstić
Ivan Krstić
Ivan Krstić is a Croatian computer security expert, currently working on core security at Apple Inc. Krstić was previously the director of security architecture at One Laptop per Child. He is a co-author of The Official Ubuntu Book ....
(former OLPC Director of Security Architecture) resigned in late February 2008 because, he said, learning was not what the OLPC was about even for Negroponte (see quote below). On April 22, 2008, Walter Bender
Walter Bender
Walter Bender is technologist and researcher who has made important contributions in the field of electronic publishing, media, and technology for learning. Bender is on leave as a Senior Research Scientist at the MIT Media Lab which he led as executive director between 2000 and 2006...
, who was the former President of Software and Content for the OLPC project, stepped down from his post and left OLPC to found Sugar Labs
Sugar Labs
Sugar Labs is a software-development and learning community.Sugar Labs is a non-profit foundation whose mission is to produce, distribute, and support the use of the Sugar learning platform. Sugar Labs supports the community of educators and software developers who want to extend the platform and...
. Bender reportedly had a disagreement with Negroponte about the future of the OLPC and their future partnerships. Negroponte also showed some doubt about the exclusive use of open source software for the project and made suggestions supporting a move towards adding Windows XP
Windows XP
Windows XP is an operating system produced by Microsoft for use on personal computers, including home and business desktops, laptops and media centers. First released to computer manufacturers on August 24, 2001, it is the second most popular version of Windows, based on installed user base...
which Microsoft
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
was in the process of porting over to the XO hardware. Microsoft's Windows XP, however, is not seen by some as a sustainable operating system
Operating system
An operating system is a set of programs that manage computer hardware resources and provide common services for application software. The operating system is the most important type of system software in a computer system...
. Microsoft announced on May 16, 2008, that they have let them have Windows XP for $3 per computer. It would be offered as an option on XO-1 laptops and possibly be able to dual boot
Dual boot
Multi-boot or Multi-booting is the act of installing multiple operating systems on a computer, and being able to choose which one to boot when starting the computer. The term dual-booting refers to the common configuration of exactly two operating systems...
alongside Linux.
Charles Kane (business executive)
Charles Kane is a business executive who currently serves as President and Chief Operations officer of the One Laptop Per Child Association. Kane was promoted to President of OLPC on May 2, 2008. Previously, Kane was the Chief Financial Officer of RSA Security -- a security firm acquired by EMC...
became the new President and Chief Operating Officer
Chief operating officer
A Chief Operating Officer or Director of Operations can be one of the highest-ranking executives in an organization and comprises part of the "C-Suite"...
of the OLPC Association on May 2, 2008. In late 2008, the NYC Department of Education began a project to purchase large numbers of XO computers for use by New York schoolchildren.
Advertisements for OLPC began streaming on the video streaming
Streaming media
Streaming media is multimedia that is constantly received by and presented to an end-user while being delivered by a streaming provider.The term "presented" is used in this article in a general sense that includes audio or video playback. The name refers to the delivery method of the medium rather...
website Hulu
Hulu
Hulu is a website and over-the-top subscription service offering ad-supported on-demand streaming video of TV shows, movies, webisodes and other new media, trailers, clips, and behind-the-scenes footage from NBC, Fox, ABC, and Obstacle on October 20th 2011 Nickelodeon and CBS and many other...
and others in 2008. One such ad has John Lennon
John Lennon
John Winston Lennon, MBE was an English musician and singer-songwriter who rose to worldwide fame as one of the founding members of The Beatles, one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music...
advertising for OLPC, with an unknown voice actor redubbing over Lennon's voice.
The 2008 economic downturn and increased netbook
Netbook
Netbooks are a category of small, lightweight, legacy-free, and inexpensive laptop computers.At their inception in late 2007 as smaller notebooks optimized for low weight and low cost — netbooks omitted certain features , featured smaller screens and keyboards, and offered reduced computing...
competition reduced OLPC's annual budget from $12 million to $5 million and a major restructuring resulted effective January 7, 2009. Development of the Sugar operating environment
Sugar (GUI)
Sugar is an open source desktop environment designed with the goal of being used by children for learning.Developed as part of the One Laptop per Child project, it is the default interface on OLPC XO-1 family of laptop computers....
was moved entirely into the community, the Latin America support organization was spun out and staff reductions, including Jim Gettys
Jim Gettys
Jim Gettys is an American computer programmer at Alcatel-Lucent Bell Labs, USA. Until January 2009, he was the Vice President of Software at the One Laptop per Child project, working on the software for the OLPC XO-1. He is one of the original developers of the X Window System at MIT and worked on...
, affected approximately 50% of the paid employees. The remaining 32 staff members also saw salary reductions.
Technology
Taiwan
Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...
ese computer company Quanta Computer.
The rugged
Rugged computer
A rugged computer is a computer specifically designed to reliably operate in harsh usage environments and conditions, such as strong vibrations, extreme temperatures and wet or dusty conditions...
, low-power
Low-power electronics
Low-power electronics means that the consumption of electric power is deliberately low, e.g. notebook processors.- Computing elements :The density and speed of integrated-circuit computing elements have increased exponentially for several decades, following a trend described by Moore's Law...
computers use flash memory
Flash memory
Flash memory is a non-volatile computer storage chip that can be electrically erased and reprogrammed. It was developed from EEPROM and must be erased in fairly large blocks before these can be rewritten with new data...
instead of a hard drive, run a Fedora
Fedora (operating system)
Fedora is a RPM-based, general purpose collection of software, including an operating system based on the Linux kernel, developed by the community-supported Fedora Project and sponsored by Red Hat...
-based operating system and use the Sugar user interface
Sugar (GUI)
Sugar is an open source desktop environment designed with the goal of being used by children for learning.Developed as part of the One Laptop per Child project, it is the default interface on OLPC XO-1 family of laptop computers....
. Mobile ad-hoc networking based on the 802.11s
IEEE 802.11s
IEEE 802.11s is an IEEE 802.11 amendment for mesh networking, defining how wireless devices can interconnect to create a WLAN mesh network, which may be used for static topologies and ad-hoc networks....
wireless mesh network
Wireless mesh network
A wireless mesh network is a communications network made up of radio nodes organized in a mesh topology. Wireless mesh networks often consist of mesh clients, mesh routers and gateways.The mesh clients are often laptops, cell phones and other wireless devices while the mesh routers forward traffic...
protocol allows students to collaborate on activities and to share Internet access from one connection. The wireless networking has much greater range than typical consumer laptops. The XO-1 has also been designed to be lower cost and much longer-lived than typical laptops.
USB flash drive
A flash drive is a data storage device that consists of flash memory with an integrated Universal Serial Bus interface. flash drives are typically removable and rewritable, and physically much smaller than a floppy disk. Most weigh less than 30 g...
for non-networked schools. The mass production laptops are also tivoized
Tivoization
Tivoization is a coined term to describe the creation of a system that incorporates software under the terms of a copyleft software license , but uses hardware restrictions to prevent users from running modified versions of the software on that hardware...
, disallowing installation of additional software or replacement of the operating system. Users interested in development need to obtain the unlocking key separately (most developer laptops for Western users already come unlocked). It is claimed that locking prevents unintentional bricking
Brick (electronics)
When used in reference to consumer electronics, "brick" describes a device that cannot function in any capacity . This usage derives from the fact that some electronic devices are vaguely brick-shaped, and so those which do not function are useful only as actual bricks. The term can also be used...
and is part of the anti-theft system.
Microsoft developed a modified version of Windows XP and announced in May 2008 that Windows XP will be available for an additional cost of 10 dollars per laptop.
In 2009, OLPC announced an updated XO (dubbed XO-1.5) that takes advantage of the latest component technologies. The XO-1.5 includes a new VIA
VIA Technologies
VIA Technologies is a Taiwanese manufacturer of integrated circuits, mainly motherboard chipsets, CPUs, and memory, and is part of the Formosa Plastics Group. It is the world's largest independent manufacturer of motherboard chipsets...
C7-M
VIA C7
The VIA C7 is an x86 central processing unit designed by Centaur Technology and sold by VIA Technologies.- Product history :The C7 delivers a number of improvements to the older VIA C3 cores but is nearly identical to the latest VIA C3 Nehemiah core. The C7 was officially launched in May 2005,...
processor and a new chipset providing a 3D graphics engine and an HD video decoder. It has 1GB of RAM
Ram
-Animals:*Ram, an uncastrated male sheep*Ram cichlid, a species of freshwater fish endemic to Colombia and Venezuela-Military:*Battering ram*Ramming, a military tactic in which one vehicle runs into another...
and built-in storage of 4 GB, with an option for 8 GB. The XO-1.5 uses the same display, and a network wireless interface with half the power dissipation.
Early prototype versions of the hardware were available in June 2009, and they are available for software development and testing available for free through a developer's program.
An XO-1.75 model is being developed that will use an ARM processor, targeting a price below $150 and date in 2011.
An XO-3 concept resembles a tablet computer
Tablet computer
A tablet computer, or simply tablet, is a complete mobile computer, larger than a mobile phone or personal digital assistant, integrated into a flat touch screen and primarily operated by touching the screen...
and is planned to have the inner workings of the XO 1.75. Price goal is below $100 and date is 2012. The XO-2 two sheet design concept was canceled in favor of the one sheet XO-3.
As of May 2010, OLPC is working with Marvell
Marvell Technology Group
Marvell is an American producer of storage, communications and consumer semiconductor products.Founded in 1995, Marvell Technology Group Ltd. has operations worldwide and approximately 5,700 employees. Marvell’s U.S. operating subsidiary is based in Santa Clara, California and Marvell has...
on other unspecified future tablet designs. In October 2010, both OLPC and Marvell signed an agreement granting OLPC $5.6 million to fund development of its XO-3 next generation tablet computer. The tablet should use a ARM chip from Marvell.
Distribution model
The laptops are sold to governments, to be distributed through the ministries of education with the goal of distributing "one laptop per child". The laptops are given to students, similar to school uniforms and ultimately remain the property of the child. The operating system and software is localizedInternationalization and localization
In computing, internationalization and localization are means of adapting computer software to different languages, regional differences and technical requirements of a target market...
to the languages of the participating countries.
Early deployments
Approximately 500 developer boards (Alpha-1) were distributed in mid-2006; 875 working prototypes (Beta 1) were delivered in late 2006; 2400 Beta-2 machines were distributed at the end of February 2007; full-scale production started November 6, 2007. Around one million units were manufactured in 2008.Give 1 Get 1 program
OLPC initially stated that no consumer version of the XO laptop was planned. The project, however, later established the laptopgiving.org website to accept direct donations and ran a "Give 1 Get 1" (G1G1) offer starting on November 12, 2007. The offer was initially scheduled to run for only two weeks, but was extended until December 31, 2007 to meet demand. With a donation of $399 (plus US$25 shipping cost) to the OLPC "Give 1 Get 1" program, donors received an XO-1 laptop of their own and OLPC sent another on their behalf to a child in a developing country. Shipments of "Get 1" laptops sent to donors were restricted to addresses within the United States, its territories, and Canada.Some 83,500 people participated in the program. Delivery of all of the G1G1 laptops was completed by April 19, 2008. Delays were blamed on order fulfillment and shipment issues both within OLPC and with the outside contractors hired to manage those aspects of the G1G1 program.
Give 1 Get 1 2008
Between November 17 and December 31, 2008, a second G1G1 program was run through Amazon.comAmazon.com
Amazon.com, Inc. is a multinational electronic commerce company headquartered in Seattle, Washington, United States. It is the world's largest online retailer. Amazon has separate websites for the following countries: United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Japan, and...
and Amazon.co.uk. This partnership was chosen specifically to solve the distribution issues of the G1G1 2007 program. The price to consumers was the same as in 2007, at US$399.
The program aimed to be available worldwide. Laptops could be delivered in the USA, in Canada and in more than 30 European countries, as well as in some Central and South American countries (Colombia, Haiti, Peru, Uruguay, Paraguay), African countries (Ethiopia, Ghana, Nigeria, Madagascar, Rwanda) and Asian countries (Afghanistan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Nepal). Despite this, the program sold only about 12,500 laptops and generated a mere $2.5 million – a 93 percent decline from the year before.
Promotional Efforts
OLPC no longer advertises direct to consumers, focusing instead on fundraising efforts. In 2011, they launched a new website designed by PentagramPentagram (design studio)
Pentagram is a design studio that was founded in 1972 by Alan Fletcher, Theo Crosby, Colin Forbes, Kenneth Grange and Mervyn Kurlansky in Needham Road, West London, UK...
and Upstatement.
Summary of laptop orders
Orders below have been noted in the press. As of 2011, OLPC claims over 2 million laptops have been shipped.| Year | Confirmed number (approximate) | Date confirmed | Purchaser |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | 100,000 | October 2007 | Uruguay |
| 15,000 | November 14, 2007 | Birmingham, Alabama Birmingham, Alabama Birmingham is the largest city in Alabama. The city is the county seat of Jefferson County. According to the 2010 United States Census, Birmingham had a population of 212,237. The Birmingham-Hoover Metropolitan Area, in estimate by the U.S... , United States |
|
| 260,000 | December 1, 2007 | Peru | |
| 50,000 | December 1, 2007 | Mexico (Mexican businessman Carlos Slim) | |
| 167,000 | January 5, 2008 | G1G1 2007 program | |
| 2008 | |||
| +200,000 | June 2008 | Uruguay | |
| +30,000 | October 2008 | Peru | |
| 10,000 | November 10, 2008 | Ghana | |
| 12,500 | January 9, 2009 | G1G1 2008 program | |
| 2009 | 5,000 | April 24, 2009 | Sierra Leone |
| 120,000 | May 14, 2009 | Rwanda | |
| +160,000 | October 13, 2009 | Uruguay (total: 362,000 children, 18000 teachers) | |
| 2010 | +260,000 | March 17, 2010 | Peru |
| +60,000 | April 13, 2010 | Argentina | |
| +320,000 | December 26, 2010 | Peru | |
| 2011 | 9,000 | May 27, 2011 | Paraguay |
| +12,000 | Nov, 2011 | Colombia | |
| Total | 1.84 million |
Participating countries
President Tabaré Vázquez
Tabaré Vázquez
Tabaré Ramón Vázquez Rosas is a former President of Uruguay. A physician by training, he is a member of the leftist Frente Amplo coalition . Vázquez was elected president on October 31, 2004, took office on March 1, 2005, and relinquished the office on March 1, 2010...
of Uruguay presented the final laptop at a school in Montevideo
Montevideo
Montevideo is the largest city, the capital, and the chief port of Uruguay. The settlement was established in 1726 by Bruno Mauricio de Zabala, as a strategic move amidst a Spanish-Portuguese dispute over the platine region, and as a counter to the Portuguese colony at Colonia del Sacramento...
on 13 October 2009. Over the last two years 362,000 pupils and 18,000 teachers have been involved, and has cost the state $260 (£159) per child, including maintenance costs, equipment repairs, training for the teachers and internet connection. The annual cost of maintaining the programme, including an information portal for pupils and teachers, will be US$21 (£13) per child.
The country reportedly became the first in the world where every primary school child received a free laptop on 13 October 2009 as part of the Plan Ceibal
Ceibal project
The Plan Ceibal is a Uruguayan initiative to implement the “1 to 1” model to introduce Information and Communication Technologies in primary public education and is beginning with the expansion into secondary schools....
(Education Connect). However, the South Pacific island nation of Niue
Niue
Niue , is an island country in the South Pacific Ocean. It is commonly known as the "Rock of Polynesia", and inhabitants of the island call it "the Rock" for short. Niue is northeast of New Zealand in a triangle between Tonga to the southwest, the Samoas to the northwest, and the Cook Islands to...
also claimed this in August 2008.
Laptops have been delivered to the following countries, either following an order or as part of the Give One Get One program:
- Africa and Middle East
- Ethiopia (5,000 laptops received from G1G1 program)
- Gaza (2,100 laptops received)
- Ghana (10,000 laptops ordered)
- Rwanda (20,000 laptops received from G1G1 program, 100,000 laptops ordered)
- Sierra Leone (5,000 laptops ordered)
- North America
- Canada (5,000 laptops ordered for First Nations communities)
- Mexico (50,000 laptops ordered by businessman Carlos Slim)
- United States of America (15,000 laptops for Birmingham, Alabama; 1,500 for Chester, Pennsylvania)
- Central and South America
- Argentina (60,000 laptops ordered)
- Colombia (20,000 laptops ordered)
- Haiti (13,000 laptops received from G1G1 program)
- Peru (870,000 laptops ordered, most recently in December 2010)
- Uruguay (380,000+ given to 1-6 students and teachers, completing the initial objective. 90,000 ordered in 2010 for high-school students).
- Asia
- Afghanistan (11,000 laptops received from G1G1 program)
- Cambodia (3,200 laptops received from G1G1 program)
- Mongolia (10,000 laptops received from G1G1 program)
- Oceania
- KiribatiKiribatiKiribati , officially the Republic of Kiribati, is an island nation located in the central tropical Pacific Ocean. The permanent population exceeds just over 100,000 , and is composed of 32 atolls and one raised coral island, dispersed over 3.5 million square kilometres, straddling the...
, NauruNauruNauru , officially the Republic of Nauru and formerly known as Pleasant Island, is an island country in Micronesia in the South Pacific. Its nearest neighbour is Banaba Island in Kiribati, to the east. Nauru is the world's smallest republic, covering just...
, New CaledoniaNew CaledoniaNew Caledonia is a special collectivity of France located in the southwest Pacific Ocean, east of Australia and about from Metropolitan France. The archipelago, part of the Melanesia subregion, includes the main island of Grande Terre, the Loyalty Islands, the Belep archipelago, the Isle of...
, NiueNiueNiue , is an island country in the South Pacific Ocean. It is commonly known as the "Rock of Polynesia", and inhabitants of the island call it "the Rock" for short. Niue is northeast of New Zealand in a triangle between Tonga to the southwest, the Samoas to the northwest, and the Cook Islands to...
, Papua New GuineaPapua New GuineaPapua New Guinea , officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is a country in Oceania, occupying the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and numerous offshore islands...
, Solomon IslandsSolomon IslandsSolomon Islands is a sovereign state in Oceania, east of Papua New Guinea, consisting of nearly one thousand islands. It covers a land mass of . The capital, Honiara, is located on the island of Guadalcanal...
, TuvaluTuvaluTuvalu , formerly known as the Ellice Islands, is a Polynesian island nation located in the Pacific Ocean, midway between Hawaii and Australia. Its nearest neighbours are Kiribati, Nauru, Samoa and Fiji. It comprises four reef islands and five true atolls...
, VanuatuVanuatuVanuatu , officially the Republic of Vanuatu , is an island nation located in the South Pacific Ocean. The archipelago, which is of volcanic origin, is some east of northern Australia, northeast of New Caledonia, west of Fiji, and southeast of the Solomon Islands, near New Guinea.Vanuatu was...
(5,000 laptops received from G1G1 program) - Australia (5,000 laptops ordered by the independent non-profit OLPC Australia)
- Kiribati
OLPC in the United States
Originally, OLPC announced the United States would not be part of the first-year effort. In 2008, Nicholas Negroponte said "OLPC America already has a director and a chairman and will likely be based in Washington, D.C.," however such an organization was not set up. As of 2010, Birmingham, Alabama is the largest deployment in the US. Some said the changing economic landscape forced OLPC to adjust their distribution strategy. Negroponte cited patriotism, "building critical mass", and providing a means for children all over the world to communicate.Criticism
Approach
At The World Summit on the Information Society held by the United NationsUnited Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
in Tunisia from November 16–18, 2005, several African officials, most notably Marthe Dansokho of Cameroon and Mohammed Diop of Mali, voiced suspicions towards the motives of the OLPC project and claimed that the project was using an overly U.S. mindset that presented solutions not applicable to specifically African problems. Dansokho said the project demonstrated misplaced priorities, stating that clean water and schools were more important for African women, who, he stated, would not have time to use the computers to research new crops to grow. Diop specifically attacked the project as an attempt to exploit the governments of poor nations by making them pay for hundreds of millions of machines. Others have similarly criticized laptop deployments in very low income countries, regarding them as cost-ineffective when compared to far simpler measures such as deworming
Deworming
Deworming is the giving of an anthelmintic drug to an animal to rid it of intestinal parasites, such as roundworm and tapeworm...
and other expenses on basic child health.
Lee Felsenstein
Lee Felsenstein
Lee Felsenstein is an American computer engineer who played a central role in the development of the personal computer...
, a computer engineer who played a central role in the development of the personal computer, criticized the centralized, top-down design and distribution of the OLPC, calling it "imperialistic”.
John Wood, founder of Room to Read
Room to Read
Room to Read is an international non-profit organization with its global headquarters in San Francisco, California. Founded on the belief that World Change Starts With Educated Children, the organization focuses on literacy and gender equality in education...
, emphasizes affordability and scalability over high-tech solutions. While in favor of the One Laptop per Child initiative for providing education to children in the developing world at a cheaper rate, he has pointed out that a $2,000 library can serve 400 children, costing just $5 a child to bring access to a wide range of books in the local languages (such as Khmer
Khmer language
Khmer , or Cambodian, is the language of the Khmer people and the official language of Cambodia. It is the second most widely spoken Austroasiatic language , with speakers in the tens of millions. Khmer has been considerably influenced by Sanskrit and Pali, especially in the royal and religious...
or Nepali
Nepali language
Nepali or Nepalese is a language in the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European language family.It is the official language and de facto lingua franca of Nepal and is also spoken in Bhutan, parts of India and parts of Myanmar...
) and English; also, a $10,000 school can serve 400–500 children ($20–$25 a child). According to Wood, these are more appropriate solutions for education in the dense forests of Vietnam or rural Cambodia.
The Scandinavian aid organization FAIR proposed setting up computer labs with recycled second-hand computers as a more economical alternative. Computer Aid International
Computer Aid International
Computer Aid International is a not-for-profit organisation active in the field of Information and Communication Technologies for Development. A registered charity, Computer Aid was founded in 1998 to bridge the digital divide by providing refurbished PCs from the UK to educational and non-profit...
doubted the OLPC sales strategy would succeed, citing the "untested" nature of its technology. CAI refurbishes computers and printers and sends them to developing countries.
The OLPC project has also been criticized for allegedly adopting a "one-shot" deployment approach with little or no technical support or teacher training, and for neglecting pilot programs and formal assessment of outcomes in favor of quick deployment. Some authors attribute this unconventional approach to the OLPC promoters' alleged focus on constructivist education and 'digital utopianism'.
Open source vs. dual-boot systems
OLPC's dedication to "Free and open source" was questioned with their May 15, 2008, announcement that large-scale purchasers would be offered the choice to add an extra cost, special version of the proprietary Windows XPWindows XP
Windows XP is an operating system produced by Microsoft for use on personal computers, including home and business desktops, laptops and media centers. First released to computer manufacturers on August 24, 2001, it is the second most popular version of Windows, based on installed user base...
OS developed by Microsoft
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
alongside the regular, free and open Linux
Linux
Linux is a Unix-like computer operating system assembled under the model of free and open source software development and distribution. The defining component of any Linux system is the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released October 5, 1991 by Linus Torvalds...
-based "Sugar
Sugar (GUI)
Sugar is an open source desktop environment designed with the goal of being used by children for learning.Developed as part of the One Laptop per Child project, it is the default interface on OLPC XO-1 family of laptop computers....
" OS. James Utzschneider, from Microsoft, said that initially only one operating system could be chosen. OLPC, however, said that future OLPC work would enable XO-1 laptops to dual boot either the free and open Linux/Sugar OS or the proprietary Microsoft Windows XP. Negroponte further said that "OLPC will sell Linux-only and dual-boot, and will not sell Windows-only
This option did not prove popular. As of 2011, a few pilots had received a few thousand total dual-boot machines, and the new ARM-based machines do not support Windows XP. No significant deployment purchased Windows licenses.
Negroponte and Charles Kane
Charles Kane (business executive)
Charles Kane is a business executive who currently serves as President and Chief Operations officer of the One Laptop Per Child Association. Kane was promoted to President of OLPC on May 2, 2008. Previously, Kane was the Chief Financial Officer of RSA Security -- a security firm acquired by EMC...
made statements explaining OLPC's decision to enable XO-1 laptops to dual-boot either open source Fedora or proprietary Microsoft Windows XP:
Teacher training and ongoing support
The organisation has been accused of simply giving underprivileged children laptops and "walking away". Some critics claim this "drive-by" implementation model was the official strategy of the project. While the organisation has learning teams dedicated to support and working with teachers, Negroponte has said in response to this criticism that "You actually can" give children a connected laptop and walk away, noting experiences with self-guided learning.A former intern in Peru criticised that because "laptops are getting opened and turned on, but then kids and teachers are getting frustrated by hardware and software bugs, don't understand what to do, and promptly box them up to put back in the corner."
Hardware and Software Bugs
As is the case with all software, there are bugs present the OLPC's pre-installed programs and the Sugar OS. This is not anything new, however the organisation has been criticised for its lack of troubleshooting support. Teachers in Peru are told to handle problems in one of two ways. If the problem is a software issue, they are to flash the computer, and if it is a hardware problem, they are to report it. In the classroom environment this black-boxing approach is being criticised for causing the teachers and students to feel disconnected with, and confused by the laptop, which results, in many cases, in the laptops eventually going unused. Several defects in OLPC XO-1 hardware have emerged in the field, and laptop repair is often neglected by students or their families (who are responsible for maintenance) due to the relatively high cost of some components (such as displays).On the software side, the Bitfrost security system has been known to deactivate improperly, rendering the laptop unusable until it is unlocked by support technicians with the proper keys. (This is a time-consuming process, and the problem often affects large numbers of laptops at the same time). The Sugar interface has been difficult for teachers to learn, and the mesh networking feature in the OLPC XO-1 was buggy and went mostly unused in the field.
The OLPC XO-1 hardware lacks connectivity to external monitors or projectors, and teachers are not provided with software for remote assessment. As a result, students are unable to present their work to the whole class, and teachers must also assess students' work from the individual laptops. Teachers often find it difficult to use the keyboard and screen, which were designed with student use in mind.
Environmental issues
In 2005 and prior to the final design of the XO-1OLPC XO-1
The XO-1, previously known as the $100 Laptop, Children's Machine, and 2B1, is an inexpensive subnotebook computer intended to be distributed to children in developing countries around the world, to provide them with access to knowledge, and opportunities to "explore, experiment and express...
hardware, OLPC received criticism because of concerns over the environmental and health impacts of hazardous materials found in most computers. The OLPC asserted that it aimed to use as many environmentally friendly
Environmentally friendly
Environmentally friendly are terms used to refer to goods and services, laws, guidelines and policies claimed to inflict minimal or no harm on the environment....
materials as it could; that the laptop and all OLPC-supplied accessories would be fully compliant with the EU's Restriction of Hazardous Substances Directive
Restriction of Hazardous Substances Directive
The Directive on the restriction of the use of certain hazardous substances in electrical and electronic equipment 2002/95/EC was adopted in February 2003 by the European Union. The RoHS directive took effect on 1 July 2006, and is required to be enforced and become law in each member state...
(RoHS); and that the laptop would use an order of magnitude less power than the typical consumer notebooks available as of 2007 thus minimizing the environmental burden of power generation.
The XO-1 delivered (starting in 2007) uses environmental friendly materials, complies with the EU's RoHS and uses between 0.25 and 6.5 watts in operation.
According to the Green Electronics Council's Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool
Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool
The Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool is a method for consumers to evaluate the effect of a product on the environment. It ranks products as gold, silver or bronze based on a set of environmental performance criteria....
, whose sole purpose is assessing and measuring the impact laptops have on the environment, the XO is not only non-toxic and fully recyclable, but it lasts longer, costs less, and is more energy efficient. The XO-1 is the first laptop to have been awarded an EPEAT Gold level rating.
Nigeria
Lagos Analysis Corp., also called Lancor, a Lagos, US-based Nigerians owned company, sued OLPC in the end of 2007 for $United States dollar
The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....
20 million, claiming that the computer's keyboard design was stolen from a Lancor patented device. OLPC responded by claiming that they had not sold any multi-lingual keyboards in the design claimed by Lancor, and that Lancor had misrepresented and concealed material facts before the court. In January 2008, the Nigerian Federal Court rejected OLPC motion to dismiss LANCOR's lawsuit and extended its injunction against OLPC distributing its XO Laptops in Nigeria. OLPC appealed the Court's decision, the Appeal is still pending in the Nigerian Federal Court of Appeals. In March 2008 OLPC filed a lawsuit in Massachusetts to stop LANCOR from suing it in the United States. In October 2008, MIT News magazine erroneously reported that the Middlesex Superior Court granted OLPC’s motions to dismiss all of LANCOR’s claims against OLPC, Nicholas Negroponte, and Quanta. On October 22, 2010 OLPC voluntarily moved the Massachusetts Court to dismiss its own lawsuit against LANCOR.
Other discussions question whether OLPC laptops should be designed to promote anonymity or to facilitate government tracking of stolen laptops. A recent New Scientist
New Scientist
New Scientist is a weekly non-peer-reviewed English-language international science magazine, which since 1996 has also run a website, covering recent developments in science and technology for a general audience. Founded in 1956, it is published by Reed Business Information Ltd, a subsidiary of...
article critiqued Bitfrost's P_THEFT security option, which allows each laptop to be configured to transmit an individualized, non-repudiable digital signature to a central server at most once each day to remain functioning.
In 2007, XO laptops in Nigeria were reported to contain pornographic material belonging to children participating in the OLPC Program. In response, OLPC made plans for adding content filters. The OLPC foundation maintained the position that such issues were societal, not laptop related. Similar responses have led some to suggest the OLPC takes an indifferent stance concerning this issue. According to Wayan Vota, Senior Director at Inveneo
Inveneo
Inveneo is a 501 non-profit organization based in San Francisco with focus on Information and Communication Technologies for organizations supporting underserved communities in the developing world, mostly in Africa...
and founder of the independent OLPC News, "The use of computers to look at porn is [a] social problem, not a hardware one... Children have to be taught what's good and what's bad, based on the cultural context."
India
India's Ministry of Human Resource DevelopmentMinistry of Human Resource Development (India)
The Ministry of Human Resource Development is an Indian government ministry, responsible for the development of human resources...
, in June 2006, rejected the initiative, saying “it would be impossible to justify an expenditure of this scale on a debatable scheme when public funds continue to be in inadequate supply for well-established needs listed in different policy documents”. Later they stated plans to make laptops at $10 each for schoolchildren. Two designs submitted to the Ministry from a final year engineering student of Vellore Institute of Technology
Vellore Institute of Technology
VIT University, commonly called Vellore Institute of Technology or VIT, is located in Vellore, Tamil Nadu, India. VIT has nine schools.-Academic organisation:...
and a researcher from the Indian Institute of Science
Indian Institute of Science
Indian Institute of Science is a research institution of higher learning located in Bangalore, India. It was established in 1909.-History:After a chance meeting between Jamsetji N...
, Bangalore in May 2007 reportedly describe a laptop that could be produced for "$47 per laptop" for even small volumes. The Ministry announced in July 2008 that the cost of their proposed "$10 laptop" would in fact be $100 by the time the laptop became available. In 2010, a related $35 Sakshat Tablet
Sakshat
The Aakash is an Android tablet computer jointly developed by the London-based company DataWind with the Indian Institute of Technology Rajasthan and manufactured by the India-based company Quad, at a new production centre in Hyderabad — under a trial run of 100,000 units. The tablet was...
was unveiled in India, released the next year as the "Aakash".
OLPC later expressed support for the initiative.
In 2009 a number of states announced plans to order OLPCs. However as of 2011 none has begun deployment.
See also
- Comparison of netbooksComparison of netbooksThese tables provide a comparison of netbooks. See also the comparison of subnotebooks, as there is significant overlap between these categories.Aspects of netbooks that should be considered:...
and subnotebooksComparison of subnotebooksThis page is a comparison of various subnotebooks, in various categories. See also the comparison of netbooks, as there is significant overlap between these categories.- Subnotebooks :These are examples of recent subnotebooks, not necessarily UMPCs.... - Computer technology for developing areasComputer technology for developing areasComputer technology for developing areas is the donation of technology to developing areas by individuals and organizations . However, donating technology without first coordinating its use, maintenance and final disposal can lead to misuse and potential problems.-Opportunity:Developing countries...
- Digital divideDigital divideThe Digital Divide refers to inequalities between individuals, households, business, and geographic areas at different socioeconomic levels in access to information and communication technologies and Internet connectivity and in the knowledge and skills needed to effectively use the information...
- Digital TextbookDigital TextbookThe digital textbook program was announced by the Education Ministry of South Korea on March 8, 2007. The digital textbook is currently being tested in several primary schools and will be distributed free to every school nation-wide by 2013.-Definition:...
- Information and communication technologies for developmentInformation and communication technologies for developmentInformation and Communication Technologies for Development is a general term referring to the application of Information and Communication Technologies within the fields of socioeconomic development, international development and human rights...
- BitfrostBitfrostBitfrost is the security design specification for the OLPC XO, a low cost laptop intended for children in developing countries and developed by the One Laptop Per Child project. Bitfrost's main architect is Ivan Krstić...
- the security system developed for the OLPC deployments - Ceibal projectCeibal projectThe Plan Ceibal is a Uruguayan initiative to implement the “1 to 1” model to introduce Information and Communication Technologies in primary public education and is beginning with the expansion into secondary schools....
- the national project in Uruguay - Classmate PCClassmate PCThe Classmate PC, formerly known as Eduwise, is Intel's entry into the market for low-cost personal computers for children in the developing world. It is in some respects similar to the One Laptop Per Child trade association's Children's Machine , which has a similar target market...
- DynabookDynabookThe Dynabook concept, created by Alan Kay in 1968, described what is now known as a laptop computer or a tablet or slate computer with nearly eternal battery life and software aimed at giving children access to digital media...
- Alan Kay's vision of a learning machine - Elonex ONEElonex ONEThe Elonex ONE is a netbook computer marketed to the education sector by Elonex. The ONE's operating system is called Linos, based on Linux kernel 2.6.21, has Wi-Fi connectivity, Ethernet networking, a solid-state hard drive, two USB ports and weighs less than 1 kg.The ONE has been described...
- No Child Left UnpluggedNo Child Left UnpluggedNo Child Left Unplugged is a San Francisco based non-profit organization founded by Corey Linehanwith the purpose of teaching technology skills at economically challenged schools as well as providing computers for such schools.-History:...
- Quanta Computer - the manufacturer of the OLPC XO laptop
- Raspberry PiRaspberry PiThe Raspberry Pi is a single-board computer developed by the Raspberry Pi Foundation. Scheduled for public release in December 2011, the foundation plans to release two versions that range from US$25 to $35...
- USB thumb-drive sized computer developed for educational purposes - Sakshat TabletSakshatThe Aakash is an Android tablet computer jointly developed by the London-based company DataWind with the Indian Institute of Technology Rajasthan and manufactured by the India-based company Quad, at a new production centre in Hyderabad — under a trial run of 100,000 units. The tablet was...
- Sinomanic
- Sugar LabsSugar LabsSugar Labs is a software-development and learning community.Sugar Labs is a non-profit foundation whose mission is to produce, distribute, and support the use of the Sugar learning platform. Sugar Labs supports the community of educators and software developers who want to extend the platform and...
- the project that develops the software learning platform shipped with the OLPC XO laptop - VIA pc-1 InitiativeVIA pc-1 InitiativeThe VIA pc-1 Initiative is a project of VIA Technologies, established in January 2005, to help bridge the digital divide by developing information and communication technology systems to benefit those who currently do not have computers or Internet access.-Aims:The initiative sought to enable the...
- Wizzy Digital CourierWizzy Digital CourierWizzy Digital Courier is a project to distribute useful data to places with no Internet connection. Primarily for e-mail, it also carries web content . From an early description of the project 1:...