NickNeg signs up Libya for 1.2 million 2B1 laptops

Now it's really on. Sure, plenty of countries have expressed interest, and Nigeria, Brazil, Argentina, and Thailand have all tentatively agreed to snap up 1 million laptops each, but Libya has just reached an agreement with the OLPC foundation to lay down $250 million for 1.2 million of the cute little 2B1 units -- one for every schoolchild in Libya. That price also includes one server per school, a team of tech advisers to help with setup, satellite internet and other infrastructure to help make the laptops more than attractive paperweights. In Negroponte's talks with Libyan leader, Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi, there were also mentions of Libya financing laptop purchases in poorer African nations such as Chad, Niger and Rwanda. Sounds like a big win for team OLPC, and Libya just might become the first nation in the world to have all its school-age children hooked up to the internets on educational computers, according to Nick, though the rollout is targeted for completion by June 2008, and a lot can happen in two years.

[Via Smart Mobs]

[NEX @ Oct 11th 2006 11:32AM]

just hope, this turns out for good, if not were going to have the new Order of spammers or a really cool zombie cluster.

[Michael C @ Oct 11th 2006 11:45AM]

Why does our own country (usa) not buy these? At $150 they are only a little more than a years worth of textbooks, and they would actually help move this country into the 21st century.

It is insane that Libya is taking more aggressive steps towards computer literacy than we are. Think of the benefits for teachers, Automatically generated and graded math tests, teaching programming (logic, math, interactivity) in second grade, one computer instead of 15 books to haul around, ability to tailor curriculums to different modalities of learning, ability to update textbooks instantly, open source (cheap) textbooks...

[strider_mt2k @ Oct 11th 2006 11:58AM]

Have 'em run a couple of emulators on it and you'll have every school age kid clamoring for 'em!

[earlyadopter @ Oct 11th 2006 12:47PM]

Michael C:

Last time a checked, a textbook never ran out of battery, or crashed, or became disabled due to malware or a virus... or failed to be usable because water got spilled on it, or couldn't connect to the internet, or ran out of hard disk space... and textbooks never distracted kids with video games, instant messaging and webcams.

For 500 years now books have worked pretty well. Not sure why we suddenly think that computers can solve the woes of countries like Libya. They certainly can't solve the woes of our own country. In the US, we've had "home computers" now for about oh, 20 years - and last time I checked, schoolkids here in the US aren't doing as well as kids in countries that typically have never had computers (China, Singapore, etc).

If you want kids in the US to do better in school, I'd say to remove computers entirely. Replace them with typewriters. They can keep their calcuators, although they still need to memorize their "times tables".

-early

-early

[Shre @ Oct 11th 2006 10:49PM]

ACtually books can become unusable when water is spilled on the book (happened couple fo times to me). Nobody reads the books because well who likes reading a BOOK!!!! All kids will read something on a computer though because it is cool.

[J-DAWG @ Oct 11th 2006 12:55PM]

Disgusting. How can anyone applaud this socialist act? I would bet that the $250 million would be MUCH better utilized in the hands of the people who EARNED the money rather than having their children learn a few Linux commands. Countries such as these are struggling for shelter, food and water, and maybe a free market economy where their government doesn't steal everything they earn. Then they can afford their own computers.

Negroponte knows a lot about making a sub $200 computer, but knows NOTHING on how to make a third-world country into a first-world country. Technology is not a panacea to end despotism and famine. Name one third-world country that is impoverished because of just bad luck rather than from a corrupt government that steals, bullies and kills their citizens and I'll shut up.

[Rayonic @ Oct 11th 2006 4:46PM]

I'd say you're cynical, but there is a good chance that these laptops will just be resold by corrupt government officials. Best-case scenario is that the kids' parents get a cut of the money.

On the bright side, maybe I can pick one up cheap on eBay.

[Magus @ Oct 11th 2006 1:16PM]

Its a heavy investment into a possible future. There are probably better more imediate needs for the money but that only fixes the problem today buy 250m woth of food to feed the country for a few years and what do you gain? Physical labor is comming to its limits to be replaced by machines. Educate a mass and you can intergrate them into service sector of the future economy.

[Avalain @ Oct 11th 2006 5:05PM]

Only one country? How about Ghana, then? The truth of the matter is that while there are a lot of third world countries that have huge problems with government corruption, they are most certainly not ALL corrupt. However, even the countries that have a dedicated government that are trying hard to help their people have a ton of hurdles to overcome, including debt, disease, education, and infrastructure.
I agree that these countries are struggling to afford food and water, but education is really one of many things that NEEDS to happen in order to help increase the level of production in the country and hence lower the number of people living in extreme poverty.
If you want an example of where teaching computers to your people works, look at India and the IT revolution it's having right now.
If you want more examples of non-corrupt third world governments, read "The End of Poverty" by Jeffrey D. Sachs. His work is amazing and a must read for anyone interested in this.

[boynamedsue @ Oct 11th 2006 1:08PM]

why spend so much on something thats just going to be used as a blunt object to beat political prisoners in Abu Salim?

[wontoncookie @ Oct 11th 2006 1:18PM]

Oh boy , how many units do they want ? Well that is alot and with wifi and Networking they can solve the cure to cancer... or build a simuation to end the world of either for evil or good.

Headline news.... World terrorist play massive Counter strike game to train against Anti terroist.

[boynamedsue @ Oct 11th 2006 1:36PM]

give a man a fish and he will eat for a day.

Give a boy a laptop and he will use it to play roms.

[Tim @ Oct 11th 2006 1:48PM]

They should have used Windows on those computers. Then we would be raising the next generation of Software Technical support.

[brockmajaro @ Oct 11th 2006 2:57PM]

Spending 250 million on food and supplies for these countries are just going to make the problem worse. Making them dependent upon other countries will cause them to go stay at the economic level they are now with little improvement generation after generation. What happens the other countries can afford to put money into a bottomless pit anymore? Helping to educate them with technology is the best way to help them fend for themselves. Throughout history, the uneducated are always the easiest to control, give them knowledge and they may have the power to overthrow corrupt government and establish economic dependence.

[Buzzsaw @ Oct 11th 2006 3:19PM]

Woo hoo - Yeah cause ALL the world needs is more third world scammers on ebay.. Libya.. Chad.. Niger.. Rwanda.. as if Nigeria needed any MORE help ebay scamming with even more computers unleashed there.

[Asher M. @ Oct 11th 2006 5:43PM]

The countries that these people are selling these laptops need to fulfill the BASIC demands of their population first, then move on to buying computers. I would build hospital and schools, invest in anti cholera drugs and the lot rather than buy these computers. 250 million USD is a lot of money to spend on comps that are going to be completely useless to the population. This is just another way to distract countries like Lybia, Nigeria, etc. from their emminent problems. This is ridiculous. That money should be spent somewhere else!

[wayan @ Oct 11th 2006 6:24PM]

What a great move by Libya! Why invade Chad or sponsor terrorism - just "educate" it's neighbour's children. What might the One Libyan Encyclopedia Per Child look like?

Here's a guess: http://www.olpcnews.com/content/education/o_is_for_oversight.html

.

[DrFrankTM @ Oct 12th 2006 10:28AM]

Computers have an insane potential in education. The main reason it hasn't been realized yet is not any kind of technical limitations. The limitation is in educational policy: the way schools - especially higher education institutions - are funded. When higher education institutions do not have to attract paying students anymore in order to survive and thrive, then we will see these institutions collaborate (and not merely compete) and education as we know it - i.e. our knowledge is our secret until you pay - will all but vanish and will be replaced by an open science / open education paradigm that will *finally* make computers more than gateways to p0rn and funny videos. The technology is there - and has already been for a long time -, but the policies aren't.