India caves to OLPC, gets 22 units to try out

A lot can change in a year -- tastes, moods, the value of one's currency... -- and apparently, India's stance on One Laptop Per Child has shifted so dramatically from last July that 22 of the low-cost machines have actually arrived for testing. Reportedly, officials didn't give up after being practically rejected by India's education minister, and now 22 lucky youngsters in a one-room school in Maharashtra are getting the chance to participate in a pilot program. Carla Gomez-Monroy, the education consultant who launched the test, stated that OLPC "has learned that working with local partners will be crucial in India, where dozens of languages are spoken." Of course, the far smaller minimum order quantity probably helped matters too, and while there's no commitment from India to buy heaps of XOs anytime soon, Gomez-Monroy suggested that distribution could broaden "as soon as June" of next year.

[Image courtesy of Flickr]

[Fatima @ Oct 24th 2007 5:57PM]

Well first the 123 agreement has to be approved in India so the US can provide them with Nuclear fuel and reactors. So that they have clean 24/7 energy throughout the country to power computers. Sure the OLPC is self-powered but once the kiddes grow up..they will be moving on to other electronics.

[Pat @ Oct 24th 2007 6:30PM]

Fortunately the 123 agreement is being rejected by the Indian coalition government. The agreement would have provided additional fissionable material and weapons technology to India. For the benefit of all mankind the OLPC program may help develop viable alternatives rather than the possibility of another cold war.

[TEM @ Oct 24th 2007 9:13PM]

Right on, Pat! What do they expect to do with electricity anyway? Screw 'em!

[fischju @ Oct 24th 2007 11:03PM]

I just realized.....most of the people in my school don't have PCs, and very limited access to public computers..............(small town, USA)

[Rainier @ Oct 24th 2007 6:07PM]

LAN Party!!!!!

[Dhanik @ Oct 24th 2007 6:18PM]

Considering the state of matters in India, i would be surprised if more than 10 of these actually end up in the hands of the students!

[vkv.raju @ Oct 24th 2007 6:22PM]

I somehow am interested in getting an OLPC for myself! It got lots of new things (atleast to me).

Mesh Networking, Extreme Battery Power, Durable. It's not for any of my high-end purposes but just for the sake of getting one.

Mesh Networking is what is attracting me a lot.

Is anyone else sharing the same thoughts here?

[Matthew Hilario @ Oct 24th 2007 7:49PM]

and all i got was a chalkboard.

[Josh L @ Oct 24th 2007 10:17PM]

Why only 22? I don't care one way or the other about the whole OLPC nonsense, but India is the second most populous country on the planet. You would think they would get a few more than 22, even (especially) for a test-case.

Like I said, the OLPC argument is idiotic, but this is just bad statistics.

[glad @ Oct 26th 2007 4:10PM]

I think the Asus eeepc beats it hands down in every area including orders.

[finalzone @ Nov 4th 2007 1:04AM]

Asus eeepc is a different market compared of XO laptop. It is not rugged for harsh environment, does not features mesh network and the keyboard is not rubbed.

[Jack @ Oct 25th 2007 4:21AM]

I remeber wen india rejected olpc they said they will come out with their own version of a 50$ laptop......since that might not have gone beyond the drawing table im not surprised they are jus considering buying the olpc rather than develop one.

oh and if you doubt my facts, Google will help :)