how long do you think your macbooks would last in a desert or whatever... or for that matter, in the hands of a young child? :)
In addition to the fairly-rugged-ness, there are some pretty clever design features in OLPC (eg two-mode screen that can work in b/w mode even in bright sunlight), even if the software is a matter of taste.
personally, I have to say I'm not so worried about the quality of the machine - I've seen one, it's cute and nice and seems to work reasonably well. I'm sure if kids in Africa need laptops, these are absolutely fine - they don't need XP (wtf? are they going to run photoshop or something?) or a high-powered CPU or whatever. what I'm not really convinced about is that kids in Africa actually need laptops at all. (And yes I *do* give money to overseas-development charities, this isn't some kind of lame excuse for being a tightwad.) There is some kind of theory that if you get kids across the 'digital divide' everything else (sanitation, drinking water, education, non-corrupt police, the second coming of Jesus Christ) will follow, but I'm just not sure I believe it.
If you want one because it's cool though, go for it - and there's no reason kids in developing countries *shouldn't* have laptops either, can't do any harm. I just don't think it's a panacea.
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how long do you think your macbooks would last in a desert or whatever... or for that matter, in the hands of a young child? :)
In addition to the fairly-rugged-ness, there are some pretty clever design features in OLPC (eg two-mode screen that can work in b/w mode even in bright sunlight), even if the software is a matter of taste.
personally, I have to say I'm not so worried about the quality of the machine - I've seen one, it's cute and nice and seems to work reasonably well. I'm sure if kids in Africa need laptops, these are absolutely fine - they don't need XP (wtf? are they going to run photoshop or something?) or a high-powered CPU or whatever. what I'm not really convinced about is that kids in Africa actually need laptops at all. (And yes I *do* give money to overseas-development charities, this isn't some kind of lame excuse for being a tightwad.) There is some kind of theory that if you get kids across the 'digital divide' everything else (sanitation, drinking water, education, non-corrupt police, the second coming of Jesus Christ) will follow, but I'm just not sure I believe it.
If you want one because it's cool though, go for it - and there's no reason kids in developing countries *shouldn't* have laptops either, can't do any harm. I just don't think it's a panacea.