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One Laptop Per Child Review
Aaron Landry got his hands on an XO Laptop while visiting a friend in Washington, DC last week.
Once he figured out how to open it, he seemed to be impressed with the functionality of the product.
Here's a photo Aaron took of his blog being served up on the laptop's RSS reader:
My First Experience With an XO Laptop
It boots fairly quickly with 256mb of RAM and opens to a screen where I have what feels like an OS X Dock at the bottom to choose applications. After about 10 minutes I felt really comfortable getting around it and everything worked in a rather simple manner.
Browsing was about as fast as the iPhone on WiFi and there were a few music creation applications that I didn’t spend the time to figure out. I tested out the RSS reader on it as well and it was pretty swift.
Before trying it, Aaron decided to buy one through the One Laptop Per Child's buy-2 get-1 donation program where $400 buys you a laptop and one for a child in a developing country. I've purchased one too and am looking forward to getting my hands on it.
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2. Posted by: Ed Kohler on December 2, 2007 7:13 PM:
Interesting comment, MPH. But wouldn't you agree that technology can help achieve human rights? For example, don't you think there would be more human rights violations in the world if it online publishing of digital camera photos didn't exist?
3. Posted by: Chris Johnson on December 3, 2007 12:28 AM:
Cheap laptops are nice, but the entire effort is misplaced.
People in the Third World need:
1. Laws that respect individual freedom and property rights
2. Rule of Law
3. Less bureaucracy - most of poor countries have atrocious bureaucracy which stifles small business.
4. Infrastructure - kids are not going to surf the Internet if the are dying from sewage in the drinking water, malaria, etc.
After the 4 above are in place, laptops will do wonders.
Until then, computers will be used to control people.
As for "freedom through Internet" - Internet can be censored - China and France have perfected the technology.
4. Posted by: Bernd Eckenfels on December 3, 2007 2:32 AM:
As long as children are suffering from hunger and schools need money for chairs and tables I find it very cruel to dream about 1pc per child.
But hey, the technology advances are nice - quite the same effect as military research has. Same money?
Bernd
5. Posted by: Ed Kohler on December 3, 2007 8:12 AM:
Chris, what do you think about shining more light on the situations in developing countries? While we all know the conditions are bad, a blog written by a 12 year old giving first-hand accounts of the conditions has the potential to motivate people with the power to make change.
Kids don't own newspapers, are rarely on TV, but have stories to tell.
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1. Posted by: MPH on December 2, 2007 4:02 PM:
Prosperity is not built on technology -- it is built on a platform of fundamental human rights. Prosperity can only be created in a society that respects property, the rule of law and free markets (not something the left is yet adept at defending or understanding). One Laptop Per Child succumbs to the Jeffrey Sachs fallacy - the "Poverty Trap" lie.