feenixsf's Journal: The XO Laptop

Read a Slashdot newswire announcement that the famous XO laptop will be provided for school children in the Alabama school districts. For those of you who don't know, the XO is the well-known "sub-$100" laptop designed for children to use in developing countries. It was designed to allow accessibility to the internet for children.

Certain features were also integrated such as wi-fi wireless mesh-networking (for allowing shared internet access) and also a smaller keyboard (ideal for children and discouraging for adults to use), a webcam and a hand-crank or solar recharging device for the battery.

The intent was to make sure that these laptops do not end up in the hands of adults and people not intended as the audience for this "inexpensive" benefit.

If you ask me, I have mixed responses to this laptop. First of all, internet access is nice but it isn't a necessity in countries where children cannot even get enough food to eat or even clothing to wear. These children need access to BASIC necessities FIRST and instead of spending on laptops ($100 is very expensive for people in developing countries), their government should spend on more fundmental elements of educational infrastructure such as: training teachers, buying books, classroom learning materials and scholarships for student tuition.

Then again, the technology curve is a steep one. Access to technology tools such as computers is part of the "great divide" between developing nations and ones such as the United States. To survive in the new generation, children may benefit from having early access to the tools that drive the world around them. So I have mixed feelings about this new product.

Perhaps the one thing that I find beneficial is the buy one get two deal that the manufacturing company has arranged. For every laptop bought by a family in the United States, two additional laptops are paid for and shipped to children in a developing nation. So the parents of children here have to pay $400 or so to obtain the same sub-$100 laptop. The charity effect is a good one, and arguably a computer at the price of $400 is still "reasonable" for most American families.