Whether it succeeds, One Laptop Per Child is likely to go down in philanthropic history as a case study in the formidable challenges facing anyone trying to use technology to help the developing world.
Wayan Vota, a technology missionary who runs a Web site devoted to news about the group, said it has "a great dream and amazing technology but not much of an implementation plan." He worries that the outcome could resemble an ill-fated tractor program in Africa decades ago, which provided lots of tractors but little supporting infrastructure.
"You can't just drop in technology and leave," Vota said. "And every successful technology project in the developing world has shown you have to start at the grass roots. You need buy-in from end users and work up the change from the bottom. You get students and parents and teachers to support it, so they influence the education bureaucracy."
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There is just one week left to participate. For a donation of just $399 ($200 of which is tax-deductible), you will be giving the gift of education to a deserving child in the developing world, and also receiving an XO laptop in recognition of your donation. Once "Give One Get One" ends, the XO laptop will no longer be available to the general public.
T-Mobile is generously offering everyone who participates in "Give One Get One" one year of complimentary access to T-Mobile HotSpot broadband Internet service, available at more than 8,500 locations throughout the United States. This complimentary year of service is valued at over $350! Just use any Wi-Fi enabled device, such as the XO, your laptop computer, or a Wi-Fi enabled mobile phone, and you can connect and communicate your way. Find out more at www.laptopgiving.org/en/t-mobile-hotspot.php.
To donate, or to find out more about the XO laptop, please visit www.laptopgiving.org. You can also donate by calling toll-free
1-877-70-LAPTOP (1-877-705-2786). We hope you'll join us in our mission to bring education and connection to children in even the most remote regions of the globe.
Thank you.
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Steve Jobs had offered Mac OS X free of charge for use in the laptop, but according to Seymour Papert, a professor emeritus at MIT who is one of the initiative's founders, the designers want an operating system that can be tinkered with: “We declined because it’s not open source.”[23] Therefore Linux was chosen.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OLPC_XO-1