$100 laptop introduces new modern design
The wraps have been taken off the new version of the XO laptop designed for schoolchildren in developing countries. The revamped machine created by the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) project looks like an e-book and has had its price slashed to $75 per device. OLPC founder Nicholas Negroponte gave a glimpse of the “book like” device at an unveiling event at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The first XO2 machines should be ready to deliver to children in 2010. Mr Negroponte said he hoped the design would also be used by other manufacturers. The new version loses the green rubbery keyboard, sporting instead a single square display hinged at its centre. This allows the device to be split into two touch screens that can either mimic a laptop with keyboard or the pages of a book. The idea is for several children to use the device at once, combining the functions of a laptop, electronic book and electronic board.
The new machine will also be more energy efficient, half the size of the first generation device and lighter to carry. “The XO2 will be a bit of a Trojan horse,” said Prof Negroponte. Initially it will be promoted as an e-book reader with the capacity to store more than 500 e-books. The launch of the XO2 is being seen as an effort by OLPC to revitalise adoption of its machines. Initially, Prof Negroponte set a target of selling 100 million machines by 2008. So far OLPC has only sold about 600,000 machines. Prof Negroponte said he expected a further 400,000 orders in the next “60 to 90 days”. Many countries have been reluctant to buy the machines because they did not run Microsoft’s Windows operating system. In mid-May OLPC announced a deal with Microsoft to make Windows available on the XO machine. Previously the machines used a version of open source Linux operating system.
Source: BBC
Comments(38)
Learning is fun, CAUSE KNOWLEDGE IS POWER!
Pretty incredible how they make something so useful and productive for so cheap.
YEah, sure. So is this a laptop or not? AN microsoft screwed everyone once again.
i wonder if these will be available for retail purchase (doubt it tho)
looks much better than the original POS version too
Where can I buy one?
More lies from this company. Their first product was a dismal failure…supposed to sell 100 million, but instead sold 600 thousand. So now they want people to trust them again and sign up to buy this device in 2010?
Stop with the grandstanding and deliver a useful product!
Lulz, Mr Negroponte.
“The idea is for several children to use the device at once”
They should change the name to One Laptop per Two Children
This is only a concept for the moment and everybody knows that their goal is impossible to reach
Cool ! i hardly wait
I want one I dont care if I have to steal(or trade) one from some poor kid
Jasper, if you seriously think it is easy to make a $75 computer with the ever weakening dollar, think again. The first one didn’t sell that well because of a $150 price tag (instead of expected $100) and because of China and India’s decision to try and make something similar on their own. It’s a non-profit organization that aims to make less ignorant people like you running in the wild. Show some respect.
First it’s $75, then it’s $100, then $200, and then it runs Vista. It’s all going down to hell.
i think it would be an interesting idea to make it commercially available to the public, maybe then they would sell a hell of a lot more than 600k of them, i like the idea of having a digital book, and at $75 i would buy one….hell i’d buy two and tell them to donate one to a kid in poverty.
i want one where can i buy it ?
HARDWARE 75 $
VISTA LICENSE 80 $
I think this project is very good because it will help other underdeveloped countries to learn and have technology.
Look here to learn more: http://laptop.org/
Great! More cheap laptops to Africans so they can scam more efficiently. They have no food, so I guess they can eat the laptop.
? surely its a bonus that it doesent run windows? dont developing countries understand technology yet?
dual touchscreens?!??! do want!!!
This is great news to see this project moving forward. Microsoft will hopefully DONATE or sell at a very cheap cost a legitimate license for Windows XP for this project. The Windows OS has already been named in a previous article.
As to having one laptop per child, that is obviously the goal but a rather unachievable one in my opinion. Having one laptop for two or three children is even a huge step in the right direction for these children in under developed countries. Learning the basics of computers and technology is another skill set they have to offer the work force. Who knows there may be a few brilliant brains there which have not been tapped and we may see a new piece of technology in the future come from this venture.
you can’t touch type on a touch screen. What’s the point?
Lol!
“an e-book reader with the capacity to store more than 500 e-books”
500 e-books? What is the harddrive space? 500mb? Or less?
The e-books i have seen without pictures, are usually less than 500kb each.
Like this is really gonna help people in under developed countries. What a joke.
YAY! a new way for the Africans to try and send me fake checks and western union the money back. What an amazing idea.. Thank you supporters for helping them achieve this goal..
I would say take all the money they are dumping on R&D for this project and buy the kids some food. If I were starving in a third world country, I think i would be quite insulted that some guy spent a ton of money to bring me a beeping gadget that is completely useless to me rather than the food I would need to survive.
First off, how are these children supposed to charge the things when they go dead? Second, why not just send them books that cost a small fraction of the price, and don’t need charging.
If you send every child in a village a book, they can read them and share. This way every child has access to hundreds of books to learn, and there is enough money left over to feed them for a year so that they will be around to read them!
some of you people dont seem to realize that the best way to help africa, is not just to send food and supplies.But to help them devolope. if you educate the people, teaching them how to rebuild therir countries, then they can take care of themselcves eventually.
food aid can actually halt the progress of devoloping countries,since the people become dependant on foregin aid. what they need most is skill.
by helping them we ourseleves get better lives since the bilions sent to the starving every year is spent on more important issues.
@27
You can give a man a fish and feed him for a day. Or you can teach a man to fish and feed him for a liftime.
A person with computer skills in a poor country will be able to find work and feed themselves and their children. To only feed underprivileged people just turns them into beggars.
Second, it’s not like their living in the jungle with no access to electricity. That just shows how ignorant you are.
Third, just send them paper books? WE ARE IN THE 21st CENTURY!!!! In this world, you need more skills then just being able to read. The young-adult who can type and comprehend technology will get the job over the young-adult who can only read.
-nuff said
Hope these are available to everyone to purchase–my girlfriend wants a cheap, light and simple machine to browse and email on. Heck, for these prices, I’d pick one up too just for the hell of it.
And although it’ll probably be difficult typing on a touchscreen keypad, the novelty of having an “open book” style PC is great.
yeah I want one too
To be able to use both screens to read e-books is an excellent feature. picture the future when u use cheap flatscreens instead of paper to read stuff.
the production of paper use upp enormous ammounts of wood every year. by reading with computers we save the woods too.
My experience with any touchscreen is that it starts acting weird after heavy use. Like a cell phone. Touchscreen typing definitely qualifies as heavy use.
so is this just for going online? hmmm.. well id buy one if it had wireless internet & can play dvds.
This is such a joke. The $75 (if it ends up actually costing $75) is enough to print 200-500 typical 3rd world elementary textbooks. Royalty is what makes western books expensive, the actually print cost is very cheap. Books don’t run out of power or break down. This is a feel-good stunt for westerners who want to satisfy their ego and make a name for themselves, rather than actually helping the needy.
Right Dagger because us westerners at least try to help the needy with a useful tool. I for one have not heard of any easterner with any Philanthropic aspirations or for that matter made a name for themselves helping the third world countries. I guess Bono and Company should just give up helping because naysayers say it won’t work… well at least Prof. Negroponte is trying. Rather than sitting around complaining.
If it goes for $75 then I will buy two, one for myself and one for the 3rd world country as Prof. Negroponte’s aspirations.
Peace-
Actually the middle east is more genorous when it comes to aid than the west as charity is a big focus of Islam. Kuwait contributes 8.2% of its GDP to development assistance and Saudi Arabia 4%. The leading western donar is Sweden with 1.03% and the US (richest country in the world) trails with 0.17%.
I agree with Vinny (35). I would like to get one for myself and for a 3rd world girl (a cousin of my best friend). I definitely like the idea of a Linux one though, don’t think I want to get Maria (the girl) stuck on MS Windows if efficient-less OSs are the future of it.
lol…$75.00 he says, he should say for a mere $573.75(South African Rand) we’ll sell your children a plastic book!
1) to melt in the noonday sun!
2) to make you pay for electric/hydro (charging + A/C)!
3) to make you pay for the sins of Micr*s*ft (bugs/viruses/crashes)
4) to make you pay for CD/DVD media (to melt in the sun)
5) to make you lazy + fat (like the rest of the world)!
6) to make you hooked on war*z!
7) NO, I wont ramble on about, NET costs, firewalls + routers!
lol, also like the rest of us, if you really could NOT afford the plastic object to begin with, than you probably can NOT afford all the bonus good stuff you WILL need to use/enjoy it!!!
But hey, let all have a shot at hating the B.GATE to HELL!!!
Financially, it will be costly and ongoing, to be fully appreciated!
But, to some degree, in some settings, could be quite productive!
@28
Almost, but not quite. Who cares if you’ve got a PhD, you’re still putting food on the table unless you have a job which brings you money.
The first step towards helping underdeveloped countries is not feeding the starved nor educating the children, but to ensure a semblance of economical fairness by imposing the creation of fair trade contracts. Think about it; if a farmer has money, he can grow more crops and feed his children and make more money and *then* send them to school. Also, it might force (primitive) governments into less corruption since power would not be in the hands of politicians (who manage the occidental freebies) but those who make the economy go around: the people.
But by all means, let’s keep dumping food to help keep alive people who cannot sustain themselves. At least it makes us feel good about ourselves, m i rite?