Interesting news article about the One Laptop Per Child project, and how the design (integrating Linux) may be more secure than anyone thought possible.
i personaly think that this is a very big waste of money
Really? I’d like to hear more about why you feel that way.
Personally, I’ve experienced a lot of benefit from a strongly connected society through the Internet. The very fact that I can communicate with people around the world has been of benefit to me in many ways. I would think that the more people we can get using computers, the more people we can get connected to, and I would expect that to be advantageous for everyone.
my answer lies within a few simple observations of everyday life
A mot of parents avoid buying their children sophisticaed equpment as the child soon after looses interest in it/or breaks it within a few days.
What would a child posibly need a laptop for??
Most children like a toy for a sertain ammount of time then just forget about it, there is vertualy no way to force a kid to learn from a toy that they dont like using or lose interest in
EDIT: im sorry if my arguments are a bit unclear, but i got a massive headache and cant think straight
No problem… I understand completely about headaches. 
I think my perspective is that these aren’t toys so as much as learning tools. I mean, yes, small children will probably see them as toys to some extent, but the value, as I see it, lies in the fact that the computers will be everywhere in a community, available to everyone. Since the plan is for local governments to issue them like textbooks via their education systems, these computers will become (hopefully) an integrated part of the lives of these children, much the way that computers are more generally present in more technologically developed areas of the world.
I’m an optimist about the value of computers, I always have been. I can only imagine that having more computers in the world, especially in the hands of children, will be a good thing.
im an optimist as well but come on
where are the funds gona come for this?? out of ur paychecks of course, if the government is gona pay 100 buks per laptop, thats the cash tehy spending out of the public education budget, which down here in new york is shitty as is
I sort of agree. They need toys, school study material and clothing for the first 12-16 years.
And the big US names behind this would do better to provide THE MILLIONS of children haunted by the monsters that lurk in the shadows of our Oil based capitalism with PEACE AND FREEDOM… The Military Industrial complex never had more victims than it does today!
Harsh? Yes, but so is the contemporary world.
Kids need US citizens to wake up and take responsebility over their government, THAT might make a difference, not pretty words directed at sheeple, or not cheap electronics that will be obsolete in 12 months.
How about making the gov responsible for all the lies (Iraq, WMDs, Missing Pentagon Trillions…)? How about stop KILLING INNOCENT CHILDREN IN 3RD WORLD COUNTRIES TO IMPROVE ECONOMY AND ENSURE OIL-INDUSTRY PROFITS? 2 faced greedy self centered ignorant society that needs some serious introspection! Damn you and your oil and your MS and your SUVs and your laptops!
[The rest of the 3 pages of raving deleted]
Well, I’d expect that if they were going to be sold in the USA, they’d have to come out of the same education budget that each school system already fights for; most school systems here in the US are already underfunded, IMO, and I doubt that they’d be able to wangle more tax money even for a new computer program like this.
At this time the OLPC project is in talks with China, India, Brazil, Argentina, Egypt, Nigeria, and Thailand. So far as I know, as of right now, those are the only countries that are considering buying into the program.
I think that getting computers to school kids is every bit as important as getting them pencils and paper.
Pencils and paper work much better for poor kids than laptops.
C’mon, its just greedy silicon talking, they want to bring kids up to use US hw/sw so they can peddle their oil and blood stained products until the kingdom come.
These people need some serious look at their society and the world that they have helped to create.
If they had any real attempt to ‘make the world a better place’ they could start with the 45 MILLION people on their own back yard without adequate living standards. How about the 28 million kids living in low income families in USA?
Actually I doubt if, when asked, there are many Chinese or Egyptians not to mention Argentinians who want to even touch anything from USA. CIA assasination, anyone? US supported military coups, anyone? US supported fascist states, anyone? US trained paramilitary? List goes on and makes Saddam look like a choir boy.
[rest of the ‘yankee go home’ deleted]
pıkselı i totaly agree with you but please dont make this evolve into a political discusion thus geting this thread closed… just like my old airport security thread lol
Captain_jack, pens and pensils are way more important for children as they teach children penamnship and actual thought on what is being done, not a spell check softwear that gives absolutely no thought but just corects it.
BTW look at it this way, the only people that are going to profit from these laptops in other countries arent the children, but those billionair bastards who are trying to push their product and then try to control another country’s whole education and dependansy on a sertain subjuct
Oh? Are political threads gainst the rules here? Well just reciting history here, my morning rant I guess 
That’s interesting. Why do you say that? These aren’t laptops like you and I might use. They’re low power, use hand cranked generators and/or solar power, they have no hard drives, slow processors, and limited storage capacity. They’re designed to get a working computer into the hands of people that don’t have any other technology infrastructure.
Well, actually, in this case, it’s a university project (at least, it started out that way). It’s not a government initiative, or even a private industry one. They’re using an open source operating system, and the product they’re making isn’t really directly useful as a marketing target for any company, big bad Microsoft included.
I guess everyone who wants to make a charitable contribution to anyone, anywhere, needs to make up their own minds about where they’re going to help. There will always be people who are poor and less advantaged, none of us with any kind of means can help them all. It might be argued that any kind of help to anyone is better than no help at all, I think.
As I said, and for what little it’s worth, this isn’t a government program. And it does have international support and funding. No one from the USA is trying to force this down anyone’s throat.
You seem to feel very strongly about the US and it’s involvement in international affairs, and I can respect that. The best I can do is to say that not all of us (or even most of us) are evil, and many of us really do want to help, as best we can figure out how.
I guess I’d disagree with the first part on the grounds that A) no one can learn about computers without actually having one in hand, B) that learning to use a computer is vital to being able to function as the future rolls onward, C) that same argument was used when I was in high school about calculators and was no more true about them than it is about computers, and D) no tool, even a computer can really teach a child how to learn and how to think; that will, for the foreseeable future, always require a human teacher.
These computers are being provided as tools for learning, not a replacement for it. I really think that if you check out the specs on these things, you’d also come to believe that these laptops aren’t going to restrict anyone’s learning. And certainly, no one is going to get rich off of it. I can’t even picture an economic model where this program would make anyone wealthy (or wealthier). It’s just not structured right for a business plan to evolve from it.
There’s no money to be made in these areas with computers. If there were, I can assure that the big players in the industry would alreasy be there with their products.
Right.
What good are computers when you don’t have some of the basic living standards.
If you want to make the world a better place you have to set priorities. The OLPC initiative failed in that department.
the big players in the industry would alreasy be there with their products.
They are trying, arent they, and on taxpayer funding, too, it seems.
Lol yes, some of my words were a bit misdirected
The best I can do is to say that not all of us (or even most of us) are evil, and many of us really do want to help, as best we can figure out how.
Are you just saying that? You sure you’re not just after the local oil reserves?
I’d agree with that, certainly. People need food, water, clothing, shelter, sanitation, and health care. No question.
The OLPC isn’t trying to make the world a better place, per se. They’re trying to add to the world by getting computers into the hands of people that don’t have any other means (economic or technological) to get them.
The OLPC is still getting off the ground… I’d argue that it’s too early to talk about succes or failure on their part, yet.
I’m not sure what you mean, exactly… who is trying what, and what taxpayer funding are you referring to? I’d be interested to learn more.
THEY! nervously peeks over his shoulders I cant talk anymore or they will put me into a secret prison where I will be tortured (according to the US laws).
Ah, of course, how silly of me. 
Seems like this thread is turning to political rambling after all so lets leave that completely aside. I wont even answer to the above political comments even if I want to
These cheap laptops sound like a good idea for classrooms as they a good amount of possible uses. Pen and paper, yeah I see, but have you noticed how many sheets of paper a student can use in a day, a week, a month? so you have to take into considerations supplies. Plus, a computer can hold books, and a good amount of them, autocorrecting exercices, and so on. Plus if they have the internet they have a whole library and world at their fingertips. It might sound idealistic but I think it’s not such a bad idea.
And it’s a private non profit organisation and not some private company or government idea so they are not in for money or propaganda and so on.
Cheers to them as I dont know many people willing to take on such a large scale effort even though it might not be perfect in its idea and design but that’s up to you to decide