One Laptop Per Child Goes Public

The laudable One Laptop per Child (OLPC) project, which as we reported a few months ago is distributing its rugged XO laptop, eventually costing $100 to build, to children in poor countries. Apparently the take up hasn’t been as quick as the developers had hoped, which may be why the OLPC foundation is doing a bit of a U-Turn and offering the green machine to the public.

The offer, called ‘Give 1 Get 1’ is you buy two machines, for $400, OLPC donates one to a child in another country and you get the other one for your child. Originally OLPC said the XO wouldn’t be available to the public, despite the considerable interest shown in the Linux-based machine, which employs a revolutionary daylight viewable colour screen, built in wireless connectivity and all solid state storage. The offer begins on November 12th and will open to the first 25,000 purchasers; you can find out more on the Give 1 Get 1website.