THE ONE LAPTOP PER CHILD (OLPC) group which aims to jumpstart the quality of education in developing nations by providing low-cost technology tools such as the XO laptop, has announced that they will be offering the XO laptop on a "Give One Get One" basis.
Dubbed G1G1, the program starts on November 12 and will run for a limited period only. Presumably, Give 1 Get 1 will be offered only within territories of developed nations particularly the USA.
OLPC Founder and Chairman Nicholas Negroponte emphasized in a keynote speech delivered at Harvard last August that the OLPC is an "education project, not a laptop project.
The XO laptop has a kid-friendly design and leverages open source software. It is about the size of a textbook, has a wi-fi mesh network, a 7.5-inch TFT screen switchable to full-color mode and reflective "outdoor" mode. It is also probably the most energy efficient laptop in existence, so much so that you can hand-power the machine via cranks, pedal or pull-cord chargers. OLPC is backed by technology giants such as AMD, Red Hat, Google, Nortel and Intel.
Despite being touted as the "$100" laptop, whole donations for the XO are actually priced at $200 which includes shipping and handling (to the beneficiaries' country). OLPC of course accepts any contributions, large or small, which will go to grassroots learning initiatives in least developed nations. For the G1G1 program, which will run for 2 weeks starting November 12, the cost of participation is at $399.
Learn more about the One Laptop Per Child project and the G1G1 program at http://xogiving.org.
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