Slashdot Log In
OLPC Launches Buy One, Give One Free Program
Posted by
CmdrTaco
on Mon Nov 12, 2007 08:48 AM
from the haven't-we-heard-about-this-before dept.
from the haven't-we-heard-about-this-before dept.
Tha_Big_Guy23 writes "For the first time, and for a limited period only, people in North America will be able to get their hands on the XO, MIT professor Nicholas Negroponte's rugged little laptop that's designed specifically for children. And for each cutting-edge XO purchased in the West, another will be given to a child in a developing country. For $399, customers can order a laptop for themselves; bundled into the price is the cost of delivering a second XO to a child a poor country."
Related Stories
[+]
Hardware: Hacking the XO Laptop 95 comments
dulceLeche writes "While the OLPC was not designed with the American consumer in mind, people that took part in the Give One Get One program have been having fun with their XOs. The XO has a number of limitations, but with some work you can get Opera running, chat over your mesh network, and much more. An article at Geek.com explains what a few folks were able to do with their XOs."
This discussion has been archived.
No new comments can be posted.
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
Full
Abbreviated
Hidden
Loading... please wait.
Other options? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
With so many other options for low cost linux based laptops coming up, how many would lap up the XOs? Yeah some geeks & some philanthropists ... the tech loving & God fearing maybe ... but will it sell like the Dells?
I think their going for the philanthropist geeks. If they sell a thousand at this price they can move towards lowering the price.
Do they say how much of the money is shipping to the third world country? I would think if they picked one Costal City for the initial recipients, it would be cheap to ship the laptops via ship and have a local volunteer or two distribute them to the children.
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Since the price is $399 for 2 and the manufacturing costs are "about" $180 each, that leaves $20, or about 10%, for distribution and other miscellandy costs.
I wonder if that's enough to cover the 'gratuities' to 3rd world customs officials who just want a little extra something for themselves no matter what it being transported.
Re:Other options? (Score:5, Informative)
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Second, are only the God-fearing allowed to help others? only tech-loving people should play with gadgets? You wouldn't bother helping others unless there was some strong incentive to do so? Your curiosity is only limited to that which you are familiar with? I don't wish to judge you from the few words you have typed in the comment, but the world-view presented within them seems to be extremely narro
Re: (Score:3)
I run a group which implements Edubuntu and other FOSS at poorer schools in India for free. So, am naturally interested in XO & all its alternatives out there to better utilize the meager funds (so far zilch) we have.
And I have a vested interested in the success of this buy one donate one concept as it will help groups like ours & many more.
I only put up an honest query and not any rhetoric.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
By the way, people who give out of love for their fellow man are God loving. Those who are God fearing send money to the Christian Coalition and try to legislate everyone else's behavior.
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Other options? (Score:5, Informative)
"It's an education project, not a laptop project." -- Nicholas Negroponte
If you want a cheap laptop, buy the Asus or Dell for $400+. If you want an educational computer designed for kids, buy the OLPC.
Parent
Re:Other options? (Score:4, Interesting)
When it comes to selling, we have to wait and see. Currently the OLPC isn't even sold by normal means, you can buy two for the price of one, but only when you are in the USA and only when you order it in the next two weeks or so, which kind of limits it to how many people can buy one.
I'd love to buy one, but I guess I have to wait a little longer till its even available here in germany.
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Other options? (Score:5, Informative)
As an adult, I prefer the Eee though, mostly because I do not like the XO rubberized keyboard.
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Nice Chance for a Donation (Score:2, Interesting)
Nice way to help a worthy cause and not a bad deal for a years t-mobile service.
Re: (Score:2)
I also don't see where to buy one... I went to laptop.org, but can only find the 'donate money' area, not somewhere I can buy 2 to get one. (It occurs to me that this might make a good present for my niece.)
Re:Nice Chance for a Donation (Score:5, Informative)
Parent
North America has poor folks too! (Score:2, Insightful)
I will agree that what America has is what I could call "material prosperity". There appears to be infrastructure everywhere but people are hurting in the pockets. These days, the American dollar has also taken a hit, so everyday stuff is expensive.
Re: (Score:2)
I would rather give a computer to someone I don't know (and enable them to learn), than give nothing.
Re:North America has poor folks too! (Score:5, Insightful)
Um, is there a statement from the OLPC people where they say that everyone in NA can afford one? It seems to me that they only said that individuals in NA can buy one, if they want. There is no comment about the "material prosperity" of everyone on this continent.
Now that I think about it, the title of your comment is "North America has poor folks too!" yet you only reference [the United States of] America. There are a couple of other countries on this continent, too, don't forget.
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:North America has poor folks too! (Score:5, Informative)
Yes, OLPC is focusing their efforts on third-world countries, but also the US education system is mostly ignoring OLPC. The "why" is fairly simple: it's not because US children do not deserve a good education, and not because they wouldn't benefit from computer access. But, the fact is that the US is structured such that OLPC may not be the "best fit." For instance many libraries in the US have computers in them, and many schools do also. It would appear that in the US the effort is being put into these kinds of educational resources. Whether or not that is the best way to spend US education dollars is of course up for debate.
But it's not really fair to imply that OLPC is ignoring US education. As I said, educational institutes in the US are free to make a case for funding such projects. OLPC will gladly ship the units.
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
I disagree. Nicholas Negroponte in the past had flat refused to sell the computer to US schools. Only when it was looking like he wasn't going to get enough orders to begin mass -production did he start to *consider* it. Here's a snippet from a good Ars Technica article [arstechnica.com]:
Won't make as much impact. (Score:5, Insightful)
Now, I'm not saying poor folks in developed countries brought it upon themselves, or are willfully poor, but I do think that there is greater room for improvement across populations as a whole in other places.
Parent
Re:North America has poor folks too! (Score:5, Interesting)
The 'poor' in America are ONLY poor in relative terms. In China, which has an up and coming boom economy, I saw people living in such abject poverty and squalor that I can't even imagine how crappy it must be in Saharan Africa where apparently people have it really rough. Panhandlers at the traffic lights here in the US have it easy compared to 95% of the 'working class' people I saw there. However, even the poorest Chinese was busting butt to better their circumstances and even the most ignorant understood that education for the children was the best way to better the entire family. How many of the poor in the US understand that vs how many understand how to wait for the next handout? Sorry, but I've worked too much with the poor in the US and become completely disillusioned with any romantic notions of how all they need is a little more 'help'. They need the help withdrawn so they'll have a little motivation.
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
However, even the poorest Chinese was busting butt to better their circumstances and even the most ignorant understood that education for the children was the best way to better the entire family.
That's generally true, but part of the reason is that in Chinese culture, you are expected to take care of your parents to a much greater degree than we are expected to here in the U.S. While any decent parent would want their child to have better than what they themselves had, that part of the culture motivates the less decent ones as well.
More information... (Score:4, Informative)
The two laptops will cost $399.00 USD, and shipping is $24.95 USD (for a total of $423.95 USD). Open to residents of US and Canada only. Paypal is the default payment option (credit cards are also accepted). Of that, $200 is considered a tax-deductible donation. Your contribution also gets you 1 year of free Wi-Fi [laptopgiving.org] access at T-Mobile hotspots [t-mobile.com].
The website says that they will try to deliver the laptop before the holidays, but that initial supplies are limited (TFA says 40,000 units in this first month, with 20,000 ready before Christmas), so if you're keen to get one of these things, you should order sooner rather than later.
I'm certainly curious to see how many orders get put in. If a large number of geeks buy these things as hacking toys, then they could very well become the best platform for a variety of tasks. For example, maybe this will finally be a viable e-book reader (portable, rugged, long battery life, display that can be used in ambient light, etc.). Should be interesting.
XO black market (Score:3, Funny)
I bet if they tried the freemarket approach they could get the retail price down to, oh I don't know, maybe 100USD. They could name it "the $100 laptop"
No? Oh ok, I'll just have to buy two Eee PCs for the same amount.
Guaranteed? (Score:4, Interesting)
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
You mean by guaranteeing something like ...
... from the Terms and Conditions [laptopgiving.org] of the Give One Get One [laptopgiving.org] program.
I ordered one. (Score:3, Interesting)
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Re:I ordered one. (Score:4, Informative)
http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Give_One_Get_One [laptop.org]
Will the North American Laptops include any human-power system?
no.
Parent
Re:I ordered one. (Score:4, Informative)
Unfortunately you'll have to join the mailing list (http://www.potenco.com/contact-us) to find out about availability since they are focusing on the kids (away from the grid) first.
Parent
Forget the North Americans - sell to Europe! (Score:3, Funny)
I wish it was available in the UK (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Forget the North Americans - sell to Europe! (Score:5, Informative)
Here's a pointer [olpcnews.com] to a method for ordering one if you are located outside the USA and Canada.
There are also reports [olpcnews.com] that folks in Europe have been able to place orders by phone. This would only work for phone orders - the web site (PayPal) only allows USA and Canadian shipping addresses.
Parent
Looks like a great first computer to me (Score:3, Interesting)
As a programmer, I look forward to seeing the software efforts that are built atop this platform. There's plenty of room for free educational software for kids and this looks like a good platform for it. Surely someone will port the platform stack to a standard Linux distro, and then any software you write for this, you can run on your PC you bought at Wal-Mart.
Cheers, Frank
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Re: (Score:2)
Re:Too late (Score:4, Funny)
Parent
Re:Is this really a good idea? (Score:5, Informative)
First, it should be noted that OLPC is targeting developing nations where there is some momentum to improve things, but where access to technological resources and information are limiting growth. They are not focusing on the "desperately poor" countries where starvation is the overriding concern (take a look at the participating countries [wikipedia.org]). Second, the XO laptops are meant to work side-by-side with other forms of relief, aid, education, and infrastructure improvement.
Saying "why bother with OLPC when people are starving?" is like saying "why bother sponsoring a local child to go to a swimming competition when people are starving?" We can simultaneously be philanthropic in different ways to different groups. Moreover, focusing only on the "most dire" problems (and ignoring everything else) is not a good way to help the world as a whole develop into a safer, more equitable place. So, I view OLPC as a part of the overall puzzle: a positive step that can be implemented in some countries, and which will help stimulate those countries to become more prosperous and independent.
Parent
Re:Is this really a good idea? (Score:5, Informative)
I sponsor a teacher in a school in South Eastern Madagascar. By this, I mean that I pay for her board & lodgings. The government pays her salay (approx $500/year) I have done this for the past 4 years.
The village where she teaches is 4 hours by 4WD vehicle to the nearest tarmaced road. They have plenty of food, clean fresh water etc. What they lack is the rest of the things that connect them with the outside world. There is 1 TV in the village. I supplied it alone with a solar panel, some car batteries and an inverter. They have a pirated Satellite encoder and can now stay in touch with the outside world. The thirst for knowledge of the children is fantastic. If I were in the US I would buy several of these units for the village.
The lack of infrastructure(ie no Electricity) is irrelevant for the OLPC. That said, next year I'm hoping to get a small water turbine installed and connected up to a generator. They will have electric light for the first time. Then we can start to make changes to the houses so that the epidemic of lung diseases can be tackled. This is due to the houses not having chimneys and all cooking is done over an open charcoal fire.
I visited the village again in October. I took supplied of pencils and paper (bought in-country) I also took pictures of the children and printed them out in front of them. They took them home to very proud parents.
The OLPC concept will help bridge the gap between the 1st world and the bottom parts of the 3rd world.
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Re:USA? Black Friday... (Score:5, Insightful)
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
As evil as they are, MS is the de facto standard. If you don't know windows you're missing a key skill to join the technology work force. Giving a bunch of kids a one-off linux based laptop leaves out critical skills.
And the way to change the landscape is to get people used to using something different in a place where there isn't a de facto standard.
Or $diety forbid teach them to think and learn so that they can make the choice themselves as to what OS to use when their country becomes less technology challenged.
Or is education of the end-user not the ultimate goal here?
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
The XO basically revolutionize the low-end portable computer market. They where the first to talk about ultra low cost, ultra-portable, low-power computing, and as such kick-start the movement which gave us recently the Asus Eee and the Intel ClassMate. Without them, the market would have slowly converge toward cheaper and cheaper hardware, but I think we would still be a couple years
Compare it to other apples. (Score:3, Insightful)
Bad luck I'm in Scandinavia, may be you can buy one and send it to me?
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Seriously - buying laptops for kids should not be P1 in terms of global humanitarian aid folks.