One Laptop update

Foreign countries were supposed to pony up the cash to buy the laptops but they haven’t because they’re skeptical that spending millions of dollars on laptops alone will change the way kids learn. Still the leaders of OLPC remain convinced countries will see the changes once they buy the laptops and see the product, but some within the organization are suggesting it should make changes to the laptops to make them more attractive to buyers, but not everyone agrees with that assessment. This official says there’s been a change within OLPC from education as the main focus and now it’s a pragmatic focus on getting the laptops out to children. One person who’s taken the education side recently quit the organization, making the third high-level departure since late last year. He was the Chief Software Designer for the project and designed a software specifically for children education and some OLPC people say using Windows could get more countries involved, but that former OLPC officer disagrees. The man who launched the project says OLPC’s mission remains the same. Since the announcement of the OLPC project in 2005, other companies have stepped up to design low-cost laptops and some observers says OLPC has already had a lasting impact on the idea of low-cost computing.