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OLPC's "Give 1 Get 1" Comes To Europe

Posted by kdawson on from the can-i-play-tictactoe-on-that dept.

Christoph Derndorfer writes "Last year OLPC's XO-laptop was among the hottest Christmas gadgets thanks to the organization's G1G1 program, where you could donate $399 to give one XO-laptop to a child in the developing world and receive one yourself in return. However in 2007 the program was only available for US and Canadian citizens. This year's program, which takes off November 17, is also available to citizens in the EU member states, Switzerland, Russia, and Turkey. This is certainly awesome news for all the OLPC / Linux / gadget enthusiasts here in Europe! P.S. Before anyone asks, these XOs will come equipped with the child-friendly Sugar platform, which is based on Fedora 9, and not Windows XP."

7 of 134 comments (clear)

  1. How relevant is it now? by glop · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Hi,

    I don't mean to troll.
    I am not sure how well the device has aged with all the new netbooks that are available.

    A few features that remain unmatched:
      - screen that works in sunlight
      - ebook mode (although I can read a PDF on my EEE and it looks great)
      - more rugged than other computers
      - battery life (?)
      - hand crank (did they provide it this time?)
      - wifi mesh

    Also, is there a guarantee that the OLPC you donate will not be running XP? I would not be too happy about sponsoring Microsoft...

    I am not shopping this year but I am afraid I would not choose the OLPC. Maybe I would get it for my kid though, I wonder.

    1. Re:How relevant is it now? by LMacG · · Score: 4, Insightful

      If you're buying via the G1G1 program primarily to get yourself a new notebook, you're doing it wrong.

      --
      Slightly disreputable, albeit gregarious
    2. Re:How relevant is it now? by blair1q · · Score: 5, Insightful

      No you aren't.

      The G1 still goes to someone who doesn't has, and you still has G1.

      That's exactly right, no matter why you wanted to G1.

    3. Re:How relevant is it now? by poot_rootbeer · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I am not sure how well the device has aged with all the new netbooks that are available.

      The OLPC XO-1 is not and was never intended as a general-purpose netbook. Yes, it's possible to read Slashdot and play Doom and compile a Linux kernel on it, but that's only a side-effect. The hardware was specifically designed to be low-cost and geared towards primary-school-aged children.

      - hand crank (did they provide it this time?)

      In the developed world, a hand crank is even more a novelty than the XO-1 itself is.

      It will come with an AC adapter suitable to mains power in your country; if you really truly need dynamo power, you can salvage one from an emergency radio.

      - wifi mesh

      Really only useful for collaborating with other OLPC users in your immediate vicinity.

      I am not shopping this year but I am afraid I would not choose the OLPC. Maybe I would get it for my kid though, I wonder.

      Now you're beginning to see things the way OLPC wants you to.

  2. Re:100 $ laptop by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    To make the OLPC laptop possible, they had to get help from big manufacturers. These manufacturers probably made it a condition that the market in high income countries won't be ruined by extremely cheap laptops. So you can get one of these laptops, but only if you pay a first world price for it. It doesn't matter that they have to build two for that price, as long as you pay the higher price and only get one.

  3. Re:If and when I get a job... by horatiocain · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Don't worry. The OLPC computer gives you the tools to overcome your low social class, enabling you to pull yourself up by your own bootstraps and find myriad possibilities in today's globalized, technological market.

    Yes with the OLPC's help it will only be a matter of time before the wealth from the world's top 1% trickles down to you! Then with the crumbs that drop from their mouths you can feed your family!

    Honestly? This is funny to you? Here we have a project operating in the wealthiest nation on Earth which attempts to balance out the logarithmic income discrepancy between the first and third worlds, and you're reframing its ideal outcome - competing in a global information economy - as 'feasting on crumbs'? What the fuck is funny about this?

    You're a sad person.

  4. Re:If and when I get a job... by mewshi_nya · · Score: 5, Insightful

    He was talking about the fact that this 'trickle-down' bullshit is completely bunk. And, frankly, we have bad enough income discrepancy in the first world. We need to fix our own problems - however, I have no problem with solving both concurrently.