OLPC

The One Laptop Per Child has been a target for many groups around the world for the last decade. The idea is to get a laptop into the hands of millions of children in under developed countries around the world, to educate them in ways which can not be provided by books. There have been many laptop computers being offered in the past, priced at $100 and down to as low as $35. These have been made by many companies ranging from MIT developers from MIT Media Lab and backed by the delegates from the U.N, demonstrated at the World Summit on Information Society.Many of the prototypes have financial backing from big names such as Google and also Rupert Murdoch.

The most critical criteria for these OLPC computers is that they must be powered without constant need for electricity. Many of these designs have a hand crank mechanism to allow power to be generated manually. The screen must be bright enough to allow viewing under direct sunlight, since many children go to outdoor schools, and not inside a building. Developers are encouraging the open sourced Linux operating system to use as a base for their platform. Not only is this economical, but will allow all programs to be freely distributable, thus reducing the cost of ownership for the charity groups. Current programs to drive these into the schools have been focused on countries such as Thailand, Brazil, Nigeria and other part of Africa.

The newest player in the market is the $35 laptop for kids in India, which has been developed locally. It is being developed in 25 different languages and is targeted at children between the ages of 6 and 12. They are designed to be rugged, so they can be carried and knocked around without any harm to the build and plastic body. The current testing criteria is the drop test from 11 feet, onto a hard surface, and is able to withstand the rain.