Give one laptop, get one sooner or later
The One Laptop Per Child organization's "Give One, Get One" program has hit a few snags in recent weeks, as donors are apparently having trouble getting their end of the bargain to come together.
The program offered fans of the XO laptop a chance to donate $400 and send one of the laptops to a needy child and one to themselves.
There were enough XO laptops for this Nigerian classroom.
(Credit: Ahmad Dan-Hamidu)Harry McCracken, editor in chief of PC World, is still waiting for his XO laptop. He was one of the first to participate in the promotion, donating $400 to the OLPC on November 12.
Originally, the OLPC told McCracken that he'd have his XO by Christmas, but that got pushed into January, and now representatives tell him he "might have good news in February."
PC World did a more in-depth story on the problems the OLPC is having fulfilling the second part of the "Give One, Get One" program. An OLPC representative said the organization is prioritizing shipments of XO laptops to needy countries, which probably makes sense. But the laptops are in short supply, and issues with addressing and order tracking have compounded the problems.
Peter Glaskowsky of the CNET Blog Network received his XO laptop before New Year's Day, so some shipments are apparently making it through, but the whole affair is another example of the OLPC's rough start to its charitable venture.
The price of the XO laptop has risen steadily, the mass production of the device has been delayed, and founder Nick Negroponte has engaged in a very public spat with Intel over the right of OLPC members to market their own low-cost laptops to the world's developing nations.
Tom Krazit writes about the ever-expanding world of Internet search, including Google, Yahoo, online advertising, and portals, as well as the evolution of mobile computing. He has written about traditional PC companies, chip manufacturers, and mobile computers, spending the last three years covering Apple. E-mail Tom. 
It's funny how he is trying to use it outside its intended use.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wnP8rRYrH2E
I bought 4 (2 to donate and 2 to test/evaluate/report on) and have yet to receive my 2, but I have emails from OLPC explaining the delay and keeping me excited.
I expect this from a new company and am willing to wait. Doesn't bother me at all.
They definitely could use a better ecommerce system with real time tracking, maybe a team of developers will donate one. We would but we are a Microsoft eCommerce Developer and somehow I don't think they would accept my gift. ;)
They must have some really bad order fulfillment system. I made
my $400.00 donation on December 4. I received a few emails
stating I wouldn't receive mine until Q1. Which I was fine with. I
got an email on Dec. 22 which repeated the same thing, saying it
won't make it in time for Christmas. Then on December 24th I
found a box sitting at my front door. There it was, an OLPC, in a
really small box. A christmas miracle.
On December 25th, I received an email stating that my laptop
had shipped. Wow, thanks for the update OLPC!
Those dissapointed in slow delivery of their XOs should remember that OLPC is not a commercial for-profit enterprise. They are trying their best to fulfill the G1G1 orders.
extended to Dec 31. Bummer that others haven't got their XO yet. It's pretty darn cool. My 3-
yr old nephew was immediately telling my brother-in-law, "I want one, Daddy!" when I pulled
it of my bag; I hadn't even turned the thing on. When out in public I am still honing a
standard reply for "What is it?! Is that a real laptop?" A lot of curious people tell me they saw
something on 60 Minutes and/or had heard of the $100 Laptop. The free 1-year subscription
to T-Mobile was a nice fringe benefit. I was hoping for some of the other power options
besides a wall-wart but those are probably only shipped with the laptop destined for a
developing country. The SD slot on the button of screen is great for viewing photos I just taken
on my digital camera. VNCViewer keeps me in-touch with my Leopard machine at home and
Rdesktop keeps me in-touch with my XP machine.
Mine is a little quirky sometimes but I'm overall happy. Hopefully some of the kinks get
worked out with software updates. I hope OLPC org. gets everything worked out. I still think
the XO's open-source platform and kid-friendly suite of apps is better than Intel's Classmate
or Asus' EEE. Who cares if it doesn't run Microsoft Office-the XO is built for kids to learn and
be creative, not as a platform to train 'em to be good office workers of the future. It's a great
machine to surfing web and VNC/RDP/SSH-ing. Attaching a USB keyboard and mouse makes
this thing perfectly usable for people with normal-sized hands :). I dig it and I hope those still
waiting get to enjoy soon too!!
- by joshmadu November 27, 2008 7:41 AM PST
- I Want to have a laptop for my own used but there is no money for that here is my postal address E.Y.N Mbulamel P.O.Box 196 Biu Borno state Nigeria I will be happy to see you respond thank very much.
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