OLPC: Give one get one--for one more month

The OLPC XO laptop

(Credit: OLPC)

Monday isn't the last day after all for the One Laptop Per Child's "Give One Get One" offer.

The offer began two weeks ago and had been scheduled to run through November 26, but the organization extended it until December 31, according to its Web site. With the offer, customers who spend $399 get one laptop, and a child in a developing nation gets another.

"Thanks to a growing interest in the program, we are extending Give One Get One until the end of the year," the organization said.

Customers also get a $200 tax deduction and a year of wireless network access through T-Mobile access points. The laptop uses Linux and a variety of higher-level open-source software packages.

[My-Self]

I'd like to know more ...

I'd like to know what is the result. Do children like it ? Do teachers find it useful or do they consider it a gadget ? Do the children actually use it as intended ? Is teachers training about using the laptop included in the deal ? Where are actual schools that use it ?

I sure like the battery that lasts much longer than my laptop battery, the mesh network, dual mode screen, but this machine is more a social project than a laptop development project, so does it succeed ?

[Jon Skillings]

More on the OLPC laptops

Some schools are indeed using OLPC-supplied laptops. CNET News.com profiled one in this story from April:

Engineering change: Plugging Africa's kids in to $100 laptop
http://www.news.com/Engineering-change-Plugging-Africas-kids-in-to-100-laptop/2009-1041_3-6173640.html?tag=item