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The $100 Headache

Amid delays and feuds, the One Laptop Per Child program = is=20 picking up the pieces

By Amy Feldman Posted 03.03.2008 at 3:12 pm 0 Comments

=20

Reboot, Please: = Because of production and partnership woes, the cost = of the=20 $100 laptop has jumped to $200. Photo by = Mike=20 McGregor; Superstock

Three years ago, One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) was a shining example of = innovative, nonprofit goodness. It had a bold humanitarian mission to = develop=20 and send $100 laptops to children in developing nations, and its = founder,=20 Nicholas Negroponte, had ambitions of distributing up to 10 million = units by the=20 beginning of 2007. The XO laptop won widespread acclaim and plenty of = accolades=20 (including a 2006 Best of What=E2=80=99s New Grand Award in this = magazine).

But this past year has brought the high-flying OLPC back to earth. = Production=20 of the laptops has stalled, and the price tag of the machine has doubled = to=20 $200. As of January, OLPC had built only around 250,000 laptops, and = delivery=20 problems left some critics fuming. Worse, Intel parted ways with the=20 organization over creative and management differences to work on its own = low-cost educational laptop, called Classmate. On top of that, an = international=20 tech firm slapped OLPC with a $20-million lawsuit in Nigeria claiming=20 keyboard-design infringement, and founding chief technology officer Mary = Lou=20 Jepsen tendered her resignation to run her own for-profit company, Pixel = Qi,=20 that develops inexpensive computing devices.

Now, looking to revitalize its efforts and broaden its appeal, OLPC = is=20 working with Microsoft to field-test a modified version of Windows XP on = the=20 laptop. Although Walter Bender, OLPC=E2=80=99s president of software and = content, says=20 the organization is just keeping its options open and has no intention = of=20 replacing the XO=E2=80=99s Linux operating system, the collaboration has = raised some=20 eyebrows. Experts applauded the original decision to use Linux since, = unlike=20 Windows, its open-source nature would allow local programmers to write = code in=20 their native languages. And because Windows XP requires more computer = memory,=20 running the operating system stands to drive up the machine=E2=80=99s = price.

Beyond the technology tangles, perhaps OLPC=E2=80=99s biggest = challenge may simply be=20 living up to its own ambitious goals. Following slower-than-expected = development=20 of the XO, production started just last November and, at press time, = OLPC had=20 shipped fewer than 200,000 of the XO laptops abroad, with another 80,000 = going=20 to participants in the Give One, Get One campaign in North America.

But even if these numbers fall far short of Negroponte=E2=80=99s = initial goal, they=20 would be considered pretty strong for most small computer manufacturers = in a=20 short period of time. Roger Kay, the president of computer-industry = analysis and=20 consulting firm Endpoint Technologies Associates, which has followed = OLPC since=20 its conception, says the nonprofit is =E2=80=9Cdoing OK=E2=80=94not = brilliantly, but all right.=E2=80=9D=20 Although the XO works well for a low-cost device, he says, the execution = of the=20 project=E2=80=94everything from failing to secure buyers in large = markets such as China=20 and India, to relying on pro-bono distributors, to its public breakup = with=20 Intel=E2=80=94is indicative of OLPC=E2=80=99s lack of business = experience.

The question is how quickly the organization can learn from its = mistakes.=20 Bender remains unfazed by the program=E2=80=99s rocky = start=E2=80=94=E2=80=9CWe=E2=80=99re looking at getting=20 millions [of laptops] out in 2008,=E2=80=9D he says=E2=80=94but in the = coming year, the=20 nonprofit will need to recruit a new CTO and fill Intel=E2=80=99s = vacancy by enlisting a=20 partner wealthy enough to replace the chip maker=E2=80=99s millions of = dollars in=20 funding. Resolving the Nigerian dispute is also key, because OLPC is = prohibited=20 from doing business in that populous market (an estimated 57 million = children)=20 until the matter is settled. Additionally, OLPC plans to streamline = production,=20 roll out machines that will work in other languages, and continue = developing the=20 next version of the XO, which Bender expects will come closer to the = $100 mark=20 when it is released in a few years.

Meanwhile, despite OLPC=E2=80=99s turmoil, families are putting the = XO to good use.=20 Last March, 20 students in Ban Samkha, a remote, rice-growing village in = Thailand, got their hands on the machines=E2=80=94a first for some. They = quickly began=20 to use Google, connect with new friends around the world, and monitor = local=20 weather to help alert the landslide-prone village when it=E2=80=99s at = risk. The Ban=20 Samkha experience serves as a vivid reminder that the OLPC project is = worth=20 rooting for.

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