OLPC faces 'vicious' rivalry in laptop market

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Except you need to pay again for XP: Boy, aren't those OS licenses are pesky? The rights to use the software is non-transferable, which means, if you buy a used PC with XP with it, you need to buy yourself your own license.

Although I am sure that in those countries they don't care so much about pirating XP if it makes their life easier. And no one is going to ask them for "damages" money asking more than they can afford in the first place anyway.

Still, it would not be possible to have an official stand for this. Imagine a charity promoting use of pirated XP. Highly unlikely.

Plus, OLTP's design are somewhat ruggedized. And you have to appreciate its low power usage of the laptops, with ability to have LCD monochrome screen to save power and usable under sunlight. Try powering up your normal laptop by hand cranking for 5-6 hours so that you can use the normal laptop for 1 hour. OLTPs are designed to be used where electricity are scarce, with recharging the battery for two hours can provide 1 hour of computing.

And oh yes, it has to be mostly self supporting. I don't think its feasible to have an IT technician in rural areas in Uganda just so that they can provide technical support. OLTPs are designed in a way that can be maintained by high school students, with only few days training.

Any normal laptops takes care of those limitations? And those are just two. Go and read ahead of the amazing work they have done for OLTP.

OLTPs are not designed even for developing countries. Its meant for the third world. And its not a "use for anything laptop", it is designed for education. The software in the laptop is very coherent with the mission. You don't have to know Linux to run it. Heck, you don't even have to know the OS and applications concept in order to use it. It is meant to be as seamless as possible, without any of the complexity of modern computings. (Oh, even an "out of memory" error is complex); Posted by: fadzlan@... Posted on: 09/23/08 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use