One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) is considering plans to make their green wind-up laptops available to the public with a simple philanthropic twist: buy 2 laptops and get 1. It’s the opposite of buy 1 get 1 free incentives, in this case, you buy 2 and give one to someone on the bottom of the economic pyramid. Interesting. (Source is this BBC article)
I’m a little worried about OLPC though. Currently in third world countries, public utilities are stripped for the value of their parts. Power lines are torn down so that the marginally valuable copper in them can be resold. I imagine microchips and LCD screens will be stripped from their green shells and either resold or used as materials in art for tourists.
I suspect OLPC has already thought of this problem. I wonder what their solution is. The FAQ doesn’t address this concern.
I am really interested in getting an OLPC, even if it meant I had to buy two, the mobility factor for one would be enough.
I am sure people will modify them for bigger flash drives, etc.. I think it would be a fun tinker toy :)
Yea, it’s going to be an amazingly open platform. All code used is strictly open, so I’m sure modding/expanding both hardware and software should be a piece of cake. Exciting stuff.