One Laptop Per Child Doesn't Change the World -- one man's opinion

PC Mag's John C. Dvorak, ever the cynic, has -- ahem -- a negative opinion of the OLPC project. He has good points. Just not sure they're well-founded.

His story does put a damper on my one laptop per child piece, though. Not to mention that the statistics he calls out will make you cry:

Every year, 15 million children die of hunger. For the price of one missile, a school full of hungry children could eat lunch every day for five years. Throughout the decade, more than 100 million children will die from illness and starvation. The World Health Organization estimates that one-third of the world is well fed, one-third is underfed, and one-third is starving. Since you've entered this site, at least 200 people have died of starvation. One in 12 people worldwide is malnourished, including 160 million children under the age of 5. Nearly one in four people, or 1.3 billion—a majority of humanity—live on less than $1 per day, while the world's 358 billionaires have assets exceeding the combined annual incomes of countries with 45 percent of the world's people.

Thanks, John. Way to rain on the parade. Jerk. :)

One Laptop Per Child Doesn't Change the World - Columns by PC Magazine

one laptop per child

This is the coolest little laptop I've ever seen!

Buy one and an impoverished child gets one, PLUS you get one for yourself, for $399, $200 of which is tax deductible, making your net cost somewhere a little less than $350.

one laptop per child

David Pogue's review of OLPC:

No, the biggest obstacle to the XO’s success is not technology — it’s already a wonder — but fear. Overseas ministers of education fear that changing the status quo might risk their jobs. Big-name computer makers fear that the XO will steal away an overlooked two-billion-person market. Critics fear that the poorest countries need food, malaria protection and clean water far more than computers.

(The founder, Nicholas Negroponte’s, response: “Nobody I know would say, ‘By the way, let’s hold off on education.’ Education happens to be a solution to all of those same problems.”)

But the XO deserves to overcome those fears. Despite all the obstacles and doubters, O.L.P.C. has come up with a laptop that’s tough and simple enough for hot, humid, dusty locales; cool enough to keep young minds engaged, both at school and at home; and open, flexible and collaborative enough to support a million different teaching and learning styles.

Sounds like a wonderful product and a great concept.