XO

The newspaper reported something interesting today: the $270 laptop. It is a project of a non-profit organization called One Laptop Per Child (OLPC). The laptop is called XO and is going to be in production on September of this year. The computer is going to use the free Linux operating system and will boast of several features like a built-in camera, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi connection and a 1GB memory.

It is a great and noble idea. Imagine bringing technology to everyone even to the poorest of the poor. Although it is pretty ironic because it’s like expecting someone whose stomach is grumbling with hunger to actually spend the money to buy the computer for education. But who knows? It could happen. Or maybe the poor country’s government might think of spending money to buy the computer and actually distribute them to the children who really need them.

But what should be a good deed is shadowed by greed from other companies who want a piece of the pie. Intel has manufactured a similar low price computer called Classmate citing that XO is not a computer but a mere gadget. To aggravate the insult, not a single order for the XO computer has been received. As for Intel’s Classmate, it seems the order has already poured in.

The color of the XO computer is quite nice and enticing to children: neon green. Not a bad color, I'd say. Not bad at all. Let’s just hope that one child learns something new and transform a noble idea into reality.


To find out more information about the XO computer, click here.