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The One Laptop Per Child Association, Inc. (OLPC) is a U.S. non-profit organization set up to oversee the creation of an affordable educational device for use in the developing world. Its mission is "To create educational opportunities for the world's poorest children by providing each child with a rugged, low-cost, low-power, connected laptop with content and software designed for collaborative, joyful, self-empowered learning."^[1] Its current focus is on the development, construction and deployment of the XO-1 laptop.

Mission

The goal of the foundation is to provide children around the world with new opportunities to explore, experiment, and express themselves. To that end, OLPC is designing a laptop, educational software, manufacturing base, and distribution system to provide children outside of the first-world with otherwise unavailable technological learning opportunities.

History

Many concepts preceding the OLPC project were discussed and explored at a number of conferences. The 2B1 Conference, held in 1997 at the Media Lab brought together educators from developing countries around the world to "break down world barriers of race, age, gender, language, class, economics and geography." The most immediate outcome of that conference was the establishment of the Nation1 project and the Junior Summit, held the following year, although many of the sessions at 2B1 helped inform OLPC.

Both the project and the organization were announced at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland in January 2005 and were created by faculty members of the MIT Media Lab. The OLPC project gained much more attention when Nicholas Negroponte and Kofi Annan unveiled a working prototype of the Children's Machine 1 (CM1) on November 16, 2005 at the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) in Tunis, Tunisia. Negroponte showed two prototypes of the CM1 laptop at the second phase of the World Summit: a non working physical model and a tethered version using an external board and separate keyboard. The device shown was a rough prototype using a standard development board. Negroponte estimated that the screen alone required three more months of development. The first working prototype was demonstrated at the project's Country Task Force Meeting on May 23, 2006. The production version is expected to have a larger display screen in the same size package. The laptops were originally scheduled to be available by early 2007, but production actually began in November, 2007.

The project originally aimed for a price of 100 US dollars. In May 2006, Negroponte told the Red Hat's annual user summit: “It is a floating price. We are a nonprofit organization. We have a target of $100 by 2008, but probably it will be $135, maybe $140.”^[10] When the laptop started mass production in November 2007, the unit price was estimated to be $188 when bought by thousand units. At the same time, the laptop was made available under the "Give 1 Get 1" program at $199 for a single unit, or $399 for 2 units.

Mary Lou Jepsen was CTO until her resignation at the end of 2007 to found a new company, Pixel Qi, to continue the development and commercialization of ideas from the XO.

Intel was a member of the association for a brief period in 2007. It resigned its membership on 3 January 2008, citing disagreements with requests from OLPC's founder, Nicholas Negroponte, for Intel to stop dumping their Classmate PCs.^[4]^[11]

Ivan Krstić (former OLPC Director of Security Architecture) resigned in late February, 2008 because, he said, learning wasn’t what the OLPC was about even for Nicholas Negroponte (see quote below).^[12]^[13]

On April 22, 2008, Walter Bender, who was the former President of Software and Content for the OLPC project, stepped down from his post and left OLPC to found Sugar Labs. Bender reportedly had a disagreement with Nicholas Negroponte, the pioneer of the project itself, about the future of the OLPC and their future partnerships.^[12] Nicholas Negroponte also showed some doubt about the exclusive use of open source software for the project^[14] and made suggestions supporting a move towards adding Windows XP which Microsoft was in the process of porting over to the XO hardware.^[15] Microsoft's Windows XP, however, is not seen by some as a sustainable operating system.^[16] Microsoft announced on May 16, 2008 that Windows XP would be offered as an option on XO-1 laptops and possibly be able to dual boot alongside Linux.^[17]

Charles Kane became the new President and Chief Operating Officer of the OLPC Association on May 2, 2008.^[18]^[19] In late 2008, the NYC Department of Education began a project to purchase large numbers of XO computers for use by New York schoolchildren.^[20]

Technology

The XO-1, previously known as the "$100 Laptop" or "Children's Machine", is an inexpensive laptop computer designed to be distributed to children in developing countries around the world,^[21] to provide them with access to knowledge, and opportunities to "explore, experiment and express themselves" (constructionist learning).^[22] The laptop is manufactured by the Taiwanese computer company Quanta Computer.

The laptops include an anti-theft system which can, optionally, require each laptop to periodically make contact with a server to renew its cryptographic lease token. If the cryptographic lease expires before the server is contacted, the laptop will be locked until a new token is provided. The contact may be to a country specific server over a network or to a local, school-level server that has been manually loaded with cryptographic "lease" tokens that enable a laptop to run for days or even months between contacts. Cryptographic lease tokens can be supplied on a USB key for un-networked schools.^[24]

Microsoft is developing a modified version of Windows XP and announced in May 2008 that Windows XP will be available for an additional cost of 10 dollars per laptop.^[25]

The OLPC project is working on an updated XO (dubbed XO-1.5) that will have fewer physical parts and cost less than the XO-1. It could include a faster processor, better wireless hardware, increased storage capacity and rubber bumpers for added screen protection. It is expected to ship in the first quarter of 2009.^[26]

On May 20, 2008 OLPC unveiled its plans for the 2nd generation XO. Key goals for the XO-2 include cost reduction, lower power consumption, smaller footprint and enhanced e-book experience. The XO-2 is targeted for 2010 at the cost of $75. It will consist of two multitouch-sensitive displays, and can be used as a normal laptop (having one of the screens as a keyboard) or an e-book (each screen displaying one page).^[27]^[28]^[29]^[30]^[31]

Distribution

Distribution model

The laptops are sold to governments,^[32] to be distributed through the ministries of education with the goal of distributing “one laptop per child”. The laptops are given to students, similar to school uniforms and ultimately remain the property of the child. The operating system and software is localized to the languages of the participating countries.

Early deployments

Approximately 500 developer boards (Alpha-1) were distributed in mid-2006; 875 working prototypes (Beta 1) were delivered in late 2006; 2400 Beta-2 machines were distributed at the end of February 2007;^[33] full-scale production started November 6, 2007.^[34] Around one million units will be manufactured and deployed in 2008.

Give 1 Get 1 program

OLPC initially stated that no consumer version of the XO laptop was planned.^[35] The project, however, later established the laptopgiving.org website to accept direct donations and ran a "Give 1 Get 1" (G1G1) offer starting on November 12, 2007. The offer was initially scheduled to run for only two weeks, but was extended until December 31, 2007 to meet demand. With a donation of $399 (plus US$25 shipping cost) to the OLPC "Give 1 Get 1" program, donors received an XO-1 laptop of their own and OLPC sent another on their behalf to a child in a developing country. Shipments of "Get 1" laptops sent to donors were restricted to addresses within the United States, its territories, and Canada.

Some 83,500 donors participated in the program. By January 19, 2008 at least 5000^[36] of the donors had not yet received their "Get 1" laptop because of order fulfillment and shipment issues both within OLPC and with the outside contractors hired to manage those aspects of the G1G1 program. Delivery of all of the G1G1 laptops was completed by April 19, 2008.^[37]

Give 1 Get 1 2008

Between November 17, 2008 and December 31, 2008, a second G1G1 program has been run through Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk.^[38] This partnership was chosen specifically to solve the distribution issues of the G1G1 2007 program. The price to consumers was the same as in 2007, at 399 USD.

The program aimed to be available worldwide. Laptops could be delivered in the USA, in Canada and in more than 30 European countries, as well as in some Central & South American countries (Haiti, Peru, Uruguay, Paraguay), African countries (Ethiopia, Ghana, Nigeria, Rwanda) and Asian countries (Afghanistan, Mongolia, Nepal).^[39].

Deployment of XO laptops

Summary of laptop orders

Participating countries

In October 2007, Uruguay placed an order for 100,000 laptops, making Uruguay the first country to purchase a full order of laptops. The first real, non-pilot deployment of the OLPC technology happened in Uruguay in December 2007.^[40] Since then, 200,000 more laptops have been ordered to cover all public school children between 6 and 12 years old.

Laptops have been delivered to the following countries, either following an order or as part of the Give One Get One program:

Countries with Pilot Projects

In addition to pilot projects in the participating countries listed above, pilot projects (from a few dozen to a few hundred laptops) took place or are currently taking place in the following countries (see also Google map of OLPC pilot projects):^[53]

Other interested countries

The following countries have shown interest in the past, but no concrete projects have resulted up to now:

Criticism

Controversy regarding mission

OLPC's dedication to "Free and open source" was questioned with their May 15, 2008 announcement that large scale purchasers would be offered the choice to add an extra cost, special version of the proprietary Windows XP OS developed by Microsoft alongside the regular, free and open Linux-based "Sugar" OS. James Utzschneider, from Microsoft, said that initially only one operating system could be chosen.^[54]^[55] OLPC, however, said that future OLPC work would enable XO-1 laptops to dual boot either the free and open Linux/Sugar OS or the proprietary Microsoft Windows XP. Negroponte further said that "OLPC will sell Linux-only and dual-boot, and will not sell Windows-only [XO-1 laptops]". OLPC released the first test firmware enabling XO-1 dual-boot on July 3, 2008.^[56]^[57]^[54]^[58]^[59]

OLPC's stated ethos that "It's an education project, not a laptop project" was contradicted according to Ivan Krstić, OLPC's former Director of Security Architecture^[60]

Around the same time, Negroponte and Charles Kane made statements explaining OLPC's decision to enable XO-1 laptops to dual-boot either open source Fedora or proprietary Microsoft Windows XP:

Other discussions question whether OLPC laptops should be designed to promote anonymity or to facilitate government tracking of stolen laptops. A recent New Scientist article critiqued Bitfrost's P_THEFT security option, which allows each laptop to be configured to transmit an individualized, non-repudiable digital signature to a central server at most once each day to remain functioning.^[65]

Approach

At The World Summit on the Information Society held by the United Nations in Tunisia from November 16-18, 2005, several African officials, most notably Marthe Dansokho of Cameroon and Mohammed Diop of Mali, voiced suspicions towards the motives of the OLPC project and claimed that the project was using an overly U.S. mindset that presented solutions not applicable to specifically African problems. Dansokho said the project demonstrated misplaced priorities, stating that clean water and schools were more important for African women, who, he stated, would not have time to use the computers to research new crops to grow. Diop specifically attacked the project as an attempt to exploit the governments of poor nations by making them pay for hundreds of millions of machines.^[66]

Lee Felsenstein, a computer engineer who played a central role in the development of the personal computer, criticized the centralized, top-down, design and distribution of the OLPC, calling it "imperialistic”.^[67]

John Wood, founder of Room to Read, emphasizes affordability and scalability over high-tech solutions. While in favor of the One Laptop per Child initiative for providing education to children in the developing world at a cheaper rate, he has pointed out that a $2,000 library can serve 400 children, costing just $5 a child to bring access to a wide range of books in the local languages (such as Khmer or Nepali) and English; also, a $10,000 school can serve 400–500 children ($20–$25 a child). According to Wood, these are more appropriate solutions for education in the dense forests of Vietnam or rural Cambodia.^[68]

The Scandanavian aid organization FAIR proposed setting up computer labs with recycled second-hand computers as a more economical alternative.^[69] Computer Aid International doubted the OLPC sales strategy would succeed, citing the "untested" nature of its technology. CAI refurbishes computers and printers and sends them to developing countries.^[70]

Environmental issues

In 2005 and prior to the final design of the XO-1 hardware, OLPC received criticism due to concerns over environmental and health impacts of hazardous materials found in other computers.^[71] The OLPC asserted that it aimed to use as many environmentally friendly materials as it can; that the laptop and all OLPC-supplied accessories would be fully compliant with the EU's Restriction of Hazardous Substances Directive (RoHS); and that the laptop would use an order of magnitude less power than the typical consumer notebooks available as of 2007, minimizing the environmental burden of power generation.^[72]

The XO-1 delivered (starting in 2007) uses environmental friendly materials, complies with the EU's RoHS and uses between 0.25 and 6.5 watts^[73] in operation.

Nigeria

Lagos Analysis Corp., also called Lancor, a Lagos, Nigeria-based company, sued OLPC in the end of 2007 for $20 million, claiming that the computer's keyboard design was stolen from a Lancor patented device.^[74] OLPC responded by claiming that they had not sold any multi-lingual keyboards in the design claimed by Lancor,^[75] and that Lancor had misrepresented and concealed material facts before the court.^[76] In October 2008, the Middlesex Superior Court granted OLPC’s motions to dismiss all of Lancor's claims against OLPC, Nicholas Negroponte, and Quanta.^[77]

In 2007, XO laptops in Nigeria were reported to contain pornographic material belonging to children partaking in the OLPC Program.^[78] In response, OLPC made plans for adding content filters.^[78] The OLPC foundation maintained the position that such issues were societal, not laptop related.^[79] Similar responses have led some to suggest the OLPC takes an indifferent stance concerning this issue.^[80] According to Wayan Vota Senior Director at Inveneo and founder of the independent OLPC News, "The use of computers to look at porn is [a] social problem, not a hardware one... Children have to be taught what's good and what's bad, based on the cultural context."^[81]^[82]

India

India's Ministry of Human Resource Development rejected the initiative, saying “it would be impossible to justify an expenditure of this scale on a debatable scheme when public funds continue to be in inadequate supply for well-established needs listed in different policy documents”^[83] and later stated plans to make laptops at $100 each for schoolchildren. Two designs submitted to the ministry from a final year engineering student of Vellore Institute of Technology and a researcher from the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore reportedly describe a laptop that could be produced for "$47 per laptop" for even small volumes.^[84]^[85]

Total Cost of Ownership

There are opinions that the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) for the laptops are too high.^[86] There is however a controversy about the right way to calculate these costs.^[87]

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