Meet the XO
Click here to see photos of the XO laptop eWEEK's Emerging Technology Looks at the OLPC's XO laptop See the XO's Sugar Interface in Action. Get a first hand look at Sugar features such as the Mesh and see some of the applications bundled with the XO's Linux-based operating system The Hardware of the XO laptop - While at the OLPC offices we had the opportunity to get hands-on with the XO laptop Podcast: The Tech of the XO Listen to a podcast of my interviews with OLPC CTO Mary Lou Jepsen and OLPC President Walter Bender. One Laptop Per Child's XO (commonly referred to as the $100 laptop) is designed to change the world by bringing computing resources to children in the developing world. But the many innovations in the XO may also end up changing the world of technology. When you first see the XO the thought that immediately jumps to mind is "kid's toy." With its bright green color, built-in carrying handle, funny rabbit ears and rubber membrane keyboard, it looks like something that Fisher-Price might produce.
But when you pick it up, you realize how sturdy and well built the XO is. And when you turn it on, you discover that you are connecting wirelessly to the Internet and to other XO users that are creating a local network. You find lots of software designed for kids but also find some groundbreaking collaboration tools that let you work with others in ways that outshine some of the best corporate groupware. Oh yeah, even though bright sunshine is beating down upon the laptop screen, you're having no trouble reading the display. But the sunlight is OK since it's powering your system through a small, low-cost solar cell. And the XO doesn't need much power since it runs at a fraction of what laptops that are considered "green" run at. This is the XO, a system that was born when MIT legend Nicholas Negroponte set out to build a $100 laptop, in order to make it possible to deliver computers to kids and schools in developing countries. And while the XO didn't make the $100 target price (instead it's currently coming in at around $175), it does now sit nearly ready to be deployed around the world. I recently had the opportunity to spend some time at the offices of the One Laptop Per Child project and I got to take a first had look at the final beta version of the XO, dubbed "B4". I also had the chance to speak to OLPC President Walter Bender and Chief Technology Officer Mary Lou Jepsen. Based on earlier looks I'd had of the $100 laptop, I expected to be impressed simply by the economy, low-power capabilities and wireless mesh features of the XO. But what I saw firsthand exceeded these expectations. Put simply, the XO is one of the most revolutionary computer systems that I've seen in some time. The entire time I was looking at the XO, I was thinking, why can't my new expensive laptop do this? The technologies that the OLPC's XO are introducing could go a long way towards changing the face of future systems, especially in the area of power consumption. However, we shouldn't expect to see the OLPC start commercializing these technologies anytime soon. While there is still a possibility that XO's may be sold to the public at a price that helps subsidize their deployment to the developing world, Jepsen said that when people from Silicon Valley ask her about commercializing the XO's technologies, she says, "Get in line, you have a billion kids in front of you." But simply by doing what they've done, the OLPC will change the laptops and systems that we will all be seeing in the near future. The XO is changing the rules of the game, and everyone will expect other manufacturers to start offering capabilities comparable to the XO (especially at premium prices). In this article, I'll cover the core innovations I saw in both the hardware and software capabilities of the XO. By the end of this article you may be jealous of the computing resources that will be in the hands of some lucky kids in the developing world. But right now they need it more than you do.
HARDWARE See slideshow of the OLPC's XO laptop If the goal is to create a low-cost laptop with low power consumption then the place to start is with the display, which is typically the most expensive and power-hungry part of a laptop. Jepsen said that, when they began work on the XO, the first goal was to build a display that would be low-cost. "But in the process I wanted to make a better display that would be more appropriate for the use conditions in the developing world." This meant not just low power consumption but also the ability to read the display in bright sunlight. Also, while commercial projects to develop new technologies can take many years, the OLPC needed to achieve this in a matter of months. There are a lot of technical details on how Jepsen and the OLPC succeeded in creating a display that would work in direct sunlight; the use of diagonal rather than horizontal color stripes and the fact that each pixel is both a black and white and a color pixel (each pixel is one color, either red, green or blue). "The tradeoff was black and white high resolution in sunlight and color in a room or at night," Jepsen said.
All of this is fascinating but the real point is, does it work? When I was at the OLPC offices it was a beautiful sunny summer day in Cambridge, Mass. We took a couple of XO's outside for lunch and in the strong and directly overhead sunlight, I had no problem whatsoever reading the content on the XO's screen. Yes, the content was in black and white instead of color (though indoors I found the color quality of the XO display to be good, even when watching video), but what's better, a black and white screen that you can read or a color screen that's invisible outside? I found the XO's display to be the best direct sunlight viewing display that I've ever seen, even compared to smaller screens found on PDAs and smart phones. What about the power issue? According to Jepsen, the display uses 1 Watt of average power consumption and, when the backlight is off, it uses 100 milliwatts of power. Also, Jepsen said that they decided to put memory in the timing controller of the display so the display could stay on while the motherboard was turned off. This was because, in many cases, people spend a lot of time reading and the processor isn't doing anything. They were able to put the CPU in or out of hibernation in a tenth of a second so that users wouldn't even notice the change. Jepsen said that often in eBook-mode the XO uses less than a half a watt. While idling, the XO uses about 1 Watt of power, leading Jepsen to say, "It's the greenest laptop ever made and that's not just its color." To make her point Jepsen pointed out that the newest Energy Star requirement is for a laptop to use 14 watts while idling. Of course when it comes to power and the XO, much of the early focus has been on the unique ways to power the laptop, including the goofy attached crank of the early demos, which is no longer a part of the laptop. Rather than focusing on one specific power system, the OLPC has directed itself towards building an ecosystem of alternative power sources. These include everything from small $10 solar panels to string pull generators to bike systems to small windmills. While at the OLPC offices, we were able to see both a solar panel and a string pull system in action. When it comes to power for a laptop the battery is also a big issue. Currently the XO can use two different battery technologies, a classic nickel metal hydride battery or a newer style lithium iron phosphate. The first goal with the battery was safety, to avoid the exploding battery problems that have plagued some laptop manufacturers in recent years. In this case, both technologies are considered very safe and the OLPC has done extensive heat testing for the systems. Jepsen said that they also wanted to increase the life of the battery so they designed the battery to last over five years or 2,000 to 3,000 recharges. Of course the low power consumption of the system helps when it comes to how long a charge lasts. With the XO using on average 2 watts and the battery having a 20 watt hour span, the XO can easily go for 10 hours on a single charge. Jepsen also said that given the battery's low replacement cost ($10) they are considering including a spare battery with every system. Another area that can be a power problem for laptops is wireless, with a typical wireless system in a laptop consuming around 10 watts. Jepsen said that the revolutionary wireless mesh technology in the XO uses .8 watts of power. The wireless mesh of the laptop is easily identifiable by the rabbit ear antennas on the XO (which, when in the down position, protect the system's USB and audio ports and, when up, take the antennas out of the way of the system's electronics to boost range). The technology itself is based on the IEEE's 802.11f spec. The wireless system turns every XO into a wireless router. This means that in a village or small town where the school is the only source of an Internet connection, each child in the village connects to each other and the Internet by connecting to other XO's. Jepsen said that in their tests at 10 hops from the source they were still getting a bandwidth of 2M bps per second. Also the range appears to be very good, with an XO connecting over 2.3 kilometers in what Jepsen admitted were ideal conditions (a flat plain). While the XO may look like a kid's toy, it is many of these toy-like features that make it a very durable system. The OLPC realized that the laptops would be in rough environments and would be in situations where they would probably get dropped quite a bit. In test deployments in the developing world, the system has been very durable, often thanks to the many green bumpers and handles, which provide a lot of cushioning for the system and its display.
The rubber membrane keyboard is, of course, resistant to water and dirty hands. It is also designed to be easily swapped out to account for different languages and character sets. Another concern for the XO is security. With these systems going into some admittedly rough areas, what's to stop them from being stolen or sold on the black market? On the theft side, all XO's are shipped in an inactivated and non-functional state. When they arrive at the school or final destination, a trusted person on-site activates the laptops using a special USB key that they have been sent. If a system is subsequently stolen or lost, it is remotely deactivated and again becomes non-functional. On the more standard side of security, the XO uses a system called Bitfrost that implements many of the best practices of security to limit the access rights of applications, files and users. SOFTWARE
However, once I had the chance to see Sugar in action in a real environment and running on the B4 XO's, I came away nearly as impressed with the innovations in the software as I was with the hardware. The Sugar interface includes some extremely interesting capabilities for managing files, tasks and applications. Also, when combined with the wireless networking of the XO, the Mesh view in Sugar is one of the best and most innovative collaboration environments that I've ever seen. The main Home screen of Sugar is a fairly basic environment where a user can launch applications and see which applications they have running. However, there's a good chance that, unlike a Windows or Mac desktop, users will spend very little time in the XO Home screen. A good candidate for becoming the main interface for file and application management is the Journal application, which, according to OLPC President Walter Bender, essentially replaces the standard hierarchical file system browser. "On the desktop we've tended to focus on the hierarchical, but it turns out that kids in particular, but also most of us, actually have a tight connection to temporal organization," Bender said. What the Journal does is automatically tracks and tags all activities, files and applications that a Sugar user has accessed, based on time. Its rich and customizable tagging make it possible to search and manage content in multiple ways but the Journal is primarily temporal, so if, for example, you were working on a program on Monday, it would be simple to go to that day and jump back into the project you were working on. However, easily one of the most powerful features in Sugar is the Mesh view. Within this view, which can be accessed from a dedicated button on the XO keyboard or from a button in nearly every application in Sugar, users can see other users connected on the Mesh network, can see what they are working on, and can easily connect to and chat or share work with these users. For example, a teacher in a class could share a reading assignment simply by dropping the eBook onto the Mesh. The Mesh can be sorted in multiple ways, including by task, by project, by groups and buddies or even geographically. Looking at the Mesh, I could easily see how an interface like it could be a huge asset in any corporate collaboration or project management tool. Collaboration and sharing also is a big factor in multiple other Sugar applications. Using the XO's built-in camera and microphone users can easily jump into video or audio chats with other users. Bender said, "Anything that you're working on you can drop in a chat overlay and also use it for file sharing directly between people." By default, all media in Sugar is saved in the open Ogg Vorbis format—though users will be able to import codecs if they choose—and the included players will support most common formats. The bundled applications in Sugar include many of the usual suspects: a Firefox-based Web browser, a simple writing application, an RSS reader, an eBook reader, a drawing tool, and of course lots of learning games. However, unlike some systems which tend to stick to either just dumbed-down interfaces or just advanced tools, Sugar applications span the whole range. "One of the core ideas behind what we're trying to do with Sugar and the laptop is the idea of low floor, no ceiling," Bender said.
This means that the development tools bundled with Sugar include the simple Scratch environment all the way to Python. Or that the music creation tools go from the simple but fun TamTam music box to cSounds, an advanced sound programming language used in Hollywood.
Also, while I was at the OLPC offices I saw a number of developers working on new and interesting applications and games for Sugar. These included an advanced calculator that handled a number of functions, including word-based calculations, and a customizable matching game useful for classroom quizzes.
One of the cooler applications was one that took the microphone from the XO and used it as an analog data port, essentially turning the XO into an oscilloscope. Given the places it will be deployed, this could turn out to be an extremely valuable customization of the XO. Like the OLPC project and the XO and in general, much of the focus of the Sugar effort is in giving kids and teachers the tools to grow and customize the applications and environments themselves. In many ways, this is the core power of computing. Yes, its great to use cool programs that others supply, but real learning and growth come from building new applications and tools. "We're just going to be providing this core and then the kids and the teachers can be loading as many of these other packages as they want," Bender said. "Part of the idea is that they'll be making things but the core of reading, writing and arithmetic is all there." This week the OLPC announced that the XO is finally going into mass production. In months, millions of the systems will begin to make their way to children around the world. We will finally see if the project can truly bring the change in opportunities and education that are needed by many children in every country of the world. Will the XO change the world? That remains to be seen. Will it change the current state of technology? It already has. |
Comments (75)
Bravo!!!
This is the best article I have ever seen for a long while, on the best technology innovations for a tech magazine, for the most noble cause of the human society.
DYW
Posted by Da-Yu Wu | July 25, 2007 12:11 PM
If XO can introduce all these innovations at roughly $175 per laptop, can you imagine the margins PC makers such as Dell and HP make?
Great article Jim.
-LC
Posted by Louis | July 25, 2007 2:19 PM
Played with one last week. A+ for industrial design, but with the UI there's a lot of hanging around waiting for things to happen with no feedback-- not good :/
Posted by numpty | July 25, 2007 2:49 PM
numpty, which Sugar build did you have? While I was there we started off with an XO with an older build of Sugar and then we moved to a new build and there was a world of difference in responsiveness.
Posted by Jim Rapoza | July 25, 2007 3:01 PM
The article doesn't mention Ram or storage.
Posted by Tatzlwurm | July 25, 2007 3:40 PM
Hi Tatzlwurm. Good point. It's been published in many other areas but I should probably include it here as well. It currently has 256 Mbytes of RAM and has a 1 Gbyte Flash hard drive.
Posted by Jim Rapoza | July 25, 2007 3:45 PM
Terrific article!
This is the kind of technology that can help to make the world "smaller". Education is often - though not always - the division between the world's standards of living, and the XO, along with its Sugar interface, has the ability help to raise the education level of the less fortunate everywhere.
My hat goes off to those who have helped to create this phenomenon!
Posted by Arbas | July 25, 2007 4:15 PM
Excellent article! Makes one feel quite a bit better about the barriers that technology can help break down.
Do you know whether web-site filtering software is installed or if any products are available for this OS/browser?
Posted by cozy | July 25, 2007 4:44 PM
Oh, and Anti-malware software also...
Posted by cozy | July 25, 2007 4:49 PM
The browser is essentially a custom version of Firefox. I know after they found out about kids surfing for porn they did implement a web filtering system for that school.
Posted by Jim Rapoza | July 25, 2007 5:06 PM
Great article on an excellent system! There have been so many panning XO/Sugar because it's not or won't run Windows, but for the intended market it has, does and is precisely what's needed.
As intimated in the Sugar review -- how long will it be before we realize the OLPC design holds an awful lot of what the rest of us really need as well???
Posted by Gary | July 25, 2007 5:48 PM
This is a REVOLUTIONARY, not EVOLUTIONARY shift in how the COMPUTER SOLVES A PROBLEM!!
The CRAY systems were designed to SOLVE PROBLEMS, that is why we sold so many. If you know your history, you know what the first supercomputers were designed for. Then the COMMERCIAL people asked " OK, I have this problem, how can I solve it with YOUR system? " You know the rest of the story...
Then the " Network IS the computer " idea came along, and the REST OF THE PEOPLE got to benefit from OUR interconnected world. Those that have MONEY, that is...
This may be the great equalizer. You don't need MONEY to have the computer OR the power of the network...
We saw a WALL come down in the 20th century. I think we just have seen a SYMBOLIC wall come tumbling down at the beginning of the 21st.
The Information Age has reached the people who need it most: People have the ability to change the conditions in which they live in and a TOOL to use to do it.
KNOWLEDGE IS POWER!
Posted by Art | July 25, 2007 6:07 PM
Outstanding article! I'd love to get my hands on a couple of dozen units (or more) to use to reach inner-city kids in the U.S. What an opportunity to start a mentoring program...!
Major James Worthy
The Salvation Army
Posted by James Worthy | July 25, 2007 9:40 PM
Indeed space is only as deep as one makes it! Be well. Stephen Craig Rowe
Posted by stephen craig rowe | July 26, 2007 4:53 AM
The next big philanthropic effort after Mother Teresa... Nickolas Negroponte has shown the world what "computing" could have been, if IT Industry (INTL+M$FT Cartel) had shown some common sense.
Here we can do all those things @ US $175 (and then some more) which is possble on >$700 machines. Dude, where has my money gone?? (Justine Sane)... Now you know, how people can stow away gazzilions of cash.... Well now they should be very very afraid of the "$100 Gadget"
Even if goes to the children of developing countries, (INTL+M$FT did not know they exist) the direction of human intellect is clear: We should be able to more of work with less resource... not the other way around.
But in IT you spend more and more to do less and less.... while a bespectacled goat gets your cash.(Common sense is so uncommon in this Industry, you know!!!)
But one trouble: If OLPC is sold at a high price differential in the "free" market, (say @ $325 or $525) there seems a large incentives for thugs, to simply buy OLPC from poor families in Africa, and sell in the US, or may be Ebay. SO there would be a illegal shift/smuggling to other "Moneyed" free market... and the given the socio-economic conditions of theses countries, it is very very possible...Hence the best thing would be not maintain any price differential across the countries...
Posted by Padhan | July 26, 2007 8:23 AM
When and where can I buy one?
Discounts?
Posted by Brad Jensen | July 26, 2007 9:14 AM
Great article. My hope is that by the time these children are old enough to go to college (if they can afford it) or enter the workforce that the Sugar OS or some form of it will have taken over the computer industry so they will be able to apply what they've used as children. Otherwise they will have to relearn how to use a computer.
Posted by Larry | July 26, 2007 12:44 PM
Are these available to purchase?
I am an educator and would love to test one.
There are PLENTY of have not schools in areas here as well.
Posted by Snow | July 26, 2007 12:47 PM
"Will the XO change the world? That remains to be seen."
Is a big step to cut the distances between Countries.
Posted by Hugo Leiva | July 26, 2007 12:58 PM
The issue of if they will go for sale to regular people has changed a couple of times. Recently Mary Lou Jepsen said that they are thinking about selling them for $350 to the regular public by next Christmas (http://www.reuters.com/article/companyNewsAndPR/idUSN2336963020070723).
Also not sure what the current status of sales in the US is, though I know both Massachusetts and Maine have looked into getting them for students.
I'll check on that and see if I can get an answer.
Posted by Jim Rapoza | July 26, 2007 1:41 PM
This is a great thing. I love all the comments aswell. I don't see why someone would bash the OS because its not Windows. I have run Fedora Core on many computers. Linux comes with many powerful programs. It can handle tasks that would leave a Windows User in its dust. Microsoft forces many computer brands to only offer its software. They also force them to sell in certain price ranges. I don't think that these kids, that learn on these systems, will have a problem in the future adapting to the common OS. Because, when that time comes, everything will be Open Source, and I hope Microsoft will be a thing of the past.
Posted by Shane Pritchett | July 26, 2007 2:07 PM
Are all the design characteristics you described and other OLPC intellectual property in the public domain? Can anyone build them?
Are the APIs open? Does the term "bundled applications" equate to a "walled garden" approach?
Fulton Wilcox
Colts Neck Solutions LLC
Posted by Fulton Wilcox | July 26, 2007 3:29 PM
Both the article and the XO system are outstanding. It shows what can happen when a design team focuses on not only the real-world needs of the end user, but cost also.
I read the article and ask "Why can't I have those features on my business machine?"
Imagine what our business machines might look like if a similar effort (like Negroponte's) was expended on discovering the real needs of business users, such as reliability, no lock-ups, uptime, low maintenance, security, file management, workgroup collaboration, etc.
Andy
Posted by Andy Pattantyus | July 26, 2007 3:31 PM
There are plenty of kids in this country that can qualify as "third world" how about making this available to them?
Posted by wwwqueen | July 26, 2007 3:42 PM
True, kids-in-poverty begins at home, but there are other programs that help. Here in Carson City and Reno we have Computer Corps which supply reconditioned desktops to kids and schools. Plus, others can buy low cost systems from them. I saw a bunch being offered on Craig's List. Yes, they may not be great with Windows 2000, but stick in a Puppy Linux Live CD and things speed up. In fact, this laptop reminds me of the great power and handiness of the Tandy Model 100/200.
Look forward to seeing it and other Linux Computers in stores, since most stores are still too afraid to let you try a Linux Live CD in them.
Posted by ChiJoan | July 26, 2007 4:39 PM
Great article and a very good product.
I live in Brazil that is country that OLPC will help a lot.
I believe a project as OLPC has a power to change the world OR, at least, help children to have access to a computer.
Posted by Geraldo | July 26, 2007 5:58 PM
Flash hard drive?! Don't flash memory devices have short erase cycle lifespans (relative to hard drives)? I'm sure this has been considered, so what's the expected lifespan for the XO and is the flash hard drive easily replaceable? How will the kids backup the drive's data?
Posted by Kram | July 26, 2007 8:38 PM
I agree with the masses who are applauding your article. What a qualitative assessment. I have played with early versions at NECC and the OS has really grown up.
To the many who are itching to have one here in US schools, I would tell you that local industries are giving away PIIIs by the thousands and they make excellent Ubuntu boxes. That makes them ripe for poor students, classrooms and parents alike. I recently filled the Senior Olympic Games in Louisville with similar machines for their large Internet Cafe. I don't think anyone knew the machines were either donated or Linux. The machines and their setup were all done by high school IT Interns.
Posted by Scott | July 26, 2007 10:21 PM
From the study of Toshiba lab, they claims it will last 1 million cycle (read/write). If you take projecttion of a few time per day - it will last for our basic life span;-)
Posted by Hannry | July 26, 2007 11:07 PM
Just how much does that "inexpensive" solar panel cost? $200? If anybody knows of one under $100 to power a Dell Latitude, would they email me?
Soldier
scsg@nettally.com
Posted by Dave Gowan | July 27, 2007 8:38 AM
Fulton Wilcox asks "Are the APIs open? Does the term "bundled applications" equate to a "walled garden" approach?"
All of the software on the XO is open source. Freedom is one of the OLPC project's core principles. Many of the applications that the article mentions can be downloaded and run on desktop computers. For example, I used Scratch (http://scratch.mit.edu/) to teach my kids programming, and they loved it. The OLPC-unique software (SUGAR) looks like it's written in Python, and is all open source, so it should in principle be possible to run that on any hardware.
Posted by Laird Popkin | July 27, 2007 8:44 AM
Itis amusing to see the ads for expensive, slow inovation first world laptops at wrapped around this review of an excellent, highly innovative low cost machine.
Posted by Jim Schillawski | July 27, 2007 8:52 AM
Do you know if the oscilloscope application can be used to teach and practice electronics and electricity for younger ones ? I see this computer being used for all kind of use we can not think of right now. I would be surprised if it would be only used by kids. Those computers will fill many kinds of needs.
Posted by Jean-Philippe Martin | July 27, 2007 9:12 AM
So handing laptops to the world makes it all better, eh? Folks, 90% of people who currently have computers have no clue how to use them, spend half the time downloading porn, have great difficulty copying a file from their hard drive to a USB drive, and complain that it's "too difficult." And you don't have to spend long in the Blogosphere to discover that those folks who at least grasp the basic concept of stringing words together and tossing them onto a web site end up writing the most pointless, egocentric, turgid drivel about their babies, pets, vacation in Cancun, and how much they hate foreigners.
No, a cheap laptop solves little, particularly in a world where most folks should stick to the technology that best suits their abilities - a piece of paper and a pencil with an eraser on the end; as complex a "delete" function as they can understand.
Posted by sigmund | July 27, 2007 9:15 AM
Man Sig, Don't hold back. Tell us how you really feel.
Posted by wscomn | July 27, 2007 9:31 AM
Obviously, the Dell comment was based on lack of knowledge. He may also be looking over his shoulder!
The laptop may not make the world BETTER, but it can certainly change it. Microloans and inexpensive cell phones are already having an effect.
Posted by Porcupine | July 27, 2007 9:51 AM
I am excited at the thought of all the applications the XO laptop can be used for. My nonprofit organization, National Association of Negro Business and Professional Women's Clubs, Inc. is working on helping close the technology gap in the U.S. and Africa through educational programs geared to youth and single mothers. This will give these groups the tools for our classes and we will be able to train them in incorporating their work using the new XO laptop.
Posted by Elizabeth M. Chaney | July 27, 2007 10:02 AM
Awesome!
I became aware of this about a year ago and am so happy to see that it is finally ready to go into mass production. Back then I remember reading that this was funded by some "pilot" countries where these laptops will be deployed first. I wonder what are their plans to get these to countries where the goverments do not pay even the minimum attention to the education of their people. Point in case: Guatemala. I love my country to death, but the goverment sucks! I will try to contact them and see if there are some channels that we can use to introduce these to our children.
Great article and I concur with the rest in saying that I take my hat off for the ones who made this possible! God bless them....
Pancho
Posted by Pancho Lopez (Guatemala) | July 27, 2007 10:33 AM
I applaud the innovations behind this device and look forward to how it'll shake up the stodgy tranditional PC market.
But I'm still not convinced that these marvelous little notebooks are truly yhe key to better learning for kids - Third World or otherwise. Does the introduction of technology in a child's life magically equate to improved learning? I'm not so sure...
I'd still like to see even a fraction of the money being spent on this endeavor used for traditional book & classroom education or sex ed/disease prevention efforts.
Don't get me wrong - I think the OLPC folks hearts are in the right place. And obviously they've managed to blend an array of existing technologies in amazing package. But as marvelous as they might be, I'm just not sure that notebook computers are the appropriate solution to the problems that these developing countries face.
Posted by Rob O. | July 27, 2007 10:56 AM
Sell these in the US at 2x the cost to deliver one over seas...Sell a million here, deliver a million there...seems like a good way to get people to pay for your pet project.
I also am one of the eager people that would like one of the XO's...or at least to see the technology overflow into the mainstream (again another way to pay for the OLPC project).
Posted by Kevin Highland | July 27, 2007 11:00 AM
Just wondering about accessibility for blind users. I know much of what's available in the Windows world, but I have no idea what's out there for Linux, let alone the Sugar interface being used here.
I would hope some thought has been given to visually impaired folks out there too.
Posted by Charlie | July 27, 2007 11:42 AM
Excellent article Jim... the best I've seen on the subject!
This is a noble effort all the way around. But being a network administrator for a medium sized insurance company I have one big reservation.
Seems like a company named Apple did something similar in the past supplying computers to schools albeit with less noble intentions. Their thought was to get the kids accustomed to using a Mac in hopes that they would continue to use Macs when they became decision-makers in the workplace. Fair enough and a brilliant marketing maneuver.
Problem is the workplace already had and OS, and more importantly, application software that in many cases had not been ported to the Mac OS. I run into this from time to time here at work. Whether we like it or not, we have several custom applications that won't run on anything except the de-facto standard MS OS. Some of the Mac users have a serious problem adjusting.
The potential for the same problem exists with Sugar. The target audience is younger children (read informative years) and they are learning to use an OS that may or may not be anything close to the mainstream standard when they are of age to enter the workplace. I know from experience that for some users this is almost an insurmountable challenge.
However I do admire the technology and overall intention of the project. Hopefully the mainstream OS's will take note and incorporate some of the truly revolutionary features presented here and the aforementioned problem will not be an issue. Who knows, by the time these kids get into the workplace we may all have implants that interpret brain signals making all of this moot. ;)
Thanks again for a very enlightening article!
Posted by Ken Goods | July 27, 2007 12:49 PM
I think this would also be a great laptop for emergency ham radio work in the disaster areas because of the many power sources and the low power draw with the low cost.
Good Job to all.
Posted by Glenn K. Helwig | July 27, 2007 1:31 PM
Charlie, Linux has screen-scrapers (text to speech), text enlargers and so on just as Windows has. It has had them for years and they work just fine. I do not know if these are included in Sugar. There are are memory constraints implied in its small flash drive.
It should, certainly, be possible to double the flash drive to 2 gig at very little cost and include additional specific features as a need is shown for them.
Some time back I can recall that there was a website that connected free-lance programmers with people who wanted specific things programmed. If development of specific software for the visually impaired is a priority with you, perhaps you could chase that site down and fund the project you are most interested in.
Posted by BillinDetroit | July 27, 2007 1:58 PM
Ken,
I do not see this as an issue any more than using Pascal to teach structured programing. People who learn Structured Programing or even object-oriented programing with Borland Pascal do not have issues when asked to program in MS Visual C++.
Likewise, I moved from DOS to several GUIs before WFW 3.11. I then easily moved to UNIX and OS/2 Warp 3 & 4 before moving to Win 98, Win2k, WinXP, Gentoo Linux, Ubuntu and now PCLinuxOS.
Now that may be because I am a professional Geek or an L33t but on of my brothers is not and I moved him from WindowsXP to PCLinuxOS 2007 when he bought a bargain notebook computer without an OS. He has no problems using Fx, OOo, or GNU Chess, the replacement apps for IE, MSO and ChessMaster 3000.
I can teach someone how tools are used and buy them some Black & Decker equipment to demonstrate and they will be just fine on DeWalt. Alternately I can teach someone how to use Black & Decker tools and they will be lost on DeWalt equipment.
I think that is why I do not like any college or high school class that teaches "How to use Windows Vista and MSOffice 2007," when they should be taught, "How to use business automation and productivity tools." Not that one should not pursue there MCSE when supporting Windows systems is your professional field but I think that the OLPC project users will be fine because they already understand from the start that what they have is only a learning tool and not the devices they will encounter in college or the business world.
After all, even lawyers do not use MS Word but WordPerfect as it is better suited for legal documents. If one thinks that learning MSO is going to always be a plus, think again. One needs to understand word processing tools and techniques to really be marketable. I am more marketable than many because I understand more than just Windows OS, MSO applications and Cisco appliances but OSes, OA applications and principles of networking.
The OLPC initiative and Linux in general encourages choices and experimentation which gives one a well rounded and open minded attitude to whatever tools are offered.
Posted by Karim Hosein | July 27, 2007 3:26 PM
Its a great reminder what can happen when you start with a clean slate and 30 years of technology development. Its a bit unfair to say Apple, Microsoft, Intel, et. al, have 'prevented' this, it is simply the case that most businesses 'innovate' incrementally, but it takes a clean-slate radical challenge to innovate dramatically. Hats off to these guys, I didn't expect it to amount to anything.
Posted by DBHuff | July 27, 2007 9:10 PM
Oh Please. Give a young African child one of these devices, and he/she will be no further ahead than they are now.
Who's paying for the electricity for this? The battery needs to be charged, or it has to be plugged into a wall. Who'se going to bring the Internet into their little village? Who will teach them the value of accessing the information that's on the web?
(Side note: There's NO SUCH THING as effective filtering software. If you put your trust in such a thing, you're setting yourself up for a BIG shock.)
The money that's going into this initiative could be far better spent on educational programs, farm assistance, crime prevention and health programs.
Bah.
And lest someone think I'm some kind of Luddite, I'm not. I've been in the technology business for 32 years now, and have been in the trenches with the computer industry's advances. I just see a better way to help these people than giving them a tool that they'll never use as effectively as the items I mentioned above.
Posted by sam | July 28, 2007 2:40 AM
Sam,
I don't know about current; but as for electricity, I recall reading something about solar-power options as well as hand cranking options that would allow use in areas with no electricity. Also, the biggest thing for these laptops is that they provide a technological way of presenting information to children in a way that empowers them to learn by collaboration as well as individual advances. They don't even have to have internet access, as mesh creates a network of XO laptops that allows them to talk to each other.
Imagine a relief worker going into a village to teach reading, writing, math, etc.. to children. Instead of slates and chalkboard (typical fair from what I understand because of lack of books), these children can have the XO's and the teacher can tailor information to the need of the child.
I really doubt that you have read ANY of the accompanying information on the websites related to these laptops or you'd know all this and stop blathering. These laptops are NOT meant to be a laptop/desktop replacement for a regular user. These things are to introduce technology and basic learning skills to children in a way that's easy to understand and non-frightening.
Yes; to answer another critic, these laptops don't use windows or whatever else is going to be used when the kids grow up, but imagine a child that has basic computing and learning skills walking up to a computer and knowing how to move a mouse and click and type. That in and of itself is something these children would almost NEVER have the opportunity to learn individually let alone as a village.
Posted by tony | July 28, 2007 12:20 PM
I have seen and used this computer. I also spent a great deal of my 30 years in public health working in the third world. I don't think Jim Rapoza has ever worked anywhere.
This entire proposal is naive, as anyone who has worked in the third world can tell you.
There is nothing worse than giving a new user a crummy computer that fails easily. Then not giving adequate support. Then not having a first class support system to repair it when it fails, as it will most certainly do.
This one is also easily harmed by high heat, low cold, and direct sunlight... especially the sun light. What if the case melts. What about sun and ultra-violet radiation penetrating the case? Flash drives are destroyed by it as are memory modules.
Flash drives could be enlarged to 4 or 8 GB for almost no additional cost. But how low will it take for them to be ripped out of these machines and used elsewhere.
It will be brought down easily by all those political and religious groups who want this idea to fail... we will see infestions destroy this entire idea, and give joy to the enemies of growth and change. Not to mention damage done by dirt, grime, rain, and humidity.
Can you imagine the new bureaucracies and power centers that will emerge to help sink what little enthusiasm there will be.
I would monitor the program development in Bangladesh, Biafra, Darfur, the Montagnards, Nepal, Azjerbijan, Kashgar, Kyrgizstan any repressed, remote, Moslem country, Tibet, Armenia and any hot, water-poor desert region... and see what they think. See what support is really needed. See what the kids think.
We will probably be sorry we ever did this. The kids will just learn one more way that they are third class citizens... none of the things kids want. Only those that those in power are willing to allow.
Have they thought through the use of sun-powered systems? Ours worked great at the Base Camp. I suspect a great deal of this was put together by people living along the California coast, Paris, London, and Sydney. Not people who live out in the impoverished regions where it is needed.
It just isn't tough enough. Support is inadequate. What is the long range plan for 7 to 10 years ahead?
But it will make the do-gooders feel good, and make some money.
Posted by Ray Bayles | July 28, 2007 12:42 PM
Jim,
You did a great review on a great new piece of technology.
I'm sure that many kids around the world including the United States will get one of these laptops.
But I believe the whole concept behind the development of this sort of hardware and software at the ~$175.00 price point will have a greater impact than just providing computers for third world kids. It will revolutionize computers for everyone.
Families will buy one for everyone in the household. They'll take them PTA meetings, to doctors offices, to their work place although many IT managers will try to ban them, to school, on vacations where hotels will provide internet access points, almost everywhere. They'll buy one for grandma to read email and see photes of the grandkids. They will make computers universally available and at a price that will also make then an almost disposable device.
A few wild ideas come to mind:
Shoppers have their shopping lists on their OLPC. With each member of the household having a OLPC the shopping list can be prepared and sent to whomever is going to the store. At the supermarket the wireless access device sends the latest "specials" and info on newly stocked items to the shopper. As soon as the person walks into the store the store knows who they are, what they have purchased in the past, their likes and dislikes, etc. The marketing potential is enormous.
Doctors can have "canned" instructions for various diagnoses that can be sent to the patient to keep and read at home. All sorts of other medical uuses can be developed.
75% of the powerpoint presentations we sit through can now just be sent to everyone's OLPC where they can view it at their leisure. Business meetings will never be the same.
The OLPC aith it's MESH capability holds the promise of real computers saturating our society much like cell phones have done in recent years. The automatic mesh in the OLPC will change the face of computing forever.
The impact of OLPC is going to be much greater than what most people are envisioning. It's introduction will likely be remebered as revolutionary. Let me know what company will be producing them so I can buy some shares in it.
Jim Kennedy
Retired as VP of IT at a financial instituion
jimkennedy@alum.mit.edu
Posted by Jim Kennedy | July 28, 2007 2:58 PM
The machines are really tiny when you see them in real life. When you imagine them in use in developing countries, don't forget that they will be used in multi-million person cities as well as agrarian villages. At the OLPC site you can read such gems as these:
http://wiki.laptop.org/go/News
6. Temperature testing: Joel Stanly and Arjun Sarual set up a food warming oven in the OLPC office. The oven is large enough to house eight fully opened XOs and allows us to examine the behavior of the laptops under temperatures ranging from a warm 40C, up to a toasty 60C and above. Some preliminary tests were conducted, examining the operation of the battery charging systems under the extreme heat that may be encountered by, say, a laptop sitting in full sunlight. One motivation for this testing is that the NiMH batteries that are used in some of the XOs lose the ability to be charged above 55C. (The newer LiFePO4 technology allows charging above these temperatures, for when the need arises.) We are pleased to report the XOs ran flawlessly in the extreme heat, even when the oven's unpredictable thermostat inadvertently allowed the temperature to reach 68C. Further testing will take place over the coming weeks.
2. Free Drop: Mary Lou Jepsen and Quanta reviewed all the 10-point free-drop data that we have been collecting over since December 2006. The units are dropped on all corners, all side bumpers, and front and back. Initially, we had dropped onto plywood, but this spring we made the test tougher: we have been dropping on a hard steel plate, with and without a carpet. B4 units pass a 150cm 10-point drops onto a carpet-covered steel plate; a 105cm simulated slanted-desk "slide" onto a steel plate; and a 80cm 10-point free drop onto a steel plate. The laptop, when dropped on the antennas, withstands a 150cm drop. To put these data into perspective: a standard laptop only passes a 45cm 10-point drop on plywood (a much softer material than steel).
Posted by James Supple | July 28, 2007 5:33 PM
Jim Bayles,
"There is nothing worse than giving a new user a crummy computer that fails easily. Then not giving adequate support. Then not having a first class support system to repair it when it fails, as it will most certainly do.
This one is also easily harmed by high heat, low cold, and direct sunlight... especially the sun light. What if the case melts. What about sun and ultra-violet radiation penetrating the case? Flash drives are destroyed by it as are memory modules."
It has been designed to be very rugged, and has been very extensively tested. As far as repair goes, it is designed so most repairs can be made by a 12 year old child.
Jim, I think what is really going on here is you have been working in the development field for years in one model, using computer technology that is very poorly designed for the developing world. Here comes a new technology that blows at least part of your model out of the water because it has been designed from the bottem up for the developing world. Why don't you just get on board?
Posted by Eduardo | July 29, 2007 4:19 PM
The article mentioned the XO includes a lot of materials to teach programing. Among other things, there is a button on the keyboard that if you push it shows you the code of the program you are running (and most code is Python, which is relatively easy to read). Not only that, you can alter the code, and see what happens, and if it screws things up, you can command it to go back to how it was before you made the changes. Is that not the geekiest thing you have ever seen on a product for the general public?
Posted by Eduardo | July 29, 2007 4:22 PM
I think it is a bit of a stretch to say that the OLPC is affordable for the poor in the countries where it is being deployed.
The reality is that the OLPC is affordable to the governments which rule these countries - and these governments procure the OLPC in bulk for use in the schools. That is, the government is the primary purchaser of these products and not individuals.
So many of these same results could have been obtained by simply providing lower cost PCs to the governments of these nations with the Sugar and other software. That would allow for easy support (as parts for PCs are easier to obtain and so also repair and service facilities than would be the case for any laptop).
Having said that, as long as there are tight controls on the nature of net access given to the students (they found that in Nigeria, the kids were using the OLPC to browse porn sites), the OLPC may be useful for the kids to learn to program, to store information etc.
Posted by Prem Kurian Philip | July 30, 2007 2:00 AM
This will definitely change the world of computing and education. Even at $350US, they will successfully challenge present educational tools like Alphasmart's Dana and its Alphasmart (now Neo) predecessor, let alone present day laptops and PDA's. Our family loves the Alphasmart products, which we bought before ever getting a laptop. While the Alphasmart products have proven durable, lightweight and energy efficient, they cannot match up against the features of the XO. I would happily pay $350 per XO for each of my kids, who are organizationally challenged, and have difficulty with the relatively small displays on the Alphasmart products.Before my office desktop was replaced by a laptop, I used to carry the Alphasmart, since most of my portable use was reading and writing anyway; it still is, even though I do development while riding the train. I'd certainly settle for a lightweight XO instead.
As to the usefulness of a 1Gb flash drive, let's remember that before PC's many multi-user minicomputer systems ran in 256 Megabytes of memory and a 200 MEGAbyte disk drive, and some single user systems, including the original Mac and PC, fit on floppy disk drives.
A 2:1 pricing model should allow subsidizing the export units, while not leaving too much room for profit by black marketeers.
Whether or not it suceeds in the OLPC goal, it will bring drastic change. CD drives were expensive items until cosumer audio usage made them cheap commodity items, and Teflon and Tang came from the NASA and military space research. We already have windup radios and flashlights, so at the least, we should end up with more cost effective solar cells, manual power sources, and better battery technologies ($10 vs $200 for my Dell !!).
Kids love to take things apart, and many love to fix them. Creating a cadre of 12 year old technicians won't be hard, we used to be called nerds, before geeks.
As to typical use, there's no such thing once you give a collaboration tool to enough people. The Mesh will be transformed in many ways that cannot yet be imagined, just by the sheer power of the number of users. Likewise computing and networking will be changed by the Mesh. All Students could piggyback right to their classrooms without broadband internet access; it's like cellphone topolgy for the classroom.
I can hardly wait to see what happens.
Posted by Jenska | July 30, 2007 1:25 PM
What are the screen specs? Is it LCD? E-ink? What is the resolution and color depth?
Posted by Guy | July 30, 2007 1:35 PM
`What America does today, Europe does tomorrow`, has never been so apt a statement. This is the first I`ve heard of this new and ground breaking technology.While I can see some credence in the opinions of the contributers,both negative and positive.It is in my humble opinion,on balance,going to open up applications of technology that we have yet to envisage. Just how the third world will take advantage , or possibly exploit the technology has yet to be realized.
I like very much the news letters as I try to educate myself in this fast moving world and The contributions that everybody makes, good and not so good, serves to illustrate just what a diverse lot we are.
Posted by Stuart | July 30, 2007 4:07 PM
I am surprised to see so many comments (in essence) asking why HP, Dell and other IT vendors (INTL, M$FT says one post) have products that cost so much more and yet do not deliver the same value - there seems ot be an assumption that the value delivery of the XO is higher in all respects.
When technology change happens, the products (software or hardware, in this case) of an earlier development cycle are just about irrelevant. What they cost is also irrelevant - it only takes a bit of memory or smart searching (for young people) to unearth any number of outstanding examples to validate this.
The real question, underlying the anguished comments above from so many people, is how come the current manufacturers didn't use their immense financial and dominant market position to bring out such a development?
Well, Intel is trying (Classmate PC), MS is working on slim OSes and web-delivered apps (no front load at all), and overall there is a trend towards smaller and smaller 'footprints' - think iPhone. If the XO delivers before the others, well, it won't be the first time that a newbie is the first to 'market'.
Actually, OLPC went to market over a year ago (18 or 19 months, in fact) already, signing up 'country' purchases (one million units per country minimum guarantee) that the venture used to attract investment and loan funding resources.
And while XO will conceivably be the first with a computer that has got past the beta stage, there are several other 'newbie' ventures in the pipeline. The potential demand is so high (over 3/4 of the world's population have probably never seen any kind of computer, much less get to use one), that there is plenty of scope for more than one player.
Who knows? Maybe even some of the current players will continue to compete.
Posted by Vic | July 31, 2007 2:14 AM
Please provide details. From where can I get a booklet of this laptop? From where can I buy this laptop??. Thanks and regards
Posted by Khalid Munir | July 31, 2007 11:08 PM
Me too, I need the info of getting to buy this great revolutionary product!
Posted by John Okewole | August 6, 2007 7:55 AM
This product is not currently for sale to the general public. In the article above, (did any of you who are questioning where to buy it even read the article?) it stated, "However, we shouldn't expect to see the OLPC start commercializing these technologies anytime soon. While there is still a possibility that XO's may be sold to the public at a price that helps subsidize their deployment to the developing world, Jepsen said that when people from Silicon Valley ask her about commercializing the XO's technologies, she says, "Get in line, you have a billion kids in front of you."".
And Guy did you read the article? "There are a lot of technical details on how Jepsen and the OLPC succeeded in creating a display that would work in direct sunlight; the use of diagonal rather than horizontal color stripes and the fact that each pixel is both a black and white and a color pixel (each pixel is one color, either red, green or blue)."
This most likely means that it's color depth is 5 colors, as I doubt they can create many tween-shades with a pixel that has one black one white and one color (red, green, or blue not all three). Resolution is probably 600x400 or 800x600, there is no way you could fit a high resolution display into this for less than $80, and even if you could it would take a lot more power.
The technology is not LCD or E-ink. I remember reading something somewhere on this website about it being an older technology that is more energy efficient, but the refresh rate is slow. 100ms vs 8ms.
Please read before you post redundant questions.
Posted by Ben | August 15, 2007 12:45 AM
This technology is niether new nor revolutionary and I would not use it because it won't run the software I need and use. The screen refresh is way to low, resolution way too low and memory way too low to be used in any serious application. But if I had been able to get hold of one when I was 12 I would have been ecstatic.
The OLPC is what it is, a teaching computer. It is not meant to replace my Laptop because it can't. But if it can help children in developing nations at least start to learn programming and computer technology then that's great.
I can get a computer now for $350 that runs what I need. The reason why it's not being commercialized for the general population is because it's not meant for us it's meant for the Kids.
If I want Linux I'll use Ubuntu or some other variation on a machine that will allow me to display a Hi-res picture and edit it or run a large spreadsheet without worrying how much memory I have.
Let's look at this for what it is and not hype it beyond that.
Posted by John | August 21, 2007 4:50 PM
I am astounded at the number of people who ask "Where has my money gone when I spent 600$ on my laptop!" Its very simple actually. The XO has a 366MHz AMD Geode processor (which by Wikipedia's own claim performs very poorly), 128MB of RAM, 512 MB of NAND flash storage.
This machine is actually very comparable to your average iPod nano ($149 - saves money!) which has an ARM940T core (200MHz ARM9 SoC - very similar in performance!) 32MB RAM (well 256MB RAM costs 20$ these days anyway) and a whopping 2GB of NAND flash storage. So assuming the RAM upgrade is $20 thats $169. Thats where your money went.
This fantastic laptop is very comparable to your bottom of the line iPod nano. Oh and if you want to add WiFi thats another 10$, the chips are dirt cheap.
Posted by Martin | August 27, 2007 3:27 PM
Thanks for an excellent and though-provoking review. As an educator, I am especially interested in the mesh network and how this can facilitate and encourage collaboration among students. My main question is: How can I get some of these computers to experiment with and set up some instructional best practices? This computer sounds ripe for educational research ideas.
Posted by Barbara Schroeder | September 11, 2007 10:36 AM
Barbara, right now there aren't any available to the general public, though there is discussion of selling XOs to the public by this Christmas. You can check their website at laptop.org for more information.
Posted by Jim Rapoza | September 11, 2007 3:25 PM
I'm the mom of a learning disabled child and if I can convince the school system to use this, my child will finally be learning ABLED! The cost of creating individualized programs for kids like my son is outrageous, with this his teachers (more like me) can create the program. I'm looking forward to this going public.
Posted by C's Mom | September 16, 2007 2:31 PM
I have visited your site 706-times
Posted by Visitor918 | September 22, 2007 6:42 PM
You can either see the possibilities or the obstacles. The tech people have done their part - now for governments and development aid people (that includes me) to do our part. The question is not whether this can be useful in a developing country, duh, but how we can ensure the usefulness of this impressive project to the millions of children who are attending poor quality schools with poorly trained teachers and hardly any resources to assist and/or motivate their literacy and learning - how about even one laptop per teacher!
Never mind whether these children's future work place will use Windows or Mac - most of these kids will probably never enter a work place that has a computer. But what if they can access a network to communicate with their neighbors, or even better, the Internet to get in touch with the world, to learn about better agricultural methods, or share in wider knowledge of the world we live in. This would strengthen literacy and development--leave it to them! Our job is to put in place distribution, training and monitoring that can make this happen!
Posted by Education Girl | September 24, 2007 12:45 PM
http://www.xogiving.org/
Posted by star3night | September 25, 2007 11:32 AM
Jim, just curious if they fixed the issue with web pages not fitting in the screen. Also how many game options are there?
Posted by Mike | September 25, 2007 1:07 PM
The laptop is now for sale. Buy two for $399. One for your child, and one for a developing country.
Posted by Sneh R. | November 12, 2007 7:15 PM
We need about 750 of these computers for a residential school for the destitute in Sialkot, Pakistan. However our funds are very limited as we rely on donations for running this school. For example: $400 is a six month salary for a beginning teacher.
Could you put me in touch with Mr. Negroponte?
Over 14,000 students have passed through Fatima House Home and School...some do not graduate as they can get jobs with a grade 5 education. Most of these kids (age 3-21) have no parents or just one parent, or parents unable to work. They have no salary...live in huts made of corrugated metal sheets that they get from the dump, and scour the dump for shoes and clothing. Food they get from garbage cans.
Posted by Elizabeth Dorner | December 3, 2007 3:16 PM
Uruguay, my country, has buyed a lot of XO laptops and plans to buy more than 400,000 for all childrens below 13 years and school teachers. But the XO with Sugar has these disadvantages: 1)Is very slow. 2)Do not allow to copy files in a simple way. 3)Do not have support for printers. 4)Hangs frequently. 5)My government has buying XO laptops for U$S200 each, more expensive than used Pentium III 500 MHz CPUs+monitor 6)Writer text processor is incompatible with Word. 7)Applications are bad translated, in a Spanish-English mix difficult to understand. 8) Copy and paste is difficult or impossible because you dont have contextual menues and secondary button of the mouse dont work.
Posted by Alejandro | December 15, 2007 8:31 PM
rosie@triad29.com
rosieponder@verizon.net
Not only do they try to rip you off, they send your email out and you get a ton of junk mail.
Posted by Arrinkime | March 3, 2008 1:16 PM
They' re clunky, dirty and can' t access the internet, yet every year thousands of people buy typewriters when they could probably afford a computer. Why?
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