ULPN 3

To wrap up this series on Un Laptop Por Niño, let’s see what Zuckerman has to tell us about the OLPC’s software, and how Alan Kay and Seymour Papert are collaborating on this project (what do the skeptics have to say about that? And what will Minister Bitar and Mr. Hugo Martínez think of it?

Software

The people at Red Hat are working on a special distribution for the laptop. They are also working on the graphical interface together with Seymour Papert and Alan Kay!! The development team has 18 people, including students of Kay’s at MIT.

The machine will include Squeak, which will give the kids an incentive to program. Those of us who know Squeak can only say that it’s wonderful that it’s part of the project. The future of the kids who use this system makes me envious, and it saddens me that it won’t be Chilean kids who get access to these wonders.

The problem of localization and adaptation to each country is something they are already working on.

To finish for now: hardware production will be centralized, but some countries will optionally be able to assemble the machines themselves. For an initial run of 5 to 10 million laptops, the cost is estimated at between 130 and 150 dollars, not counting shipping, marketing or any additional digital content added to the final product.

This laptop won’t be sold. It will only be available to students, through the interested governments, at a final subsidized price no higher than that of a textbook (it won’t be a gift; the kids will buy it).

For future operations, the proposal is to split into 3 groups: OLPC Hardware, probably operating in Silicon Valley; OLPC Software, operating at MIT; and OLPC International, operating in New York or probably in Geneva.

I hope to write more about the operation later on.