OLPC in Spain

The newspaper El País publishes an interview with Jim Gettys, vice president of the OLPC initiative. Here are a few of the questions; the article is on the El País website.

Question. What’s revolutionary about the laptop?

Answer. The idea of the personal computer for children. That every child has their own and learns with it, not only at school. That it doesn’t stay in the classroom.

Q. Do you have buyers yet?

A. There are governments that are very interested. They were waiting to see the prototype, which we brought out two weeks ago.

Q. Which governments?

A. Above all Nigeria, Brazil, Thailand, Argentina, Egypt, China and India.

Q. You are criticized on the grounds that in some countries children need food or clothing before computers.

A. That’s true, but they also need education. We don’t have a complete solution to their problems, but we know that part of it is that they be able to learn.