One Laptop Per Child Gets 4 Million Laptop Order

An anonymous reader writes "DesktopLinux.com is reporting that four countries have together ordered 4 million low-cost, Linux-based laptops from the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) project. The countries of Nigeria, Brazil, Argentina, and Thailand have each placed the 1 million unit orders."

Let the 419 jokes begin!!!

[lecithin (745575)]

"The countries of Nigeria, Brazil, Argentina, and Thailand have each placed the 1 million unit orders."

Dear Mike,

Thank you once again for finalizing the order. You will know that this transaction is 100% Guaranteed.

We will send our certified funds after the customs are paid by you. Please send the customs fee of $37,000,000 ($37*1 Million Units) via wire transfer to:

Barrister MUGO Gy PAN Oguami
419 Scam DEC
Lagos, Nigeria

>>Hi Mugo,
>>We have approved your order and are ready to ship. You mentioned a custom's fee that we are very ready to pay. Please let me know how much per unit we will need to send.

>>Thanks again for the business!!!

>>Mike Undundrum

More importantly

[eclectro (227083)]

The laptops are part of Nigeria's "leave no scammer behind" initiative.

good idea

[babtrek (256300)]

I really like that these countries have the determination to use linux laptops to help increase there education levels, it will benifit everyone. In the short term the production lines get busy making the laptops ready to be uses, and it will promote using open source software and Linux which could mean more and better tools out there for us eventually. But it could also breed us more scammers, damn them wasting so much of out time.

Re:good idea

[ronanbear (924575)]

4 million is a huge number of laptops. It represents about 10% of the annual worldwide laptop shipments. If these shipments actually occur in a reasonable timeframe it would have a massive effect on the worldwide computer market. It would effect component prices for OEMs. Imagine the headlines as Red Hat grab a larger proportion of the laptop market than Apple.

Starving programmers

[dotslashdot (694478)]

What's next? Outsource to malnourished kids. All they get is a little cookie (or several, depending on their privacy settings.) You can pay them even less than the Indian & Chinese programmers since these kids don't need money for food. They can just eat the cookies without getting any cache.

In Other News:

[darkonc (47285)]

Bill Gates has just announced a whirlwind 4 nation third-world tour. Currently in Africa, supposedly on a safari . . . . .

Awesome

[kernelpanicked (882802)]

I have a lot of respect for this project and I'm glad to see it's working out seemingly well.

Random Thought:

Wonder if any of the large PC vendors are paying attention, When was the last time Dell or HP sold 1 million+ Windows boxes in one shot?

Linux share in the desktop market

[by Anonymous Coward]

Is it just me or won't this mean Linux gains a significant user base that basically never have used anything else than Linux and will never have any reason for using anything else? This must be a big thorn in both Microsoft and Apple's (remember they offered to give away software for this project) side...

Yeah Apple is going care.

[SmallFurryCreature (593017)]

Because everyone knows when it comes to really cheap computers Apple is right there as a market leader.

Sorry but no, Steve Jobs offering OS-X for free was nothing but a kind gesture. His product is so out of range of the audience who would have gotten these machines it would be very hard to imagine any generated sales. Unless the project is super succesfull and instantly gives these kids western style incomes. Upper western style incomes.

Windows is an entirely different matter. MS has near dominance of the computer OS and 4 million new users who use non-ms software is nasty. Not horribly nasty but MS is often claimed to keep its dominance because it is dominant. In short you have to use windows, because everyone else uses windows. If everyone else doesn't use windows. Neither do you have to use windows.

It is the reason MS doesn't come down all that hard on piracy and is so willing to offer cheap (by western standards) versions of its OS in high piracy areas. MS rather loose a billion in sales then loose its dominance. Munich showed that MS is basically willing to give its software and services not just away for free but actually offer money on top of it just to make sure some other OS is not used.

Apple competes on quality, MS competes by being the only game in town. Oh and don't forget that linux users will have little difficulty switching to OS-X wich is after all based on that linux wannabe BSD. /me runs for it.

Riots?

[weasello (881450)]

Last time cheap laptops went on sale/given away there were so many rioting and fighting people that several were hospitalized. I wonder how a 3rd world country would deal with giving away these laptops, and how long they'll stay in the hands they are given to.

Still very tough to pull off

[unPlugged-2.0 (947200)]

That is good news but there are still lots of challenges to this. I remember reading that they need 10 million to even be able to produce them. They are still a long way off.

Now I am usually an optimist and i do believe that the OLPC project is at its core a good project but the competition is heating up with China, AMD and Intel with their own programs and china's project being almost competitive on price. Also the OLPC project relies on AMD and indirectly china's production capabilities to make it a reality.

Also in my opinion (and mine only - don't want to start a flameware) it is too much of a one man crusade. I think that there is way too much emphasis and publicity surrounding Negroponte and what he thinks that people (like me) will start to wonder if this is really a group effort or just one man's dream. There are times that the distinction between non-profit and corporation are blurred and the line between philanthropy and publicity are not clear.

However I think idea is sound and I think that the OLPC project has served notice to corporations that there is a very underserved market that can further the adoption of computers and thus overall help everyone out (like the Intel's and AMD's of the world). I think that a few years from now the lasting legacy of the OLPC project may be the fact that it spurred companies to serve this market.

And regardless of what people may say about computers and learning it does let me slack off and post on slashdot all day so they can't be so bad.

Re:Still very tough to pull off

[StrawberryFrog (67065)]

I remember reading that they need 10 million to even be able to produce them. They are still a long way off.

You remembered wrong:

"The laptop won't be produced unless at least five countries sign up at a million laptops each. [worldchanging.com]

Four out of five isn't that far off.

It's ok

[rhfixer (920651)]

Well, I live in Argentina, so I can tell you what the situation is like here. There are people with a lot of money, that own towns or entire provinces (most of those ppl are in the goverment, that's obvious), people with a normal economic situation, who can buy a house or two, have a computer (or 3, as I do) and a car, and there are poor people. That plan is going to work, not for all the children, but for a small quantity. I think that plan is going to work, partially, but it is going to work.

My guess is that for 99% of the children in these countries, the laptops will be totally useless, because what those kids really need is food, a clean source of water, and (especially for the girls) a chance to go to school and become literate. On the other hand, it's possible that 1% of them will really be helped, and among that 1% might be some of the future Bachs and Einsteins of the world.

Just because we're outside the US doesn't mean we aren't enough intelligent to operate a computer. Well, they have food, a clean source of water, a chance to go to school, they only need a teacher.

Re:I guess only one thing can describe ...

[qortra (591818)]

Cha-Ching!!!

Is that the sound of a non-profit organization [wikipedia.org] selling laptops at cost? These people will probably make passable salaries courtesy of the organization, but these are not going to be multi-million dollar CEOs and CTOs. Their only major gain here is possibly the minor fame that comes with starting a project like this. In fact, I think most of the companies involved are selling the parts are near cost. The fact is that everybody wants to get a choke-hold on emerging markets (the same markets that these target); but even if that happens for AMD and the like, I don't think Negroponte or any other "owner" is going to be exploiting starving children or their poor governments in order to buy shiny red Ferraris.

Re:I guess only one thing can describe ...

[dexomn (147950)]

The 'major gain' here is that kids will get to use computers.

Re:Didn't RTFA but...

[Arker (91948)]

They come standard with wireless mesh and connection sharing, IIRC. The idea being that the school can get at least one of them connected, then they all are. Things they all need still only need to be downloaded once, then shared peer to peer over the much faster wireless connection, so it should be quite useful.

Re:my guess

[greenguy (162630)]

My guess is that for 99% of the children in these countries, the laptops will be totally useless, because what those kids really need is food, a clean source of water, and (especially for the girls) a chance to go to school and become literate.

To recap the responses to this kind of argument when it came up the last three or four times stories about the $100 laptop appeared on /.:

• Not every child in poor nations is starving. Even the ones who suffer from some level of malnutrition can still benefit from education.
• While most children in poor nations don't get as much education as they should, most get some. Most of them would love to learn to use a computer.
• Until and unless you follow through with your ideas, don't complain about people who follow through on theirs.

Also, did you notice the part where the governments of not one, but four poor nations are buying the computers? That would seem to indicate somebody thinks they will be useful.

Re:my guess

[228e2 (934443)]

^^This is what gets me.

This whole 'foreign countries are mud holes' theory that people like you in the US (you're in Cali, i did a little digging) share.

I am from Nigeria, and sorry to dismay your lively opinion of Nigeria and the other countries, but I did not live in a tent, hut, nor was my house supported with bamboo sticks.

I have been to Brazil and Argentina and it is the same as it is here in America, several cities bursting with industrial, urban life, and yes like a few places here in America (Central plains, deep south) ther are places that missed the technology bandwagon and could use all the cheap technology they can get (there are a lot of elementary school in the south that have no computers). My point being these are not third world countries, they are first world.

But back to the thread's main focus, this will be an ideal kick in these countries behind to help them catch up to European and Western countries. If 4 million computers can produce just one more person who can go to college and stand on his feet, then everyone wins.

Re:my guess

[NickFortune (613926)]

My guess is that for 99% of the children in these countries the laptops will be totally useless, because what those kids really need is food, a clean source of water

Gosh, I wasn't aware that poverty was endemic in Argentina and Brazil. I know it's too much to expect people to RTFA, but you could at least finish the summary before going into knee-jerk response mode.

But, let's assume that by 99% you mean 25% and we're just discussing Nigeria. It still doesn't make the OLPC program "totally useless". The thing to understand here is that just because the news channels only show you pictures from Africa when there's a drought or a famine, that doesn't mean that the entire continent is in a permenant, continuou state of starvation.

And yes, clean water and better educational facilities are sadly lacking in many parts of Africa. But that doesn't mean that clean water should be the only problem anyone is allowed to address. We can do things in parallel.

Four million kids, some of whom might never get a chance to see a computer, are going to grow up with marketable skills for the 21st century. They're going to get a chance to bring some money into their countries, and maybe get a chance to fix some of the other problems themselves.

And that can't be a bad thing

Re:my guess

[Ohreally_factor (593551)]

Four million kids, some of whom might never get a chance to see a computer, are going to grow up with marketable skills for the 21st century.

What are you talking about? They will probably be forced to use OO.o and the Gimp.

Joke! Joke! I'm totally kidding!

Re:my guess

[jmv (93421)]

You talk like most people in these countries (Nigeria, Brazil, Argentina, and Thailand) have never seen food in their life or something like that. What these (and other) countries need is not food sent from industrialised countries (which often hurts the local economy more than anything), its means to improve their own economy. This is done (partly) through improved education and that's where OLPC can help. There's no single solution to complex problems. You can focus only on food, just as you can't focus only on computers. But saying OLPC is unnecessary because there are other (possibly more important) problems is missing the point.

Re:my guess

[rolfwind (528248)]

What I think most people are missing is this little thing called the internet. These things can make their own network and I suppose connect to the internet. For many people who had their computer ever disconnected from the net, hasn't it (computer) felt 100x less valuable? That's probably because it was, in a sense.

We don't need to count on future Einsteins, that's a plus. Don't underestimated the power of normal people with access to information. It's empowering. See the two USA Today articles below to understand my point (the ones with cell phones). A network is a useful thing indeed.

My guess is that for 99% of the children in these countries, the laptops will be totally useless, because what those kids really need is food, a clean source of water, and (especially for the girls) a chance to go to school and become literate.

https://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos /ni.html [cia.gov]

Nigeria:
Literacy:
definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 68%
male: 75.7%
female: 60.6% (2003 est.)

https://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos /br.html [cia.gov]

Brazil:
Literacy:
definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 86.4%
male: 86.1%
female: 86.6% (2003 est.)

https://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos /th.html [cia.gov]

Thailand:
Literacy:
definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 92.6%
male: 94.9%
female: 90.5% (2002)

https://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos /ar.html [cia.gov]

Argentina:
Literacy:
definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 97.1%
male: 97.1%
female: 97.1% (2003 est.)

See also:

"Africa's cell phone boom creates a base for low-cost banking"
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/products/gear/2005-08 -28-cell-banks-africa_x.htm [usatoday.com]

"Africa's cellphone explosion changes economics, society"
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/products/gear/2005-10 -16-africa-cellular_x.htm [usatoday.com]

Re:my guess

[Riktov (632)]

Do you even realize just which ones "these countries" are?

Nigeria, Brazil, Argentina, and Thailand. Not Somalia, Bolivia, and Laos.

These are among the most economically developed countries on their respective continents. Hell, Brazil is a country that manufactures jet airliners that are operated by major U.S. airlines.

The computers are not going to naked starving kids in mud huts! These countries' governments know full well what it is that people in such circumstances (which all of the countries probably do have nonetheless) really need. They are likely going to cities which are relatively poor, but with a minimally sufficient economies, and working-class children (boys and girls) who would benefit most from education and the economic mobility it provides. And they've decided that cheap computers are the way to implement that.

These kids can't afford computers, and that's a problem. Because in the very cities they live in, people use computers every day.

Re:my guess

[riflemann (190895)]

Like others said, these countries aren't third world and starved, but quite prosperous. The project is not aimed at helping only starving impoverished countries, but also helping countries that need to take the next technological step.

They have food and water (ever been to thailand? Food's the last thing they need help with), but they don't have access to technology.

A day's eating in Thailand can cost around $1. A good salary is anything over $200/month. Not much to you and me, but it's plenty for all of life's (biological) essentials there, including health care.

But $200/month limits people's access to technology. Sure, you can get broadband access and they seem to have more mobile phone shops than the rest of the world combined, Bangkok even has one of the world's largest computer shoping centres...but outside the cities, technology and salaries are more limited.

Therefore the OLPC project will help bridge this gap.

Re:How about the source...

[Dicky (1327)]

The distribution and libraries are all open source, published and out there - and there's already a simulator which can do things like the dual-mode screen. Have a hunt around their Wiki [laptop.org] - particularly the software section [laptop.org] for you, I'd guess, and you should find everything you want. People to develop software for it is exactly what they want and need from us - go ahead, jump in!