One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) is a worthy project to combat the digital divide (if somebody utters the word “bridge” I will scream). The project has managed to design $100 USD laptops, which is considered affordable enough to provide children in developing countries and remote rural communities with their first introduction to information and communication technologies.
While the Indian government has refused to participate in the pilot projects, Brazil, Argentina, China, Nigeria and Thailand have agreed to get some in order to analyse the viability of the project.
However, being the realist that I am, I fear that this may be one of those projects that have an air of innevitable failure about them. This is a worthwhile and grand project that could do a lot of good in developing countries, but I’m afraid that as soon as something goes wrong, the press will turn on it and it will be scrapped.
Still, I wish them the best of luck.
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