Michael Roebuck's Blog

I can remember hearing about this mythical $100 laptop and thinking how cool it was. To be able to produce a computer that could be given to the masses. What a cool concept! I joined the chat groups and immediately wanted to buy a bunch of these laptops (at $100 each) to give to the local schools or families that couldn't afford a computer. Unfortunately the computer hadn't been made yet. It was only a concept.

Well, the concept has materialized. Many of you know that I have 5 kids; my wife runs a daycare; we are foster parents; adopted from China; visit and donate to a school in Mexico; basically love kids and want to help every single child we can. So when the opportunity to buy these universal laptops became available, I jumped on it. Partly because I want to help and partly out of curiosity. The plan is to give one to the school I help in Mexico and let the All Web employees determine the fate of the other.

My laptops were delivered yesterday and I started playing. Honestly, I thought they would be a little more user friendly but I don't know the Linux operating system and assume I'm unfairly expecting them to be like Windows.

I was able to get on my secure wireless network at home and surf the net with ease. I made a video with the built in camera and played a few games. I couldn't chat with anyone but was able to find my way around fairly easily. The battery life seems great and the whole thing is extremely lightweight and compact.

I gave the computer to my 6 year old and he had a great time with it. Along with my 16 year old son. Even my daughter was impressed, but only after she could log into MySpace.

My initial blog plan was to review the laptop in detail but decided against it. The program is new and apparently open source so developers can write programs as needed. I'm so excited that this One Laptop Per Child initiative has become a reality that the only thing I can say is praise. Congratulations to Nicholas Negroponte (Founder) and I hope you continue the effort.

Please check out the website at www.laptop.org for more information. This is truly a phenomenal concept and needs the support of everyone.

Labels: laptop, olpc