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Laptop for children project making headway
NEW YORK: Nicholas Negroponte's ambitious 'One Laptop per Child' (OLPC) project seems to be making headway. The non-profit group founded by Negroponte to make the $100 laptop for children in developing countries, is in advanced discussions with four countries -- Argentina, Brazil, Nigeria and Thailand.
The group is in talks with the governments of these countries, a spokesperson said, adding no firm orders have, however, been received for the laptops.
The group has support from companies like Advanced Micro Devices, eBay, Google, Nortel and Red Hat.
Negroponte had revealed a prototype of his $100 laptop in May, with highly appealing color schemes that will attract the children. The Linux-powered laptops will have a power source of its own and will offer dual-mode display, full color, and a secondary black and white reflective and sunlight-readable display. They will operate at 500 MHz, about half the processor speed of commercial laptops.
The spokesperson said the group wants to develop a rugged and working machine before it starts accepting orders. The production, the group had said, will begin only when there are orders for five to 10 million machines.
India, which had been seen as one of the countries seen as potential market for the laptops, has recently backed out. A senior education official of the country said the country needs classrooms and teachers more than fancy tools like the laptops.
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Written
by :
Paul Robinson | Published on :
03:24:00
EST
Wed, 02 Aug 2006 |
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