Public can purchase $100 laptop

We discussed this in Engineering class last term. What happens when the batteries run out? Where will they plug in to recharge if they have no electricity? What happens when it breaks down, and they don't know how to fix it? Who is going to teach them how to use it? What happens when the laptops are taken away by thieves, entrepreneurs, or ...? Nice idea, but there are many other factors to consider besides - "Let's give them what we consider to be civilization".

First Year Engineering Student:)

Your class's discussion must not have been very informed if you didn't know that the thing has a hand crank on it for recharging.

The people behind OLPC are not idiots...

Thanks for the Info, but having worked in 3rd world countries, my biggest concern would be the theft and subsequent black market distribution as always happens with most kinds of tooling and food we bring into these countries.

The design of the laptops is intentionally "cute" to discourage adults from wanting them. Although not a "solution" to theft, it is, at least, an attempt to keep the devices in the hands of children. (Which is not to say that children won't steal them, or that they won't be stolen for children, or that adults won't care about the neon colors, but hey, what are you doing to do, solve every problem in the world?)

Nuh, but shamefully in 60 years of living and traveling, I haven't met to many honest Humans when it comes to honesty about the buck. Just hope that at least some get into the kid's hands at prices their parent;s can afford, or that they are gratuitous.