---
title: One Laptop Per Child
teaser:
tags: news
author: Eric Mill
published_on: 2007-11-21
---
After three years of discussion and controversy, the [One Laptop Per
Child](http://laptop.org/) project is finally selling real laptops for real
children. They're $200, and right now they're running a promotion called [Give
1, Get 1](http://laptopgiving.org/en/index.php), where you can pay for two
laptops; one gets sent to a child in need somewhere in the world, and one gets
sent to you! It plays right into us Americans' psyche—we get to satisfy
our guilt over not being more charitable, and we get to play around with one of
the coolest gadgets in the world. thoughtbot has decided to support the OLPC, and today we purchased a pair of OLPC
XO-1 laptops.
The whole One Laptop Per Child project is a terrific idea, will continue to do a
[great deal of good](http://one.laptop.org/about/education), and the
physical laptop that's come out of it is using some incredible software. Like
with [Hackety Hack](http://hacketyhack.net), the most compelling feature is the
[social interaction](http://laptopgiving.org/en/social-sharing.php). I could go
into lots of detail here on the software and
[hardware](http://laptop.org/laptop/hardware/specs.shtml) that make this laptop
such an achievement, but you're better off going to [its Wikipedia
page](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OLPC_XO-1) and seeing it for yourself.
Some people have [strong
criticisms](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_Laptop_per_Child#Criticism) of the
OLPC. If you're one, read the New York Times' [hands-on
review](https://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/04/technology/circuits/04pogue.html)
of the laptop and see if your concerns aren't assuaged.
**Update:** The Give 1, Get 1 program has been extended to December 31st.
Excellent!.
There are -only 6 days left, so think about making this one of your
early Christmas gifts to the world this year. Ask your company if they'd like
to participate too—they'll be a good corporate citizen, have something
cool to blog about, and the reward of a crazy laptop to bounce around the office
isn't a bad incentive, either. For $400, everyone wins.
> Images taken from [laptop.org](http://laptop.org), licensed under the
> [Creative Commons Attribution
> 2.5.](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5/)