OLPC opens its ‘Give One Get One’ XO laptop drive

As promised, Nicholas Negroponte and the One Laptop Per Child foundation have this week moved to bring the much talked about XO budget notebook computer to regular consumers in the West for a limited time through the ‘Give One Get One’ promotion. epa01032454 The One Laptop Per Child foundation's XO computer is now available to Western consumers under the limited time 'Give One Get One' promotion. EPA/NESTOR BACHMANN

epa01032454 The One Laptop Per Child foundation's XO computer is now available to Western consumers under the limited time 'Give One Get One' promotion. EPA/NESTOR BACHMANNThe OLPC’s limited ‘Give One Give One’ offer – which is sadly only open to North American residents – opens the rugged green and white XO computer to regular consumers on the condition that they pay $399 USD for two machines, taking receipt of one and allowing for the other to be dispatched to a needy child in a developing country.The Quanta-built XO notebook has been developed by the OLPC foundation and a wide selection of major industry contributors, including chipmaker AMD, in order to bring the modern technology many of us take for granted to the forefront of education in emerging nations. The ‘Give One Get One’ offer launched at yesterday at 6 a.m. (Eastern Time), a mere six days after the official green light was given for full production of the XO in China, and it will run for two weeks until Monday, November 26.OLPC chairman and MIT professor Nicholas Negroponte likened the protracted launch of the XO to "a runner’s high," during an interview with CNN. "A lot of muscles hurt," he explained. "Many people thought we would not get to the finish line."The initial One Laptop Per Child initiative was revealed by Negroponte in January of 2005, at which point the price of the diminutive laptop was expected to be $100 USD when it opened for bulk government orders. That price has since risen during the laptop’s development, and now sits at $200 USD following a recent jump from $188 USD. The foundation maintains that the price will reduce during 2008 as contributing component costs drop and production becomes cheaper – and that $100 USD is still its ultimate goal.Taiwan-based Quanta Computer Inc. is expected to roll out around 40,000 units of the innovative XO in the first month of production, before then increasing productivity levels to hit targets of 80,000 units for December and then 120,000 units for January.Some of the XO’s budget appeal includes sealed water, dust, and dirt-resistant outer casing, a 7-inch screen that remains visible in harsh sunshine, prolonged battery life, hand-cranked manual recharging, AMD’s Geode processor, and open-source software.Regarding the potential Western draw that Negroponte hopes will unfold over the next two weeks, the OLPC chairman outlined that: "In the Give One Get One program, the likely recipient in the developed world is a child… For that child to be using the same laptop as a kid in Africa is especially meaningful."