[ChrisTheFeral.com @ Nov 17th 2008 3:38AM]

Ohh, so tempting.

[AVG @ Nov 17th 2008 7:02AM]

Or just get one on eBay.

...for like $175.

[ChrisTheFeral.com @ Nov 17th 2008 7:04AM]

but will any of your money go towards the cause through ebay?

[AVG @ Nov 17th 2008 7:45AM]

No, ChrisTheFeral.com, it will not.

[Knifa @ Nov 17th 2008 8:09AM]

The release of other netbooks have ruined the point of these.

[Tom @ Nov 22nd 2008 2:56PM]

this is more about lasting third world country conditions

[James @ Nov 17th 2008 4:02AM]

So they charge you an extra dolor get one and donate one? Shouldnt the price be 398 or even less to give people some incentive to donate one to children in need?

[Benson @ Nov 17th 2008 4:09AM]

Well, I suppose the fact that you're paying an extra dollar could give you extra dolor.

[David Z @ Nov 17th 2008 4:25AM]

If you are worried about paying $1 extra, I don't think you are the type of person they are targeting with this idea.

[derX @ Nov 17th 2008 4:23AM]

I think they think the intrinsic value of helping someone less fortunate would be sufficient.

Apparently they believe the marginal utility of the laptop and one dollar is about equal to said intrinsic value.

[Empress Penguin @ Nov 17th 2008 6:06AM]

The incentive for paying $399 is that you can get an OLPC XO for yourself if you want, while also donating one.

Anyone who lacks the "generosity" to pay $1 extra for the privilege is unlikely to donate anyway.

[wako @ Nov 17th 2008 4:06AM]

Why would i want to buy a computer for someone else that will simply scam me a couple years later down the road? dont we have enough nigerian scammers? =P

[Ayman @ Nov 17th 2008 4:27AM]

So is this called profiling or racism?

[anantha92 @ Nov 17th 2008 4:28AM]

You sir, are ignorant to not realise that people or spammers who already have computers don't get another one.

[kyle allen @ Nov 17th 2008 4:28AM]

wow... just wow....

[kyle allen @ Nov 17th 2008 4:30AM]

p.s. i duno if you thought that little smilie would help... but it didnt. =)

[derX @ Nov 17th 2008 4:16AM]

"About the quickest way to become a donor short of meeting a hotel stranger in possession of roofies and a bathtub full of ice."

You, my friend, are made of 100% authentic win.

...although there are quicker ways to become a donor....with the stroke of a proverbial wand....but let's not talk about that...yours is better.

[Eric @ Nov 17th 2008 4:33AM]

This business model makes little sense to me. Anyone who wants a low end laptop will buy a 400 dollar Eee PC. Who would pay 400 only to get a significantly more terrible laptop and give another away?

I'm not talking about people being charitable here, what I mean is that if someone wants to donate some laptops, they will donate some laptops. If someone wants a low end PC and is trying to save money, they will spend it on an Eee PC not some third world POS with a geode processor.

[kyle allen @ Nov 17th 2008 4:48AM]

its just the same as getting one for $200 but ur giving one away too

[cmonkey @ Nov 17th 2008 4:55AM]

Who? Well, me for one. I participated in 2007 and I am again as soon as it is "in stock" on Amazon. Apparently at least 50,000 others would too, judging by the numbers from last year's G1G1.

You call it a terrible laptop, but I don't see any Eees with daylight readable 1200x900 screens, LiFePO batteries, water resistance, or a $200 price tag.

[avester @ Nov 17th 2008 5:06AM]

This is like one of those dinners that you get in the charity events, you don't get up and shout "100,000 DOLLARS FOR THIS CRAP YOU CALL FOOD?!, I WON'T PAY!"

You don't want to donate, go ahead and don't.

[Ben M. @ Nov 17th 2008 1:07PM]

well then dont buy one i have a friend who owns one and its pretty nice once you get past that you can only run linux on it and the important part is that you are helping the less fortunate

[Pascal @ Nov 17th 2008 5:09AM]

Last year I might have considered it. But after whats happened with the push for windows I think I'll pass.

[cmonkey @ Nov 17th 2008 5:18AM]

There are about 550,000 XO laptops with children around the world running Sugar. There are a few hundred running Windows.

Whats more, the G1G1 is an OLPC program, and not a Microsoft program. The gives and the gets are all Sugar. Meaning, participating in G1G1 supports and encourages Linux on the XO.

Ignore the FUD, it's about the children.

[Magallanes @ Nov 17th 2008 7:48AM]

OLPC in theory is a nice idea but in the real world.

Negroponte commit a classic mistake to say "if it is good for me, then it will be good for them", omitting to do a real market study (to have a subscription to Natgeo is not enough), instead he tried to sell a notebook for a unknown market. Truly, a rural/countryside town usually don't need or care about to have or not a computer, this is valid not just for a third world country also for any country.

[kidcanuck @ Nov 17th 2008 5:14AM]

I love the concept of these, but the computer is just so damn ugly I couldn't use it in any seriousness without feeling like it should have a fisher price logo on the back. Or something. I have enough of a problem taking my little mac seriously.

[kidcanuck @ Nov 17th 2008 5:19AM]

I know that's fickle and vile and materialistic, but I would rather just give 200 dollars to a child in the third world so they could feed their family properly for whatever limited amount of time. In some cases, I think a computer would just be a frivolous luxury. I think there are more important things that need to happen before we should worry about computer literacy, imo, anyways.

[cmonkey @ Nov 17th 2008 5:24AM]

*sigh* The most common misunderstanding about OLPC. The concise explanation straight from the Amazon page:

Why Give a Laptop?
Why give a laptop to a child who has no running water? If you replace the word "laptop" with "education" the answer becomes clear. You don't wait to educate until all other challenges are resolved. You educate at the same time because it's such an important part of all the other solutions.

The Children
Currently, there are XO laptops in over 30 countries from India to Mongolia, and everywhere it goes, the results are the same. The laptops help children build on their active interest in the world around them to engage with powerful ideas. When the laptops arrive school attendance goes up, teachers download lesson plans from the web and kids begin teaching each other how to use the machine. With the XO, kids actually learn how to learn.

[kidcanuck @ Nov 17th 2008 5:44AM]

No, don't worry, I get that. I guess if I was putting myself in said kids shoes and I was starving to death or dying from aids I just might have a few things that I would worry about more than education. All I am saying is that it feels like a nice gesture but in my eyes, it's not the #1 priority. Stabilizing said child's prospects of actually living past thirty might actually give them a chance to put any education to use.

[kidcanuck @ Nov 17th 2008 5:45AM]

And I'm narrowing my gaze away from countries where food or stability is *as* much of an issue. I am looking more at the places where, were I to give money, I would want it going, and those are the places in the most dire need of charity, I guess.

[kidcanuck @ Nov 17th 2008 5:51AM]

So I guess I appreciate you lowering your admonishing gaze upon me, so clearly floundering in the waters of bad taste and ignorance, and enlightening me with your especially patronizing knowledge, and your patient and in no way demeaning *sigh*, cmonkey, but I happen to have a fully functioning moral center, not to mention brain.

[chefgon_ign @ Nov 17th 2008 7:37AM]

What's your problem, Canuck? He gave you a very specific answer to a problem you expressed, without giving you any attitude, and you get all offended by a *sigh* tag? Who cares? His response was helpful, nobody was judging you.

[JCA @ Nov 17th 2008 12:48PM]

Isn't this all a matter of perspective? As far as we know most major efforts to help people in emerging countries have usually been by way of food/clothing types of donations. That is a great thing for sure, but that isn't going to go very far towards creating societal change. Sally Struthers was "feeding the children" close to a full generation ago but still, we have kids on TV with bloated bellies and flies in their faces.

Arguably, the laptop (aka education) donations are going to do far more to create the long lasting change their society/culture/whatever needs to progress.

Lets put it this way.....we've been trying the "food" thing for awhile and from a distance, it doesn't seem to make their lives much better (besides maybe keeping them alive). Maybe the computer thing will. It's Long term vs. Short term thinking. Neither one is necessarily better than the other. Perhaps together they will one day form like Voltron and defeat the Rancor of starvation and the Mumm-Ra of 3rd world oppression.

[GRod @ Nov 19th 2008 11:45AM]

"Give him a fish and he we'll ask for another, teach him how to fish and he won't have to ask anymore"

This describes the difference betwee donating food and donating education.

[kidcanuck @ Nov 17th 2008 3:46PM]

I guess being misunderstood and slighted feels shittier when I can't sleep and it's five in the morning.

[Ogo @ Nov 17th 2008 8:11PM]

1. The OLPC was created to be UGLY and recognizable. It is created like this so it has no value in the cases of theft and resale. If there is a small village and you see a 40 year old with this laptop they are likely not suppose to have it.

2. Education is the key to a better life in your country why wouldn't that be the case in other countries.

[Valicore @ Nov 17th 2008 6:43AM]

I think this is a great project but I have to say: Why buy one when you can get two for twice the price?

[strider_mt2k @ Nov 17th 2008 7:10AM]

Where is fancy bread?

In the heart or in the head?

[Phrank @ Nov 17th 2008 10:19AM]

Neither; it's in the fancy bread aisle of your local fancy supermarket, fancyboy.

[A1 Engineering USA @ Nov 17th 2008 7:23AM]

Wow..That is all I can say for the comments. As for the computer..Sounds like a deal.

[Chris @ Nov 17th 2008 11:15AM]

Has anyone been able to buy one? Amazon says they're unavailable. Is that a launch glitch, or are they all already gone?

Chris

[Galley @ Nov 17th 2008 8:24AM]

Awesome! This is going to be my Christmas wishlist. I've been blessed with access to great technology, and my hope is for all the children of the world to have the same.

[bob sakamano @ Nov 17th 2008 9:07AM]

http://www.on9now.com/video/v797.html

[htd @ Nov 17th 2008 8:47AM]

should give those kids' family netbook instead...

[Manos Lijeros @ Nov 17th 2008 9:05AM]

Actually, the #1 more for the second pc might should concern you. Why? If they sell 1 all day long for $199, why should 2 costs 399? If the cost does not include shipping, then there might be an "incentive" to bundle 2 orders with one shipment--but wait, isn't that second computer going somewhere else anyway?

I would be fine if they stated it was an extra "donation." However, it is just an extra $1.00 tacked on to the price with no explanation? I'd rather buy 2 separately and donate an extra dollar. It might be that some would rather buy separately and keep the extra buck. Either way, I don't buy anything at the store where the "bundled" price is higher than buying the items "unbundled." Why do you?

[Benson @ Nov 17th 2008 11:57AM]

You wanna understand this?

$199 donation gets a laptop for some kid somewhere. (Hopefully an honest kid who will use his skills to crack DRM, not to steal your identity, but I digress...)

$200 buys a laptop for you.

However, $200 purchases of a privately-owned laptop may only be made in conjunction with, and simultaneous to, corresponding donations for laptops for kids. (And through some miracle, you don't have to file any paperwork to do it.)

If that still doesn't make sense, seems inefficient, or just plain micromanaged, imagine this is a government program. NOW it all makes sense, yes? (Except that bit about no paperwork; I'm betting that miracle came from Amazon, not OLPC.)

[bob sakamano @ Nov 17th 2008 9:05AM]

i just don't get what the incentive is to buy one for yourself... if it was buy one get one free for yourself then i see... but buy one at regular price to donate and buy one for yourself at regular price... doesnt seem like many people will go for that one... all im saying is to at least give some sort of benefit in the second offer

[del @ Nov 17th 2008 9:11AM]

I hightly recomment cheap price and for more documentation at site http://www.mmc205usa.co.cc/ this it my site. Awesome! This is going to be my Christmas wishlist. I've been blessed with access to great technology, and my hope is for all the children of the world to have the same.
If enyone interrest in higth end product it look like grest info site.
THANK

[loocas @ Nov 17th 2008 9:17AM]

They couldn't think of anything uglier to giveaway?

[gyffes @ Nov 17th 2008 9:24AM]

The main problem with the XO/give-one deal is that however good these may be (and my 6 year old loves his), they're greatly crippled when not among others of their kind.

Add in mesh networking and the collaboration and sharing that enables and suddenly these little things become real stars.

And all of you who quibble over its looks forget the target market is NOT tech-addled Western adults. Hell, it's not aimed at Westerners at all: remember how hard Negroponte argued against selling it here? It was only financial realities that forced him to go the G1G1 way, at all. So, yeah, compare it unfavorably to an eee all you want, it's not the comparison the targeted audience would/will be making.