Life Of Navin

Definitely you've heard of Nicholas Negroponte. A man with a vision. A vision to provide every child with access to the net. Thats why he launched the OLPC (One Laptop Per Child) programme. The first step was to design a $100 laptop. Unfortunately the end result of a much touted about project was a srappy looking device, the XO which cost $188. Now the second version of this laptop has been launched at MIT by Nicholas Negroponte himself.Nicknamed the XO-2, the revamped machine looks like an e-book and has had its price slashed to $75 per device.

The new version loses the green rubbery keyboard, sporting instead a single square display hinged at its centre. This allows the device to be split into two touch screens that can either mimic a laptop with keyboard or the pages of a book. The new machine will also be more energy efficient, half the size of the first generation device and lighter to carry.

It will continue to sport the XO logo in a multitude of colours so that children can personalise them.

Here's an image of the new XO.....Presenting the XO-2


"It is a totally new concept for learning devices." said Prof Negroponte. "Over the last couple of years we've learned the book experience is key," he said.

So far OLPC has only sold about 600,000 machines. Prof Negroponte he said he expected a further 400,000 orders in the next "60 to 90 days".

Many countries have been reluctant to buy the machines because they did not run Microsoft's Windows operating system so in mid-May OLPC announced a deal with Microsoft to make Windows available on the XO.

Previously the machines used a version of open source Linux operating system. He also said a dual-boot XO laptop that will run Windows and Linux is in the works.

Prof. Negroponte also announced the resumption of the Get-One-Give-One (G1G1) programme to allow people in wealthy nations buy two XO laptops and donate one to a child in a developing country.