2007 OLPC XO-1
By: Raunak Maskey
November 11th, 2021
The OLPC
The OLPC was a revolutionary idea when it was first brought to the attention of the world in the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland in January 2005. OLPC stands for One Laptop Per Child, and the Idea was that every child would have their hands on a laptop that would help and better their education. This idea was mainly started off for third world countries, but people all over the world wanted a laptop for their child. The laptop was designed by OLPC but was manufactured by Quanta.
The laptop used various applications and its software to help give students a balanced education that wasn’t heavy towards one subject. The applications used games and various other methods to get and keep the children's attention to the point where they didn’t even know that they were learning. The laptop was entirely made from plastic and used various tools and hardware for it to function(1).
The laptop came out in 2007 and not many other technologies had Wi-Fi and Bluetooth as there is nowadays. The XO-1 was supposed to cost the average buyer $100, but after a run-in with a bunch of problems in the pre-production line the price had climbed to $200 per laptop. OLPC promised that they would donate a XO-1, every time a XO-1 was bought so technically the price of the laptop is $100 per laptop(2).
When the laptop was first announced there were many countries trying to get their hands on this marvelous piece of technology, but after learning about the price increase and there being other competitors in the market many of those countries soon backed out. The idea behind the OLPC XO-1 was great but the execution behind it, was what led to its disarray.
Footnotes:
1-Harris, Mark. "OLPC XO-1 (One Laptop Per Child) Review: OLPC XO-1 (One Laptop Per Child)." CNET. Accessed November 11, 2021. https://www.cnet.com/reviews/olpc-xo-1-one-laptop-per-child-review/.
2-"OLPC XO-1." PCMag UK. Last modified November 28, 2007. https://uk.pcmag.com/first-looks/6936/olpc-xo-1.