In a speech at the LinuxWorld conference being held in Boston this week, MIT's Nicholas Negroponte,
the professor behind the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) initiative,
said distribution of the computers to school children around the world is set to begin next year.
However, that announcement in of itself is not really any news of note. But, he did stick it to Intel and Microsoft for criticizing his organization's efforts. Negroponte expressed dismay at Bill Gates' criticisms, but some analysts believe Gates is annoyed that OLPC is using the Linux operating system which, of course, is a direct competitor of Windows. However, there is work underway between laptop designers and Microsoft to develop a version of the Windows CE operating system that would work on the devices.
In addition, Negroponte mentioned some design changes, including having the hand crank connected to an AC adapter instead of it being permanently attached to the laptop. He also said the laptops will be engineered to use 2 watts of electricity.
So far, OLPC has raised $29 million, so it looks like the organization's goal of bringing these laptops to bring education to children worldwide is gaining momentum. It's too bad that some big corporations can't contain their egos and have to find fault with an initiative that is only trying to help people.
