January 26 2006

This press release introduces an initiative of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) to support a project which aims to provide economically- and energy-efficient laptop computers to disadvantaged students around the world. Officially announced at the January 2006 World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, this effort aims to give children in developing countries access to the knowledge and educational tools that could lift them out of poverty.

The key to this effort is the "$100 laptop", described as "an inexpensive, robust computer, with open-source software, very low power consumption, and the capacity to be powered by hand cranking." This new technology was first unveiled at the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) in Tunisia (November 2005) by One Laptop per Child (OLPC), a non-profit organisation that will work with local and international partners to deliver the new technology to targeted schools in the least developed countries. The proposed machine will be Linux-based, with a dual-mode display; it will not have a hard disk, but it will have four USB ports. The laptops will have wireless broadband that, among other things, allows them to work as a mesh network; each laptop will be able to talk to its nearest neighbours, creating an ad hoc, local area network. The laptops will use power sources such as wind-up. (For more details, visit the OLPC website.)

Not yet in production as of this writing, the laptops will only be distributed to schools directly through large government initiatives; they will not be available for sale.