People Don't Want a Cheap Laptop

Sorry I haven’t had time to post new information in the last week or so. I was busy putting the final touches on a new version of my WinPatrol program. See “WinPatrol 14 Enhances Keylogging Detection” for more info.

While I haven’t posted in a while I’m still very excited about the OLPC project and my XO laptop. While I’ve been off the OLPC Foundation has had its share of bumps and bruises. They’ve had some shipping and contact problems and may be losing some enthusiastic supporters.

I also keep reading articles that compare the XO laptop to so-called cheap laptops. Robert Scoble even got Lenovo’s CEO Bill Amelio to admit they’re working on cheap laptops. I guess Amelio wasn’t around to remember the IBM PCJr. If I haven’t said it already; “People don’t want a ‘cheap’ laptop. They want Innovation!”.

I’m going to be in D. C. next week and by chance will be in town the same night as a meeting of the local OLPC Learning Club. The meeting is Jan 31^st from 6:30 PM to 9:00 PM at Greater DC Cares on I Street. If you’re interested in attending you can learn more at http://olpclearningclub.org/meetings/next-meeting-date-and-location-set/.

I was also excited to hear that OLPC Austria is working on a new OLPC Activity Handbook for programmers . You can download a draft of the first few chapters at http://www.olpcaustria.org/mediawiki/index.php/Activity_handbook. If you’re interested in knowing more about Sugar and trying your hand at a building an Activity in Python, check it out.