Una Laptop por Niño

• Una Laptop por Niño ,By David Talbot [technologyreview.com]

The 'One laptop per child' initiative is one of the most ambitions nonprofits that exist today. The aim of the nonprofit is to fit poverty stricken children world wide with low cost ($100) 'OLPC' machines. A brainchild of Nicholas Negroponte, founder of MIT's Media lab, the initiative revealed in 2005 has made headlines for its mission. The OLPC has been greeted with great enthusiasm and positive response from the media. The ingenuity of the machines is often gloated by observers and participants alike.
The OLPC has also faced set backs and controversy from major competitors delivering similar low cost machines. Its manufacturing cost has extended the effort of delivering the machines to children in need. Because it is more expensive, participants in the program are less likely to purchase creating a barrier to entry for the OLPC.

In addition to it's current goals, I believe the OLPC initiative should also focus on building internet infrastructure in participating regions. An internet connection is a primary component of the OLPC. It enables the system to update itself, improve performance, add content and fix potential issues. If a town or village lacks the proper infrastructure for a shared internet connection, the efforts of the OLPC are crippled.
Maintenance of the machines is another major issue facing OLPC. Students and teachers must be educated on proper maintenance and troubleshooting for fear of hardware failures. The task of educating teachers, much less students, on proper maintenance of such a new technology is a monumental task in itself. Most teachers in rural areas have no experience with modern machines, they must be educated before they can teach. I feel that the program does not focus enough on this issue, it will create for a bottle neck in distribution as the program progresses.

If the OLPC intends to truly become a global initiative, it must compensate for barriers created by introducing modern machines to underdeveloped regions of the world.