Give a Laptop and Get One

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Challenges Big and Small

The pilot programs are essential for identifying the glitches that are bound to arise when computers are deployed in cash-strapped schools. Setting up and paying for Internet access can be a challenge. Bittencourt and his researcher colleagues have been giving the OLPC organization feedback on the hardware and software so its techies can make improvements. Also, since there are few electrical outlets in the Porto Alegre school, they jury-rigged a system for powering and charging the computers using a web of cheap power strips. The XO Laptops are designed to consume very little electricity. "If we bought traditional laptops, we'd have to replace all of the electrical wires in the school, and that would make it impossible to make this work," says Bittencourt.

While there has been much praise for OLPC, the project has its critics, too. "I think the problem of getting orders is showing that the brilliant idea of getting governments to buy in huge volumes is a flawed strategy," says Wayan Vota, editor of OLPC News, a Web site that tracks the project closely. He supports the OLPC's goals, but in addition to selling the idea to high-level government officials, he favors a process of winning over educators closer to the front lines and enlisting them in gradually rolling out the laptops to schools.

Vota and other observers also say Negroponte and his cohorts are sometimes too doctrinaire in their belief that the best way to use computers in education is to hand them to children and let them figure out what they want to do with them. Negroponte says that's an unfair criticism. When he approaches governments, he says, he lays out two options. The first is the idea of putting the machines in the children's hands and letting them take them home at night, where they'll learn by experimenting. A second option, which he calls the "Trojan Horse," is employing the laptops as electronic books that the teachers and administrators can use to deliver their already-existing curricula. "This is less disturbing to the educational establishment," he says.

The Elusive $100 Mark

When Negroponte launched his project, he hoped to quickly get the cost per laptop below $100. Instead, he found that the cost of buying and assembling the 800 parts that go into each machine was nearly double. However, as production volumes rise, he expects to reduce the current $188 cost by about 40% with each passing year. If he’s right, he may yet succeed in bringing the laptop in under the $100 mark.

Another challenge he faces is competition from commercial computer makers. For instance, NComputing of Redwood Shores, Calif., sells a system that includes a single PC that connects with up to seven simple computer terminals for a price of $142 per student. The startup has had some successes in rural schools in the U.S. and in some emerging nations. "I'm concerned that programs depending on charity will never meet the real needs of children in developing countries," says Chief Executive Stephen Dukker. He says his products "provide low-cost access to the complete PC experience while also providing the profits necessary to support an entire value chain of support and services."

And so, with a number of alternatives to chose from, countries are taking their time to evaluate their options. But despite the bumpy start, the OLPC initiative has plenty of support from powerful technology companies, including Google (GOOG), AMD (AMD), eBay (EBAY), Intel (INTC), and News Corp. (NWS). AMD Chief Executive Hector Ruiz, who was the first industry leader to pledge support to Negroponte, remains confident that demand for the machines will take off eventually. "Unfortunately, it gets caught up in a bureaucratic mess," he says.

AMD, which provides the processors for the machines, has already benefited from collaborating with the OLPC to help design a device that's inexpensive, rugged, and extremely energy-efficient. Drawing on that experience, the company has worked with a PC maker to develop an AMD-powered computer designed specifically for emerging markets. If that product sells well, at least AMD will have cause for celebration.

Hamm is a senior writer for BusinessWeek in New York.