The OLPC Wiki

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Like many other nonprofits that are facing tough economic times, One Laptop per Child must downsize in order to keep costs in line with fewer financial resources. Today we are reducing our team by approximately 50% and there will be salary reductions for the remaining 32 people. While we are saddened by this development, we remain firmly committed to our mission of getting laptops to children in developing countries. We thank team members who are departing for their contributions to this important mission.

This restructuring is also the result of an exciting new direction for OLPC. Our technology initiatives will focus on:

1. Development of Generation 2.0
2. A no-cost connectivity program
3. A million digital books
4. Passing on the development of the Sugar Operating System to the community.

With regard to deployments:

1. Latin America will be spun off into a separate support unit
2. The Middle East, Afghanistan and North Western Pakistan will become a major focus
3. Sub-Sahara Africa will become a major learning hub

Separately, OLPC will be dedicated to bringing the cost of the laptop down to Zero for Least Developed Countries — the $0 Laptop.

Restructuring brings with it great pain for some of our friends and colleagues who are being let go. These individuals are people who have dedicated themselves to the advancement of a noble cause, and to say that we are exceeding grateful for the time, the ideas, the energy and the commitment they have given OLPC does not — cannot — adequately express our admiration or our gratitude. The fact that there are 500,000 children around the world who have laptops is testament to their extraordinary work and is already a key part of OLPC's legacy.

The future brings with it some uncertainty, some difficulty, but also the excitement that comes with the rededication to a cause, and a new path that will allow us to realize the moral purpose of OLPC. I hope that each one of you will remain supportive of OLPC, and its mission of opening up a universe of knowledge to the world's poorest children living in the most remote parts of the Earth.

— Nicholas Negroponte

Get Involved

Anyone can participate in OLPC and many already do. To introduce yourself, consider:

• Contacting existing contributors who share your interests,
• Editing pages on this wiki
• Writing to a mailing list,
• Chatting with us on Internet Relay Chat,
• Befriending a contributor and visiting in person,
• Attending a conference,
• Interning with a mentor or deployment
• Or organizing your own club or event

We'll be happy to help you find ways to contribute or to assist you with your own ideas, so please try us!

If you prefer to start participating by reading or by doing, rather than by talking, then the participation page is for you.

Learn more

Activities    ·    Support    ·    Community Forum    ·    Guide

You can read more and discuss new ideas about hardware, software, education and content; The XO's interface, Sugar, has its own human interface guidelines. There are also discussion pages on issues of deployment and country-specific discussions.

Our five core principles— Child Ownership, Low Ages, Saturation, Connection, and Free and Open Source.