XO Giving/International

Can donors receive XOs in Canada? In Europe?

Not yet. During the rollout of the campaign in 2008, donors must provide a shipping address within the United States to receive an XO. We plan to expand the shipping options to include other countries in the near future. Specific countries being considered include Canada, the UK, Germany and Japan.

Bottlenecks include complying with recycling/takeback laws and finalizing national wireless certifications.

Can I donate with a European credit card?

tba

Can I get an XO in my country if I am contributing or developing for the project?

If you or your friends are developing for the XO and require a laptop, they can apply to get one through the contributors program, regardless of where they live.

Europe

As of 2008-11-11 there are strong indications that the 2008 Give 1 Get 1 program will also be available in the 27 member states of the EU, Switzerland, Russia and Turkey. For more information please refer to the latest editition of community-news, this story [via olpcnews] and XO Giving/G1G1EU. ChristophD 03:37, 12 November 2008 (UTC)

Is it really impossible for Europeans to take part in this program within the given period?

• Of course not, but import/export is your problem. There are services that will help you by providing a US mailing address that forwards to your real address; try Google to find one.

• Thanks for your hint. I've found several postal services by using the search terms "mail forwarding service".

• That probably won't help if they're also asking for payment via a credit card with a US billing address.

• Why don't OLPC just do this themselves using a transatlantic courier? Transatlatic trade isn't a new idea... If they don't have the human resources or expertise to negotiate a deal, they could just encourage discussions like this one about the best way to get them shipped over individually, and put the most highly recommended links and tips on their official site. Surely anything is better than a vaguely implied flat-out "No" to the 93% of the population of the world who aren't in Canada or the USA?

There are warranty, recycling, and certification issues to be dealt with, by country and across the EU. 18.85.49.50 05:51, 6 October 2008 (UTC)

SvenAERTS: Can't the OLPC-Europe offices in Brussels order a container load, hire an additional person to ship them for European? I assume there it is possible for Europeans to buy via Amazon with EU Based Credit Cards and Shipping Addresses?

• Yes it is a interesting hint. But it is too bad, that Europeans cannot participate. I know a lot of people who are interested to participate. I think the Organization would get a lot of donations by making this Give 1 Get 1 Program available in Europe. Maybe the reason is because a fear of too many orders?

I'm also dissappointed by this. For example the European market is about the same size as the USA. So the OLPC organisation could double their numbers of free laptops to give away. Also the price per laptop will go down since the volume goes up. Now if the whole world could join this program, it might triple the manufacturing volume. I just don't get this. Many of my friends will stop producing software if they cannot get a target machine to work with! A worldwide G1G1 program is an incentive to show your willingness to participate with the rest of the planet.

There might be good reasons for limiting it to just North America, for example setting up distribution and servicing. Also, if it's successful in North America, perhaps mobile network partners on European networks would be more willing to offer incentives in order to be associated positively with the project (like T-Mobile in the States). I can't help but feel that the 2-for-1 idea could potentially end up as the largest mechanism for charitably supplying laptops to children in developing nations, so I hope they are quick to act on this and make the offer international if the N. American drive is a resounding success.

Adapters

• Will the charging adapter work in the UK? What addition parts will need to be bought? Really disappointed Europe is being ignored here.

  A separate charger would be needed. US laptop chargers generally work in the UK with a pin-adapter. Depending on the connector, it may be possible to use a third party charger, or if the charger is multi-part to swap in a UK power-socket connector cable.

Canada

• Is Canada included in the Amazon shipping offer?

  Not at the moment. Canadian donors (and others) will have to provide a US shipping address to receive an XO when the program launches. 05:51, 6 October 2008 (UTC)

Australia

I'm disappointed this program won't be available in Australia. I was looking forward to the give 1 get 1 launch so I could get one for my nephew. This is sadly only going to increase the demand for grey market laptops on eBay. :(

See the recent work by Pia Waugh and OLPC Australia.

All countries

Keyboards

• Would "localised" keyboards be a possibility ? Maybe that can best be assessed when the participation in the US is known, which may be an indication for interest to be expected in other industrialized countries.

  Producing and shipping localized keyboards in batches of tens of thousands is technically feasible, when there is the equivalent of a local deployment. For a program such as G1G1, this would theoretically require a local warehousing partner.