OLPC Thailand

2007 status: green
green

This is the starting point for information about OLPC in Thailand.

• Thai localization requirements (pdf or OpenDocument). To read the OpenDocument version you will need the Garuda font.
• Software list

2006 Coup and Its Effects on Open Source Thailand

During the administration of Thaksin Shinawatra, the government of Thailand was quite enthusiastic about OLPC and related open source ideology. In 2006 a military coup d'etat deposed the government headed by Thaksin and his "Thai Rak Thai" (Thais Love Thais) party. The new executive department is referred to as the "National Security Council" and appears to be committed to reversing many of Thaksin's policies. Support for open/free source software appears to have been curtailed by the new administration, and this cooling toward such projects seems to have also affected enthusiasm for the One Laptop Per Child project. Apparently the administration has shifted its emphasis to building relations with Microsoft.

Please Note: I am living in Bangkok and the reason Thaksin has been kicked out of Thailand is because of corruption. The new government has been attempting to reverse all his policy's in a frenzy to repair the damage he has done to the country with the side effect of scrapping the OLPC.

This article is too biased towards him as some sort of open source saint and should be changed to better reflect what is actually happening in Thailand.

The best thing the OLPC could do now to try an convince the new Minister of Technology why the Open Laptop Project is so important. Can't be that hard with countries like India going completely Microsoft free.

ราชอาณาจักรไทย Ratcha Anachak Thai Kingdom of Thailand
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e3/LocationThailand.png
Capital	Bangkok (Krung Thep)
Official languages	Thai
Area	514,000 km²
Population
- 2005 estimate	64,185,502
- 2000 census	60,916,441
- Density	126/km²
Education
- Literacy (%)	92.6
- Compulsory Years
- Compulsory Age
- Pop. in School Age
- Pop. in School
GDP (PPP) 2005 est.	USD 550 billion
- Per capita	USD 8,600
GDP (nominal) 2005 est.	USD 183 billion
- Per capita
HDI  (2004)	0.784 (medium)
Gini Index  (2002)	51.1
Time zone	(UTC+7)
Internet TLD	.th
Calling code	+66
More statistics...

Localization experience

The program Application Program: Test of ability with arithmetic may or may not become produced, yet if you wish to try adding some strings for localizing into Thai you are welcome to do so.