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:
- Development of Generation 2.0
- A no-cost connectivity program
- A million digital books
- Passing on the development of the Sugar Operating System to the community.
With regard to deployments:
- Latin America will be spun of into a separate support unit,
- The Middle East, Afghanistan and North Western Pakistan will become a major focus
- Sub-Sahara Africa will become a major learning hub
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Separately, OLPC will be dedicated to bringing the cost of the laptop down to Zero for Least Developed Countries – the $0 Laptop.
Restructuring beings 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
Take part in our winter giving program :
give a laptop to a child in the developing world, and get one for someone in the US or in other countries.
Laptops are a window and a tool: a window into the world and a tool with which to think. They are a wonderful way for children to learn learning through independent interaction and exploration.
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
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.
What's new
Weekly news · OLPC Planet · News archive +
- OLPC launched its second Give One, Get One ("G1G1") program on November 17, 2008, following last year's popular program which supported the production of over 150,000 XOs. This year the XO laptops will be shipped to donors through Amazon.com, and the program includes Europe. Visit laptop.org/xo.
- The XO Software Release 8.2.0 is out: with a redesigned interface, software updater, and 19 languages. Read the release notes.
- For more news, check out dedicated OLPC news aggregators like:
