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My kids can’t read, so I can safely share the news here that my father has very generously given me the go ahead to buy them OLPC Laptops for Christmas. Believe you me, they (and I) are going to be very excited to rip open their presents this year. The deadline for participating is November 26th, 2007 - so as of this writing it’s still not too late to order yours!

I complain alot about the OLPC project, but at the end of the day I am excited about the devices and am pleased that my children will finally get to have one - and in the process help to make sure that some kids (hopefully in Africa) also get to have them. I am also pleased at least to perceive that Nicholas Negroponte and his OLPC Foundation appear to be coming back to earth and are developing realistic plans for deploying millions of these laptops in the third world. Perhaps I will even stop calling it a dam project with bunny ears.

Despite my excitement, I can’t help but continue complaining a little. It’s not so much about the devices but the attitude of Negroponte and the appearance of OLPC as traditional, very costly, top-heavy and not especially participative development project.

According to the Terms of “Give One Get One” page on the laptopgiving.org website (reposted below), that $847.90 purchase has involved us irrevocably in a global educational movement - participation may not be cancelled - even though there are no assurances as to when our devices will actually get here. The reason for this is that their priority is not me but the children in poor countries that will get the donated machines. If we decide to change our minds and ask for our money back, we have to act within 30 days, even if the devices are not in our possession and we haven’t decided if the laptops work well for us. And once we have them we will be seeking help using it from friends, family and bloggers. Wow!

I’m a geek and am used to getting help online, and everyone who knows me can attest that I am always eager to join global movements for change, especially when they involve creative uses of computers and the Internet, but these terms are still fairly heavy handed.
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