OLPC now famously stands for One Laptop Per Child. And while anyone can purchase the device, rest assured the emphasis is firmly on child. The iconic green-and-white machine is unlike any computer you've ever used, and it represents a first - if rocky - step toward a new vision for youth and technology.
For adults, however, the experience is something different. Everything about the OLPC XO is designed with students in mind: The keyboard, wrapped in a rubberized membrane, is built for tiny, food-encrusted fingers. Touch typing? Don't even dream of it. And once you open the device you'll immediately find yourself faced with over a dozen unfamiliar buttons which you'll largely have to figure out through trial and error. The heavily-modded Fedora Linux core offers an entirely new way of doing things, deep-sixing any notions you might have about desktops, icons, and even file management. Again, kids in a classroom setting will probably grok this quickly, but grown-ups will wrestle with OLPC's software as much as they do its hardware.
Posts
