Product Review: OLPC

Our product review for the month is the OLPC laptop. Back in November, we spoke about the One Laptop Per Child project (laptopgiving.org). Well, I participated in the Give One Get One program, and I am happy to say that our laptop has arrived! Without any instructions or explanation, I handed it to my 4 year old daughter Grace, and let her play with it. Her first question was, "Daddy, how do I turn it on, is it this button right here?", pointing to the power button. Read full text for more.

She turned it on and watched it boot.  She then felt the little green rubberized keys and smiled, "Daddy, I like these keys, they are soft."  She then proceeded to make some music, take some pictures, and record some video.  Using the mouse was intuitive to her.  When she was done, I took it and checked it out a bit.  The applications are geared for learning, and specifically, for kids.  There is a web browser, book reader, various music apps, some programming apps, and some neat stuff.  It certainly will not replace my work laptop, but it is certainly a very cool piece of hardware.  I did end up using it as a remote control for my iTunes server, which worked out very well, since I can now sit outside in my backyard and change the music with it.  Good stuff.