The One Laptop Per Child Project seems to be progressing. The keynote address by at the 10th Python Conference detailed amongst others that Python language will form a great part of the software design and file system of the laptop. This eliminates the compiling and linking, allows and to cap this offf there is hardware support for development of the software with a "view source" special function key becoming part of the keyboard.
It is all FOSS with the Linux kernal. The filesystem is called yellow, and is like the zope object system, with versioning, which allows "undo", a nice feature for children! The user interface is called, appropriately enough, "sugar".
The prototype machine is green, and has a mouse pad which can work with finger or a stylus like device as well. The battery is also very light weight, cooler and less toxic. The power supply connects to almost any type of electrical source. Two large antennae access an ESS mesh networking system, with a range upto 2km!
A prototype machine was presented to the father of python - Guido van Rossum. This will hopefully get him involved more closely with the project.
The importance of this project is not to be missed. Just one million laptops like this with children, can produce some really amazing spinoffs! It could make python the most powerful language on the planet, make Zope/Plone hugely popular and redefine the UI as it will be built by the children. Free software will get a huge boost, as the young ones will learn the community type behaviour of FOSS, and contribute enormously.
Google and others - be prepared!
http://www.laptop.org/
Sunday, February 25, 2007
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