One Laptop Per Child Project Aims for $100 Laptops by 2008

Nicholas Negroponte, chairman of the One Laptop Per Child [1] non profit announce gave an update recently on his initiative to produce inexpensive laptops running Linux with some form of power generation device, such as a pedal. The association hopes to distribute 5 million to 10 million of the systems to children in India, China, Brazil, Argentina, Thailand, Egypt, and Nigeria in the first quarter of 2007. For more info, visit here [2].

Negroponte has stellar credentials. This information appears on the bio page [3] for the One Laptop Per Child Initiative:

Nicholas is founder and chairman of the One Laptop per Child non-profit association. He is currently on leave from MIT, where he was co-founder and director of the MIT Media Laboratory [4], and the Jerome B. Wiesner Professor of Media Technology. A graduate of MIT, Nicholas was a pioneer in the field of computer-aided design, and has been a member of the MIT faculty since 1966. Conceived in 1980, the Media Laboratory opened its doors in 1985. He is also author of the 1995 best seller, Being Digital [5], which has been translated into more than 40 languages. In the private sector, Nicholas serves on the board of directors for Motorola, Inc. and as general partner in a venture capital firm specializing in digital technologies for information and entertainment. He has provided start-up funds for more than 40 companies, including Wired magazine.