This is not to say that the OLPC’s XO laptop will work everywhere. The kids that will benefit are the ones that already have food, clothing, and shelter, and who live in a country or region where they don’t have a good goverment issued curriculum. Books may be cheaper than a laptop, but if you are living in a very rural area, you are not going to be able to go to a library or book store to find something better, if the government issued books are boring, confusing, or meant for a different age group.

Here is more information on the problems in the olpc organization: http://radian.org/notebook/sic-transit-gloria-laptopi

Now that it’s been settled that even developing countries would rather buy Wintel from major vendors, it’s time to move on to building educational software for whatever product does sell by the millions.