On a Laptop Mission for Kids

The XO's unusual design consumes little power, runs open-source software and features a high-resolution screen readable in sunlight. It also has a wireless system that lets XOs form a local network to communicate with one another, even when no Internet connection is available.

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Whether it succeeds, One Laptop Per Child is likely to go down in philanthropic history as a case study in the formidable challenges facing anyone trying to use technology to help the developing world.

Wayan Vota, a technology missionary who runs a Web site devoted to news about the group, said it has "a great dream and amazing technology but not much of an implementation plan." He worries that the outcome could resemble an ill-fated tractor program in Africa decades ago, which provided lots of tractors but little supporting infrastructure.

"You can't just drop in technology and leave," Vota said. "And every successful technology project in the developing world has shown you have to start at the grass roots. You need buy-in from end users and work up the change from the bottom. You get students and parents and teachers to support it, so they influence the education bureaucracy."

Bender disputed the notion that his group didn't do enough spadework, saying MIT researchers have been doing fieldwork since the 1960s. "We have been on the ground in virtually every corner of the planet for 40-plus years working on this problem and getting feedback." Bender said critics don't understand their vision for how laptops will change children's lives by helping them "learn about learning."

Negroponte agreed, saying that was a key difference between the MIT project and rival commercial ventures: "One Laptop Per Child is an education project. It is not a laptop project."

Negroponte and Bender believe that playing with their own laptops will engage children's intellects, spark creativity and provide an outlet for self-expression. Laptops, however, aren't teachers anymore than a vaccine is a cure, Bender said, citing an analogy between immunology and education popularized by Jonas Salk: "A vaccine is an agency that allows your body to manufacture a cure. And a laptop is not a cure, but an agency that allows teachers and students to engage in learning to construct learning."

Still, the program ascribes great potential to the machines. Intel and other rivals question whether that potential can be met without costly companion services.

For its part, Intel is doing charity work and commercial development in search of devices to create new markets for its microprocessors. Because most children in developing nations have little access to education, they are seen as a natural starting point. Intel developed a rival laptop, the Classmate PC, that leapfrogged the XO in sales earlier this year, with tens of thousands of units shipped to foreign countries since production started in March, even though they cost more than the XO.

"It's now in Mexico, Brazil, Nigeria, Libya and Pakistan," said Intel spokeswoman Agnes Kwan. "Most were purchased by governments."

By the end of the year, Intel will be running laptop pilot programs in schools in 30 countries with an eye to figuring out what kind of software services, Internet connectivity, local educational content and technical support are needed.

"We don't believe in just providing hardware," Kwan said. "Our experience is it needs to be end-to-end solution."

Intel launched a global education initiative a decade ago, and early last year announced a "World Ahead" program that committed $1 billion over five years to bring technology to developing countries. Intel also pledged to donate 100,000 computers to classrooms in poor countries over five years.

Microsoft, also eager to tap new markets, announced this year it would sell a stripped-down software package to emerging-country governments for $3 a student as part of its "Unlimited Potential" program to bring technology to the world's poor. Company executives also have been touting a separate plan to make cellphones that hook up to TVs and perform many laptop functions.

Yet another tack is coming from Stephen Dukker, founder of low-cost computing pioneer eMachines, who has started a firm called NComputing that aims to reduce computing costs through a new machine that lets children share computing resources.

Vota says all of these approaches and more are needed: "If there are a billion students in the world, there will be a billion solutions. There is a full spectrum of educational environments computing can be in, and they all have potential."