The last few years have witnessed an increasing focus on creating inexpensive, affordable computers for users in the developing world.

"China should be an obvious beneficiary of the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) Scheme, which seeks to provide robust $100 portable Internet computers to children in developing countries."

The One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) is an amazing project that aims to give every child in the world a laptop with a cost of just $100 a laptop and they also are windup so in countries where there is no or little electricity you can wind the OLPC up to get it working.

"Episode 04 takes us on location in Porto Alegre, Brazil. Where the first batches of XOs have been delivered and deployed."

Walter Bender, the One Laptop Per Child program's director of software, told DesktopLinux.com on July 13 that he invites Dell Computer founder and CEO Michael Dell to help figure out how to better use 125 million computers that are discarded annually because they are archaic.

The success or failure of the One Laptop Per Child Project hinges critically on the cost of the XO laptop, which governments are expected to purchase on behalf of their citizens in developing countries. While we know that the XO will be debuting at $175, there has been renewed speculation of where the laptop project might land if sales are successful.

Chipzilla is doing everything it can to undercut MIT's One Laptop Per Child project not, sadly, in the name of helping disadvantaged kids in Africa and elsewhere, but instead to pander to the God of the Bottom Line. But it's not the only game in town and another cheap system is quietly trundling along in the background.

The One Laptop per Child project has got to be one of the most controversial topics in both education and technology. The little green wonder has been incessantly discussed and debated, at once glorified for its ideals and derided for a host of perceived shortcomings.