Initial Responses
Responses to the XO laptop have been mixed. Most of the favorable responses have been to the laptop's design decisions, while most of the criticisms have been in response to the project's mission itself.
Favorable Responses
There have been many favorable responses to the One Laptop Per Child, namely and XO laptop and its features. The laptop is spill-proof, rainproof, dust-proof and drop-proof, making it perfect for educationally under-served children in rural areas. Furthermore, a twelve-year old reviewer described the laptop as:
cleverly designed, imaginative, straightforward, easy to understand..., useful and simple, entertaining, dependable, really a "stick to the basics" kind of computer. It's the perfect laptop for the job. Great for first time users
Many of the design decisions, for example the new battery and operating
system, were implemented to benefit children in underdeveloped countries.
Notwithstanding the hardware, the new software was designed to also interest
children and help them learn. The laptop comes equipped with a number of
games to engage the children's attention, as well as a software program to
allow children to examine the underlying source code of any application or
webpage. This program also allows children to make changes and see their
resulting effects, allowing them to learn how things work through self
discovery.
Basically, the One Laptop Per Child project places on emphasis on
understanding the computer itself in order to meet its mission of encouraging
education through self discovery.
Proponents of this project deride critics for not supporting the OLPC project, and specifically the XO laptop, saying that the project's goal of education would solve many, if not all, of the problems stated in the criticisms.
Criticisms
Critics argue that the One Laptop Per Child project is nothing more
than the Western world telling the world's poor to "let them eat cake." (When
Marie Antoinette learned about the French people's poverty and need for basic
food like bread, she supposedly responded with "Let them eat cake".) They see
the XO laptop as one more in a series of feel-good events that try to assuage
the developed world's guilt about the world's problems without actually doing
anything.
These critics don't see the innovations of the XO laptop which were
designed for third-world children; rather, they see this laptop as nothing
more than an advertising toy being given to the developing world instead of
actual computers. They point out that the majority of the world's
poor are either underfed or are starving, and that they could rather use food
than "little green computers".
Furthermore, they point out that the targeted audience is illiterate, and that the majority of websites are not written in the languages of the those who are literate. They also note how disagreeing with the purpose of the One Laptop Per Child project is nearly tantamount to heresy, and how supporters don't want to hear that their money for an XO laptop would be better spent on rice and food.
These criticisms have been further echoed by Africans themselves,
the eventual targets of this project. They note that the XO laptop is more
the result of the American mind-set and hasn't really considered what the
intended users need. Additionally, they note that "Africans know
[their] land and wisdom is passed down through generations" and that it is not
necessary to have a computer to gather information regarding which crops
should be grown when; they already have the required experience to answer
these questions. Africans do not need hundreds of millions of computers;
"[w]hat is needed is clean water and real schools."
They further note how their governments will need to pay for satellite dishes (or some other form of connectivity), in addition to the costs of the laptops themselves. Basically, Africans view the XO laptop as the West trying to force developing countries to buy what they don't need. As one participant at The World Summit on the Information Society in Tunis said:
If you live in a mud hut, what use is that computer for your children who don't have a doctor within walking distance?
Lastly, critics note the costs of the OLPC laptop. Instead of costing $100 as advertised, the XO laptops actually cost $188, which is a little more than most developing countries can afford. Last year, Uruguay received its first shipment of the 3 million XO laptops it ordered, causing OLPC president Walter Bender to enthuse over the next line of countries to receive the laptops.
However, critics argue that the laptops are not as affordable for countries like Peru. It has been argued that Uruguay is far from a third-world country and can afford to supply its children with $188 laptops. (The total cost is about $70 million, making it 1.4% of Uruguay's annual budget of nearly $5 billion.) For the next set of countries targeted by Bender, the costs are a little more unreasonable. For Peru to supply all of its children with the OLPC laptops, it would cost more than $750 million, which approaches 3.5% of Peru's annual budget of $22 billion, which is rather extravagant for a developing country. Critics argue that this money could be better spent on items like food, clean water, and shelter.