[Olpc-open] How will the OLPC truly help education?

[Henry Skelton]

After reading the subject, you may think the answer has been answered  
a hundred times. Maybe it has, but I can't seem to find anything  
beyond vague allusions. Most articles just tell the aims and hardware  
specs, or get into little rants about food/medicine/etc. being more  
important, or about small disparities from the $100 price.

Now, I don't think it's a terrible idea, but I have yet to be  
understand how it will really help.

Most of the answers I have seen talk about books being preloaded. Now  
that is certainly nice, but how is it better than regular books? A  
book costs very little to print (of course, you need material, much  
of which is copyrighted, but that is no different with digital  
copies). Certainly much less than $100.

And then there is a very big issue. Cost. $100/person will not be the  
cost, ever. Neither will $150 or even $200. You can't just drop off  
the laptops. You have to give them to each person, set them up, show  
them how to use it, and when it inevitably has problems, someone has  
to fix it. I've seen estimates at about $1000/person, and although I  
haven't investigated them, they seem very reasonable. I'd be  
interested in what others estimate, though.

So you end up with maybe $5 worth of books for $100-$1000 and all of  
the problems associated with maintaining a computer. Maintaining  
these seems like it will be a nightmare, as you'll need to be able to  
get people out every time someone's computer breaks. And they will.  
Just look at the current state of home computers in Western  
countries. Now, Linux is great, certainly better than what's bundled  
with most PCs, but it isn't perfect. It will have problems, lots of  
them. Books don't. If they are well taken care of, they last decades,  
and they can be reasonably expected to last many years.

Now, the main advantage I can see over books is internet access. How  
is that really going to work in rural areas? Mesh networking depends  
on a lot of other people keeping up the computer, and making sure  
they are on and the networking running. Other people's computers  
cannot be lost, stolen, broken, neglected, or sold, or your internet  
access will work. How often will people not have internet access  
because others are irresponsible?

How much can it cost to run a school for a year in a third world  
country? I doubt it's $100/child, and am sure it's under $1000. A  
school would actually educate these people, instead of being a very  
problematic tool that could possibly contribute to education.

I'm not bashing the OLPC, I'm looking for answers from those involved  
with it. I think it is very interesting. In fact, I think it could  
have many great uses. But I simply do not see how it will help in the  
circumstances it is made for, rather than use a lot of money that  
could have gone towards more important things.