One Laptop Per Child, popularly known as the OLPC project, is gaining success day by day at a very fast pace. Aimed at stimulating the growth and development of children in developing nations, the project has put a smile on 600,000 children so far and still continues to make more and more children happy everyday.

According to the OLPC project founder Nicholas Negroponte, 600,000 children in developing nations are using the OLPC’s ultra-cheap XO Laptop as of now. He also clarifies that this figure does not include the number of promised laptops, rather it shows the total laptops that have actually been delivered into the hands of children and are being used by them at schools and homes. The laptops donated under the OLPC project consist of small Asus Eee PC sized laptops running on Sugar OS (a Linux based operating system). These laptops come equipped with all the necessary applications, including a word processor, games, music maker and much more, to help children learn and comprehensively develop their computing skills.

So far the shipment of XO laptops has been made in 31 countries including Peru, Rwanda, and Cambodia and according to Negroponte Palestine will be the next nation to receive the shipment. He also said that by mid 2009 every single child in Uruguay will have a laptop.

Tags for this article: laptop, children

Fizzbook is the laptop which has been designed especially for children by Zoostorm. The company has now announced the availability of the laptop in the UK as well. Interested consumers can buy it via Argos.co.uk. Fizzbook has already made a mark in other countries because of its exceptional performance and computing speed.

Designed for children between the age of 6-14, the Fizzbook runs on a Windows operating system and has enough stamina to run day to day software applications, games and other tasks. The Zoostorm fizzbook 7in netbook also supports all the standard PC peripherals. The Fizzbook is actually called the Fizzbook Bang and offers 1GB RAM, 30GB of storage space, 8.9 inches of LCD display and a decent battery run time of 4.5 hours. At its core there is an Intel Atom Processor which acts as the propellant for this speedy machine. The Bang also supports Wireless connectivity.

Fizzbook Bang is the modification of the second generation Intel Classmate PC. It has been optimized to meet the needs of the UK market. According to Sion Roberts, Director at Zoostorm, “The Fizzbook is the type of product parents can feel good about buying and children actually want. The educational and office software with the Fizzbook make it a great aid to learning and development, but the excellent general computing capabilities make it perfect for surfing the Internet, playing games or watching movies.”

With its mission to spread knowledge among the children of developing nations, the XO has now announced to launch its BOGOF program in Europe. The give one get one (GIGI) is a unique plan that offers you the opportunity to buy a set of bright green laptops: one for yourself and one for a school going child in a developing country.

Developed by OLPC (One Laptop per Child), the scheme is made available through the Amazon.com on its site at amazon.com/xo. Although the offer initiated as a temporary one in the States, it is expected to extend with an overwhelming response. As per the One Laptop Per Child Foundation, sales of $2 million per day inspired them to spread out its scope.

The scheme is quite praiseworthy but the present credit crunch situation might affect its success in the country. People might not prefer to invest in a 433 MHz machine that has certain limitations such as only one SD storage card and a RAM of just 256MB, but these are still comparable to bare-bones subnotebooks, like the Sony Vaio PCG-C1MHP. Moreover, the XO’s social cause and children-centred features are likely to make it a hit among many parents in the Christmas season. These durable computers, based on Linux can actually make a great gift for your child while assisting a noble cause of spreading knowledge.

Nonetheless, if the project is successful, it might encourage other organisations to come-up with such ideas that make this world a better place to live in.