The first 1,000 machines are set for rigorous environmental testing to simulate the harsh conditions they’ll eventually be used in. Tests will include dropping the XOs from various heights, children pounding on the keyboards, and making sure the encasements are dirt-and-dust resistant. Debug kits are also going out to developers to test out the apps that make up the notebooks’ OS.
After this round of testing, the next units produced will go to school children in Argentina, Brazil, Libya, Nigeria and Thailand to get knocked around in real-life conditions as the final phase of testing before mass production begins in the summer of 2007.
OLPC [wiki press site]
Comments
Here is a crazy idea — why not manufacture these devices for school children in the United States? I think it is great that we want kids in Argentina, Brazil, Libya, Nigeria and Thailand (oops, Thailand canceled their order) BUT kids right here in the US don’t have computers. AND the funny thing is we could pay a premium for them here, helping to further subsidize them for kids overseas. I mean, $200 for a laptop and I’d buy three - one for each of my kids. That means I’d be buying 6 — three could go free overseas (maybe to those poor kids in Thailand).
Ted,
That idea was first put forth by Mike Liveright in a PledgeBank pledge. While Negroponte dismissed it as a “not a good idea” he did admit it may be the basis for some future eBay sales effort: http://www.olpcnews.com/people/negroponte/ebay_olpc_sales_inev.html
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