The little laptop that some say might change the world has moved closer to launch, and gotten a little bit pricier. Nicholas Negroponte, cofounder of MIT's Media Lab and head of the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) nonprofit organization, said on Friday that the laptop, originally projected to cost $100, would probably cost closer to $135 to $140 at launch.
He said that, with volume, this price could drop to $100 in 2008 and possibly to $50 by 2010.
"That is a start price," Negroponte told an audience of Linux  enthusiasts at the Red Hat conference in Nashville. "But what we have to do is, with every release, make it cheaper and cheaper -- we are promising that the price will go down."
The rugged, 2-pound laptop will be able to make its price goal, Negroponte said, not only by emphasizing essentials but also by eliminating sales and marketing costs that commercial computers have.
Increasing Linux
Speaking at the conference, Negroponte made a prediction that could have an even greater impact than the cost. He said that the laptop, expected to be purchased and distributed in the millions by developing countries, could make the Linux operating system as much of a standard on the desktop as it is on servers.
Red Hat is building a slimmed-down version of Linux for the machine. The goal is to reduce a 1.3-GB install to about 130 MB, bundled with e-mail, the Gecko Web browser, document creation software, and VoIP capabilities. AMD is supplying the processor .
Other companies involved in the project include Google, News Corp, BrightStar, Marvell Technology, Nortel Networks, eBay, 3M, and Quanta.
There have been reports that Microsoft originally offered to create the operating system but was turned down. Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates has recently criticized the OLPC laptop for its small screen and other aspects.
Reason To Switch
Some industry observers, while applauding the effort to help kids in developing regions around the world, question whether it can help Linux in the marketplace.
"There's a huge chasm, a disconnect, between a Third World project and commercial adoption of Linux," said Laura DiDio, a Yankee Group analyst. "In the commercial or education sectors of the industrial world, it's still all about the applications. People need a reason to switch."
To enable network connectivity in remote locations, the OLPC expects to distribute inexpensive satellite dishes, and then to increase their range via a wireless mesh network created using the laptops themselves. The OLPC also has designed a $100 server for file storage in villages.
Currently, Thailand, Argentina, Brazil, and Nigeria have committed to purchasing the laptops in volume, and several other countries are said to be in negotiation. OLPC intends to release a prototype to developers in the third quarter of this year and to educators in the fourth quarter. Plans are to ship the laptops by second quarter of 2007.
Negroponte also said at the conference that there has been interest from dozens of U.S. states for the laptops.
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