Giving Back (and Getting): The One Laptop Per Child Program

If this is not the hot giving opportunity of the year, then it certainly should be. The One Laptop Per Child project is the coolest thing on so many levels. If you haven't heard of it, here's the gist: some smart people have created a laptop that is cheap enough, rugged enough, energy efficient enough, and wired enough to be perfectly designed to give to children in developing nations to help them connect with the world and get the education they need to grow into modern world citizens.

Why is this the best giving opportunity this Holiday Season? Until December 31, 2007 you can buy a laptop for a child in a developing nation and get a laptop for a child in your life. The give one, get one promotion costs only $399 and is 50% deductable. Not only does it include a great laptop, perfect for a child, but it comes with a free year of TMobile wireless. That in and of itself is almost worth the price of the program because it gives you free wireless, just about anywhere.

Is the laptop cool? I haven't gotten one yet, but my uber geek husband says they're supposed to be good and it certainly seems to have some cool features that make it a great thing for kids. It's ultra rugged, extremely energy efficient with a very long battery life, and claims to have a much better antennae for wireless than regular laptops. It's also very green.

The XO laptop runs Linux and comes with a nice set of software that appears to be similar to a pared down version of what you get with a Mac (there's a iPhoto like app, music creating and editing programs, a drawing program, a writing program, a web browser, etc.) It even has a built in camera.

How psyched would your kids be to get this neat little laptop for the Holidays? How psyched should you be about being able to help a community of children that really need this technology get it? I've been ignoring my children's pleas for their own laptops for over a year now, but I think that this is an opportunity to indulge my children and someone else's at the same time.

Give one. Get one. Today.