The "One Laptop Per Child" project hopes to distribute $100 laptops to children in third world countries, and they are incrediby close to achieving that goal.

With the first of many laptops being shipped for $150 US, co-founder and director of the MIT Media Laboratory Nicholas Negroponte is one step closer to achieving the goal of sending out $100 US laptops to children in third world countries.

The first ten hand-built models were produced at a cost of $150 and shipped to children in several third world countries who will be giving them a test run. The US Department also conducted its own tests on the laptop and gave it a stellar review.

Negroponte hopes that the next round of production will see at least 900 more laptops assembled by 2007, as well as millions more in the future. With their numbers in the millions, manufacturers estimate that the cost of the laptops will in fact be down to $100 by 2008.

Designed by a Taiwanese laptop manufacturer, the laptops for children are designed to withstand the harsh conditions of third world terrain.

These "tough machines with a handle" feature a webcam, speaker and microphone, WiFi connection, a screen designed for easy visibility, 128 MB of memory, 512 MB of storage and are run on free Linux OS.

Governments from around the world including Brazil, Argentina, Nigeria, Libya, and Thailand have signed up for the program that would enable them to distribute the laptops to educational districts in each of their countries.

While the laptop project would appear to most to be an innovative act of humanitarianism, Microsoft creator Bill Gates thinks that the project has created nothing but "gadgets". Gates also stated that people in third world countries want the same technology that we in the United States have, not an inferior version.

Despite criticism from some, other computer manufacturers like Intel are working on their own version of cost-efficient laptops for children in third world countries. Intel's version costs $400 at present, but they are optimistic that the final cost will be much lower.

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