For $150, Third-World Laptop Stirs a Big Debate

[Mike Kallies]

On 12/1/06, Evan Leibovitch <evan-ieNeDk6JonTYtjvyW6yDsg at public.gmane.org> wrote:
...
> The new generation of games systems are internet-capable, and the only
> thing preventing them from being able to run conventional PC apps are
> CPU differences and input devices (ie, keyboards -- most game consoles
> could easily act as pointing devices). You mentioned the Commodore and
> Atari, two systems that were indeed more popular for games than
> "business" apps -- how different are they -- conceptually -- from
> putting a keyboard on a PS3, XBox or Wii?
..
There's one difference conceptually...

The Commodore and Atari could be used to develop the games which were
being played.  Most handheld computers and video game consoles have no
ability to develop software at all.

It's a small difference, but I think it's important.  It means that
while they're good portable devices, they won't empower their
end-users to create new material and they'll always be tethered
somehow to a more expensive development rig.

With the OSS and general purpose computer nature of the OLPC project,
I would be very surprised if children could not install a compiler and
start hacking away :-)


-Mike
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