Interesting article on Cnn.com today about the software on the $100 laptop.

The interesting thing about it to me is they have combined features from different software to enable students to collaborate and chat and create, rather than use the standards Window software.   Says Nicholas Negroponte, who spearheaded the project,

“One of the saddest but most common conditions in elementary school computer labs (when they exist in the developing world), is the children are being trained to use Word, Excel and PowerPoint,” Negroponte wrote in an e-mail interview. “I consider that criminal, because children should be making things, communicating, exploring, sharing, not running office automation tools.”

A somewhat controversial point of view, but I think it is so empowering for those students to have the ability to easily chat, collaborate, blog and create and design on the laptops.

The software uses a new operating system, and the computer can be hand cranked to maintain power in case of electrical outages. 

The laptop is initially going to be deployed in multiple African and Latin American countries for elementary school children who would otherwise not have any access to computers.