I have been asked to review the XO computers from the One Laptop Per Child project. This is the first in a series of blog posts about my experiences, as well as those of some children with whom I will be working. I could easily gush over it or complain about how small the keyboard is in a single article, but I think the XO requires a more in-depth review than that. So I hope you'll join me as I explore these interesting tools aimed at children.

Disclosures Up Front

First, I think it is important to mention that Global Literacy Foundation has provided two laptops (with a third one on the way) for me to review. They are asking for my blunt, raw opinion on these computers with respect to their usefulness for education. They have only provided the hardware. While they do pay for an advertising link on this website, they have not paid for the review. Put another way, there should be no misunderstanding about the relationship between Blue GNU, Global Literacy and this review. Actually, in most cases, hardware is provided by the vendor, rather than a third party. In this case, Global Literacy simply values and is seeking my opinion.

The review request specifically requires the use of Adobe's Flash Player, which is non-Free software, in order to use a specific web service. Unfortunately, that service will not work with Gnash. Neither Global Literacy nor I have any desire to use non-Free software in the process of educating children. I have agreed to run the test, since Global Literacy is not aware of any comparable Free software. In the meantime, both Global Literacy and Blue GNU will be comparing the non-Free software with GCompris, to see whether there is any overlap, and whether GCompris has comparable features. In other words, Global Literacy is willing to use non-Free software only where Free Software does not exist or is not on a par with the non-Free software.

Please note that Blue GNU does not advocate or recommend the use of non-Free software, and has advised Global Literacy of this position. Ideally, the web service could make their software usable by Gnash, and/or some person or group could sponsor an initiative to improve and expand the current Free Software offerings.

First Encounter

Frankly, I find myself generally impressed with the little computers. I have my gripes, but overall, it's hard to dislike them. Let's face it, they are small, lightweight, use very little power, and are, well, cute as heck. And I don't even like the color green all that much. And even though some adults have nothing better to gripe about than the keyboard made for children being to small for them - or maybe because of that - I worry that adults might decide not to give these computers to the kids after all. Sure, they'll keep a 4-year-old entertained for hours, but that's not to say the 40-year-olds won't enjoy them.

I am a little dissapointed by the battery life - maybe 4 or 5 hours. Still, the fact that these XOs do everything they do is indeed impressive. I have not had time to use mine as an e-book reader out in the bright sun, but understand from reading others' experience that they do quite well on this front. I'll let you know my experience soon enough. I do like the idea that you can flip the screen around - and flip the display to match the layout of the screen. No matter how you hold it, you can read your documents. One more point about the hardware. The XOs have a little green trim around the edges. That trim isn't just for looks - it helps protect the XOs against dust and other elements - handy to have in dusty environments.

When I first opened the XOs, the only documentation is a folded sheet of glossy paper with the OLPC logo on the cover, and diagrams on the remaining sections, explaining how to open and power up the XOs, what the ports are for, the Home and Neighborhood views, and the standard hazard warnings. No manuals, no dead trees - just look on the web if you need help. That's all well and good in countries where people already have a good grasp of computer technology and an Internet connection. But do the ones that get sent to places like inland Liberia, where power (never mind Internet access) is often irregular, get more instruction? Or at least some decent training?

As an example, mine did not automatically detect and connect to my open wifi connection, or to each other. All I had initially was a bunch of circles. I had to connect manually, both to the Internet, and later to the other XO. Unfortunately, the diagram doesn't help much with that part. It wouldn't be very useful to know how to connect to the Internet if you don't have an Internet connection to begin with, but it might be nice to have some instructions explaining how to manually connect to another XO. Most people with access to modern technology won't need much documentation. However, others might need something included with the computer itself - digital or paper.

I think a good thing would be to include a PDF file that explains how some of the activities actually work, especially for those who have little or no experience with some of the kinds of activities included.

That leads me to my next thought. The Sugar user interface. Actually, Sugar is very easy to use. You launch an activity, work in it to accomplish your task, and then close it when finished. Of course, you can open multiple activities at once, and even multiple instances of the same activity. The only thing most modern computer users won't be used to is the fact that, in order to access a document you've saved, you must go through the Journal. That is, you cannot open the document from within the activity (application) that created it.

Accessing documents like this is not necessarily a bad thing. In fact, the OLPC folks did this intentionally, as a security measure. But it does take a little getting used to for some of us. That said, the Sugar desktop shows the 'XO' symbol in the midst of a circle. For every new activity you open, the circle is divided into pineapple-like sections. You get 20 activities pre-installed, including a chat client, web browser, arts and multimedia programs, word processor, games, etoys, Bash terminal, and logs. Oh, that's not all, either. You still get some basic command-line utilities and can download numerous other programs.

For example, some folks have Apache, mySQL and PHP running on theirs. Others have installed development tools, mutt and more. Frankly, I'm not sure why the OLPC folks didn't just pre-install emacs with all the add-ons. Just imagine, you can browse the web, read newsgroups, use e-mail, and write programs (not to mention a good solid calendar) - all from one friendly interface. No, instead, they gave us Vim and Nano. Let the bloodbath begin!

Of course, I downloaded the full GCompris package from the OLPC website. I do wish they would make that the default install option, instead of offering individual packages by default. I think most people will overlook the full package because you have to go to the details page to find it (while the link to the individual packages section is on the main Activities page). It makes more sense to let people download the full GCompris package as the first choice, and yet leave those who want something different choose the individual packages.

I'm out of time. We'll continue this discussion in the very near future.