Lessons to Learn from the OLPC

Whether you’re impressed with it or not, the XO-1 is having a major impact on notebook design. It’s development has brought outside-the-box thinking and cost-consciousness to a level that we rarely see in portable computing. There are a number of lessons that can be learned the from its unique design and we can already see that some of these concepts have been noticed by manufacturers. From the article, “The One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) project is by no means a success yet, but its development has taught us a great deal about mobile design and what people want from a laptop. Their XO-1 notebook was not developed with the American consumer in mind- it is intended for children in developing countries- but any time that this much effort is put into designing a laptop (especially one this small and inexpensive) it is going to have an impact on the industry.”