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 A novel plan to develop a $100 laptop computer for distribution to millions of schoolchildren in developing countries is coming closer to reality, thanks to the work of AMD and four other companies funding a nonprofit organization called One Laptop Per Child. The project is being led by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Media Lab.
 The program is just one of the many efforts encompassed in AMD's 50x15 initiative, a far-reaching effort to develop new technology and solutions that will help enable affordable Internet access and computing capability for 50 percent of the world's population by the year 2015. With the global population estimated to reach 7.2 billion people in 2015, there is tremendous potential for 50x15 to bring billions of people into the digital age.
The $100 laptop plan was first announced in January 2005. Current plans call for producing five to ten million units beginning in late 2006 or early 2007, with tens of millions more a year later. AMD and four other companies – Google Inc., Red Hat Inc., News Corp. and Brightstar Corp. – have each provided $2 million to fund the project.
The foldable lime green laptop, nicknamed the green machine, was demonstrated with United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan in mid-November at a U.N. technology conference in Tunisia.
 The laptops are powered with a wind-up crank, have very low power consumption and will let children interact with each other while learning. It can be used as a conventional computer, or an electronic book. A child can control it using a cursor at the back of the machine or a touchpad on the front. It can also be held and used like a handheld games console and can function as a TV.
Under present plans, the first production version of the laptop will be powered by an AMD microprocessor. Its operating system, which will be supplied by Red Hat, will be open-source software so that support for local content and languages can easily be built. It will have wireless capabilities and can network with other units even without Internet access. The project's supporters are also working to provide Internet access in some areas via cellular phone networks.
The laptops will be sold to governments and issued to children by schools on a basis of "one laptop per child." Software will include a word processor, a Web browser, an email program and a programming system. By using mesh networking, the vision is for children to interact while doing homework, and even share homework tips on a local community scale. The project focuses on providing the laptops to children, with the hope that they will be spurred to learn and explore outside the boundaries of the classroom, and share their discoveries with their families.
Initial discussions have been held with China, India, Brazil, Argentina, Egypt, Nigeria and Thailand. An additional, modest allocation of machines will be used to seed developer communities in a number of other countries.
The $100 laptop follows on the heels of AMD's Personal Internet Communicator (PIC), a low-cost, consumer-friendly, managed device that AMD hopes will put technology into the hands of first-time technology users in countries around the world, including India, Mexico, Brazil, Russia and China.
More than just goodwill, these programs are about fostering long-term economic progress and investment within high-growth markets in ways that benefit a wide range of people and businesses. | 
