This is from a few months back, but in response to our recent mention of the OLPC roll-out in Peru, we were recently reminded of an interesting alternative to/criticism of the laptop model of educational computing in the developing world.
Featured in the "Reply All" section of the Wall Street Journal last September, an email debate was hosted between Walter Bender, then president of the OLPC non-profit, and Stephen Dukker, CEO of NComputing and proponent of a thin-client model for bringing low-cost computers to global classrooms.
The exchange is a little long-winded and self-aggrandizing, but refreshing for its brass tacks discussion of such boring but crucial aspects of the project as economics, distribution and scalability. After all the aesthetically influenced talk about OLPCs potential for success, it's nice to see how it stands up under scrutiny more concrete than "but it looks like a toy!"
Read the article here.
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