I participated in the program, too, and have struggled to find use for my machine. But I have no regrets. To say because "my friend's 2 year olds can operate an

I participated in the program, too, and have struggled to find use for my machine. But I have no regrets. To say because "my friend's 2 year olds can operate an iphone, then maybe that is a more suitable ui for new computer users to dive into" misses the point of the OLPC initiative: - OLPC was at the vanguard of the Netbook revolution. In fact, I remember it being given credit for having helped spur it. - iPhone is significantly more expensive and less resilient and the goal of the OLPC was not to create a polished consumer device. - Someone with no previous computer usage will adapt to become savvy with the UI. Most (all?) spoken languages are pretty kludgey and hard to use at first, but kids become quite savvy with them. I realize these are all common defenses/apologies for the OLPC, but I think they hold up. It's enheartening to read @PelCasandras report (http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3811282 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3811282) on the success of the program in Uruguay. As for my machine, it hasn't been entirely demoted to paperweight. It has become my leisure travel laptop because of its durability and great wifi reach. I just don't tend to travel that much.