They wanted their kids to have a computer of any sort, which they already did. They remembered how much they themselves got out of an XT or Apple II, and how a

They wanted their kids to have a computer of any sort, which they already did. They remembered how much they themselves got out of an XT or Apple II, and how a OLPC is 500x better than those. I got an XT when they were well obsolete and essentially free junk. Getting that thing on to BBS's with a modem that didn't even have mnp5 error correction and figuring out how to get anything out of it's other limitations set me up for life. olpc is if anything too good. It's all complete and buttoned up and there are no problems to solve. It's a useful tool to do a job not enough of them need doing. Python and spreadsheets are not going to feed those kids. I think the reason the XT did so much for me was, 1 I lived in an environment where IT skills are useful and valuable. 2 I had other better computers to aspire to. I couldn't afford a good machine, but I could see them all around so I knew what they could do that mine could not, but I could also see how mine almost could, how it actually had all the same important essence, and I could do a version of all the same things by trading some compromise and some effort and time in place of money. For instance I found a software solution for the modems lack of error correction, and managed to make BBSing functional. And using BBSs in place of Compuserv and Prodigy. It was very rewarding and fun to try to soup up that turd, because it was my turd, and it was infinitely soup-up-able with ISA slots and socketed cpu and empty FPU socket etc. It was exactly like working on a mini bike or a carr (back when cars were mechanical and could be worked on) olpc is like, here's a thing that's already complete, and it's already the best thing around. There is nothing to hack, and nothing to aspire to to make you want to even think to try. And what it's good for as a tool, is a thing no one around you needs you to do.