That comparison with the C64 is not adjusted for inflation and changes in consumer purchasing power. Besides, the US dollar is weak and getting weaker. As time

That comparison with the C64 is not adjusted for inflation and changes in consumer purchasing power. Besides, the US dollar is weak and getting weaker. As time goes on, it'll get even more affordable by developing nations. I thought that the XO was a neat piece of hardware, something that would be cool to have but is not world-shaking, disruptive technology. About a month ago, I actually went onto their site to look at how the software was put together with the hardware. I then extrapolated what that would do to young impressionable minds. And yeah, the OLPC XO is disruptive technology disguised as an educational tool. It was designed to be used by a group and not an individual. It is the kind of device you would give to a group of US kids to give them an educational edge, and it was originally intended to be exclusively distributed to developing nations. If the device ever reaches the tipping point, there will be a generation of kids who thinks us adults are crazy to be using our current software setup, much the same way the Facebook generation thinks email users are nuts ... or how we laugh at the IBM execs who thought that the PC is a really smart mainframe terminal. It is something that when I have kids, I will follow the genetic imperative to pass advantageous traits and buy/import/smuggle whatever latest model in order to give them at age 7, as a rite-of-passage gift.