OPLC purchase period extended

[Richie Hindle]

[Aahz]
> I'm sure that some people would be willing to serve as middleware...

I would *love* to have one of these for my kids, if anyone here would be
prepared to forward one to the UK for me.  I can pay you the postage by
PalPal, Amazon voucher, whatever suits.

The XO reminds me of the computers I grew up with in the early 80s - the
Sinclair ZX Spectrum and the BBC Micro.  They're miles apart technically,
but similar in the way they're designed for children.  The lack of that
kind of computer is something that's vaguely worried me for my kids - a
Windows PC, or even Linux or Mac, carries so much baggage that trying to
learn basic programming on it would have a much steeper learning curve
than a more basic, child-targeted machine.  Something that's designed for
children and has Python as its main programming language is a dream come
true!

It's also something that can safely be left lying around the house, and
become a part of everyday family life, in a way that a desktop machine or
a standard laptop can't.  When the story I'm reading to my 4-year-old
mentions Elvis and she asks who he is, rather than traipsing down two
flights of stairs to the study and cranking up the PC, being able to grab
the XO - which was partly hers - to answer her question would be just
fantastic.

And what better way to encourage friends and family to donate to the OLPC
cause than to demonstrate the real thing to them?  The G1G1 scheme is a
great idea, and it's a real shame they've had to limit its availability to
North America.

-- 
Richie Hindle
richie at entrian.com