Hello All I think there are too many different arguments mixed all together, in a rather inadequate way. I strongly dislike the OLPC project, mostly for the reasons explained at http://macareo.pucp.edu.pe/evillan/shdf.htm, but I do believe that my arguments, as well as many of the arguments proposed in this discussion, are valid for a specific subset of "developing" countries, and even inside those developing countries, some regions or groups are to be considered under a different perspective. Inequality is wrong, I concur; at the same, unless capitalism is completely replaced by something else, it is an inevitable consequence of an specific economic structure. Programmes like OLPC try to soften or lower inequality, but besides their shortcomings, they cannot even attempt to make inequality disappear. The fact that these computers are "down-market" is not a problem per se. If (a big if) a proper usage is found, they can be adequate, since they are not trying to replace a full-blown PC connected to high bandwidth networks and used for downloading videos from a Torrent. It is. again, a question of purpose, not of specific technology. I'm against the purpose and the specific implementation of such purpose. This is a necessary debate, since it is most possible that governments of developing countries are going to get scammed into buying thousands of these machines without a critical assessment of what exactly to do with them and what exactly should be the outcome of their usage in educational settings. More voices from the "affected" communities should be welcomed. Take care and have fun Eduardo Villanueva Communications Department Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú