The ambitious One Laptop per Child program continues to flounder. OLPC's cornerstone XO laptop, which was widely lauded when it was functionally revealed in 2006, has still failed to reach its original price point of $100. Currently selling for $188 and achieving a narrower distribution than initially intended, the machine has yet again run into problems. Last week, Walter Bender, long the second in command on the project, left the group apparently out of disagreement over a significant internal shift in goals and direction.

Well, the first review of the XO laptop from the One Laptop Per Child initiative has been published. Remarkably, this BBC-sponsored review was performed by a real live child. Although written by his father, Rory Cellan-Jones, the meat of this matter is supplied by his son, Rufus Cellan-Jones. Whats your take on supplying XO laptops to developing nations for developing the minds of their youth? Do you have firsthand experience with an XO laptop? If so, please post your observations in our comments section. —Dave Prochnow

(Image: OLPC.ORG)