Give Me Rice, But Give Me A Laptop Too

We have watched as the prototype turned into the XO-1, a radical rethinking of what a laptop should be, with a brand-new user interface, a low-power chip from AMD, the Linux operating system and a low-energy high contrast screen.

And earlier this year we heard schoolchildren in Nigeria tell BBC reporter Jonathan Fildes how excited they were to have their own computers, what they planned to use them for and how good they were.


Even the Nigerian government has yet to decide whether to commit funds to the project, and is watching the trial at Abuja's Galadima primary school with interest"              Bill Thompson


"Now US journalist John Dvorak has weighed into the debate, dismissing the laptop as a 'little green computer' that changes nothing, and arguing that sending food aid to Africa is a better way to solve the continent's problems.

He ignores the educational uses and its sophisticated mesh network and acts as if the sole purpose is to get online, asking what benefit the "spam-ridden Information Super Ad-way laced with Nigerian scams, hoaxes, porn, blogs, wikis, spam, urban folklore, misinformation" has to offer. "


What do you think?  Is this  good for our Nation and Africa as a whole?