New laptop computers are just now starting to be distributed to children in the developing world.

Forget windows, folders and boxes that pop up with text. When students in Thailand, Libya and other developing countries get their $150 computers from the One Laptop Per Child project in 2007, their experience will be unlike anything on standard PCs.

This is because the computers do not run Microsoft Windows or Apple OSX, but rather a new operating system, Sugar, which is 90% drawn from open source software. The result is a user experience unlike anything people have seen before -- something that a child could understand.

For example, students who turn on the small green-and-white computers will be greeted by a basic home screen with a stick-figure icon at the center, surrounded by a white ring. The entire desktop has a black frame with more icons.

This runic setup signifies the student at the middle. The ring contains programs the student is running, which can be launched by clicking the appropriate icon in the black frame.

The decision to run open source, starting with Linux, was made primarily for reasons of budget. However, this decision allowed for a complete rewrite of the entire user experience, from the ground up, without kowtowing to existing Windows or OSX conventions.

Although the end result is new, the lead software integrator, Chris Blizzard of Red Hat Inc., said 90 percent of the underlying programming code was cobbled together from technologies that long existed in the open-source programming community.

There's even a social media dimension to this little device:

When the student opts to view the entire "neighborhood" — the XO's preferred term instead of "desktop" — other stick figures in different colors might appear on the screen. Those indicate schoolmates who are nearby, as detected by the computers' built-in wireless networking capability.

Moving the PC's cursor over the classmates' icons will pull up their names or photos. With further clicks the students can chat with each other or collaborate on things — an art project, say, or a music program on the computer, which has built-in speakers.

Wow! It's almost like what you might imagine a low-powered MySpace operating system would be like.

The computer's specifications are quite intriguing, starting with the fact that there is no hard drive -- the XO uses flash memory -- which helps it fit into its small 8" x 9" form factor. Despite its small size, however, its screen is something to envy:

A rotating, 7.5-inch liquid-crystal display that can toggle between standard color and a reflective monochrome. Resolution is 1200 pixels by 900 pixels and 200 dots per inch.

Compare that with your typical 72 dpi display. That's a lot of resolution in such a small screen.

It should be noted that the OLPC program is not without its critics. For example, Dossy calls it "Exploitation 2.0":

• Develop a sub-$100 laptop.
• Create a huge number of new web surfers with said laptop.
• Serve them CPC and CPM ads.
• Profit!

Suppose the laptop's useful life span is 3 years. Is a pair of eyeballs (with respect to ad revenue) worth over $100 in that time? If so, this becomes an easily sustainable business, assuming web ad revenues continue to grow or at least stay at their current levels.

This is the latest incarnation of "sweatshop labor."

And in predictions for 2007, KnowProSE writes:

The OLPC will continue to fail to meet the lofty goals set for it, and may rob some countries of money which could have been used to build infrastructure. The technologies used on the OLPC, if truly open, will be beneficial for adaptation around the world.

Still, I find such a worldwide effort to expand technology into the developing world based on open source software to be something of a milestone, and but one instance of possible alternatives to corporate-sponsored programs of similar nature, which are not themselves immune from similar such concerns. With new business and political economies growing upon the increased availability of information and interconnectedness of individuals, I find it hard to sneeze at an effort to bring such revolutions to less advantaged peoples.

(For more on the subject, Technorati search results might interest you, especially if you read Spanish, Japanese, Portuguese, Chinese, Romanian, German or other languages, for most of the referring posts are not in English.)

If this story captures your fancy, you might consider writing about it for One Laptop Per Child News:

we are looking for new voices, new views, new optimism about the Children's Machine XO to join our successful enterprise. Writers who can add to the commentary and discussion of One Laptop Per Child with clear, concise posts that need not agree with OLPC, Jon, David, or me.

Better yet, don't agree with our love of the technology yet skepticism about the implemention. Have your own views, logic, emotion, and when needed, controversy. Bring diversity to OLPC News.

And bring your writing to the forefront of the international OLPC debate. Email a starter post and being [sic] the conversation.

Technology & Web Contributing Editor Laura Scott blogs at rare pattern and pingVision.