It's pleasantly surprising to see my previous call for Open Source OLPC software and hardware move from a humble post on OLPC News into the mainstream press.

Local OLPC XO assembly, please

It's even more heartening to note that I am not the only one to believe that local laptop production and assembly is a key requirement to sustainable technology implementation.

In the "Two visions for delivering PCs to emerging nations" article on C-Net, Michael Kanellos explored the competing production mindsets to supplying the world's children with educational computers.

On the one hand, you have major semiconductor companies like VIA Technologies and Intel promoting local component suppliers, computer assemblers, and support & maintenance companies. On the other hand you have One Laptop Per Child, who has concentrated OLPC XO production in Taiwan, and by doing so substantially increased Taiwan's computer production revenue.

While Nicholas Negroponte is correct to say that his OLPC method produces the lowest absolute cost for hardware, his reasoning around manufacturing jobs and local production justification are way off.

Negroponte, for his part, says the jobs that local PC manufacturing can provide are somewhat illusory, particularly if the cost of hardware goes up.

"Every country I visit, bar none, even the small ones, ask if they can build the XO in their country. My reply is in two parts. One, yes, if you will accept the price going up. Two, if you understand that this is really assembly and that assembly jobs are both few and not great jobs," he wrote.

"The only justification to build the XO in each country is national pride--which is certainly important. Otherwise, local manufacturing does not affect economics as all the parts are (imported) anyway."

Quanta's OLPC XO Production Line

Government funds for those increased costs will go to local companies, not Taiwanese firms, and basic economics teaches us that the multiplier effect will magnify those payments throughout the economy, easily offsetting the increased cost with increased economic activity.

Now while Negroponte might think an assembly job isn't great, not like his jet-set lifestyle, it is a desirable job in the economies that OLPC is targeting. The best example: Quanta Computer.

Quanta offers those very same assembly jobs in Changshu without a labour scarcity problem. No matter if its fair labour OLPC laptop production or not, I know a whole continent or two of people looking for harder jobs that pay less.

National pride aside, assembly jobs where all the components are imported and only the labor is local, are coveted even in relatively well off countries like Macedonia. There, the majority of the apparel industry operates on the loan system - companies are shipped all the fabric, thread and accessories pre-cut. Macedonian firms only supply the workers to sew and assemble the garments yet are besieged with job applicants.

And no matter if you ignore the multiplier effect, or think labor-only assembly isn't a good job, local manufacturing and assembly teach valuable enterprise management and job skills that can be spun off into other areas of the economy. Just ask Japan, China, and any other "Asian Tiger" - that's exactly how they climbed the economic development ladder.

Or better yet, just ask Moussa.