Oh my god! Kim Jong Il has just announced that he's buying XO-1.5 laptops for every child in North Korea from OLPC.
Apparently the Dear Leader was impressed by Nicholas Negroponte when they met at Davos World Forum. Negroponte showed Kim Jong Il how to play "I'm So Lonely" on Tam Tam and they karaoked until Kim Jong Il agreed to go One Laptop Per North Korean Child with the new XO hardware. Negroponte was quoted as saying:
"I started OLPC to create educational opportunities for the world's poorest children. And I cannot think of children more in need of an XO - these children of North Korea. Now they are going to learn learning, they will be empowered by ICT!"
There's no word on just how many XO's that North Korea will buy, in fact some experts are speculating that North Korea will intentionality overbuy XO's just to confuse those who might use the number to estimate its population.
And there is even less information on how North Korea will pay for the XO's. However, Negroponte seems optimistic, saying that his brother has assured him that North Korea can pay in cash or depleted uranium. Either way, congrats to OLPC!
This sale to North Korea is an amazing boost for OLPC's fading prominence and Negroponte is rightly proud. He says:
"Thanks to the Dear Lear's foresight and benevolence, we're able to invest in the XO-4 - a revolutionary laptop design made from extruded dihydrogen monoxide".
Um... so North Korea (nk) beat Hong Kong (hk) for the OLPnkC. This is a historical event in the first day of April.
Wayan,
That is a mean April Fool's Day joke. Not that I believed it for a second, but it made me cry for all the kids in North Korea who I know will never get a decent education. Yes, I am actually crying now and that is not a joke. If your intent was to be funny then you have failed miserably. If your intent was to make a very serious point about how terrible the education situation is in some parts of the world then you have definitely driven it home.
Grant
Boo hoo.
And in other news, OLPC announced that former president George Bush is taking over as its head. "I've always wanted to learn to use a computer," Bush said at the press conference, "and I thought this would be a great opportunity."
Pretty good to know that people are more aware about the education of children. And this is a kind of record breaking news so congratulations to OLPC team as your dream of one laptop per child is that much successful. I am happy for you guys and all that kids who got it and will use to be more and more educative.
I get that this is an April fool's joke, but it doesn't seem to be done in good taste or spirit as it makes light of quite a serious situation in N. Korea.