Technology Review: Blogs: John Maeda's blog: XO: Give One, Get One

About Me

John Maeda is a world-renowned graphic designer, visual artist, and computer scientist and is a founding voice for “simplicity” in the digital age. From June 2008 he becomes the 16th President of the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD).

View Complete Bio
Add RSS Feed

Links

Official Affiliations

Friends' Blogs

XO: Give One, Get One

There's still time to participate in the Give One, Get One program.

Tuesday, December 11, 2007

I was in Miami last week for Art Basel, and it was an odd coincidence that I had just purchased five of Nicholas Negroponte's new XO computers and ended up at a party at Luminaire celebrating the XO. If you haven't purchased an XO yet, don't worry, as there's still time left before December 31 to participate in the Give One, Get One program. Your $400 purchases one machine for a child in a developing nation, and it also buys you an XO for yourself.

These machines don't run Microsoft Word and the Adobe suite of products, but they do run a fluent Web browser. And the machine has a wonderful key that, when pressed, "calls out" to other XO units in its vicinity to create a map of the literal local network that surrounds it. The little rabbit ears on the two sides of the screen form a wireless mesh network with other XO units, so if a single XO has Internet and the rest don't, the single connection is shared by all.

In the distant past, I recall seeing many new computer launches, like those for the Commodore Amiga, the NeXT Cube, and the BeBox, but in recent times it is rare to come across a totally new platform like the XO. The price is right, so I recommend that you buy one while you still have a chance to do so.

Comments

	I prefer the eee PC mnikkel55 on 12/17/2007 at 11:32 AM
Posts: 4	The XO seemed like a good idea when it was first proposed, but as time has gone on I've soured on it a bit. Right now, I get the feeling that the Asus' eee PC is going to make a bigger impact, both in developed and in developing countries. It sells for a similar price ($245 in Taiwan, $300-$400 in the US). It's more compatible with current consumer and business computers (it runs Openoffice and Firefox, and can even be loaded with Windows if so desired). And it's not hampered by the non-profit mentality behind the XO and the Classmate (anyone can buy them and they can buy as many as they want). The XO has a lot of great ideas, but many of them seem like novelties more than genuinely useful features. Rate this comment: (Reply)

	available outside US rogercoleman on 12/31/2007 at 9:37 AM
Posts: 1	Hi, I would love to obtain an XO and registered for the GO-GO programme but am unable to buy one from outside the US (I'm in the UK). If anyone knows how to buy one in the UK I will do, thanks, Rog Rate this comment: (Reply)

	Another enquiry from the UK weee on 01/04/2008 at 9:20 AM
Posts: 31 Avg Rating:	The Give One Get One (GOGO I guess) initiative didn't receive much publicity in the UK; will we get the opportunity to GOGO? Rate this comment: (Reply)

	eye opening situation rnojonson on 01/25/2008 at 1:35 PM
Posts: 3	XO reveals a few things. Microsoft is not required to compute, neither is Apple. It is very hard to give away stuff when you expect a return on your invested interest. Oh, and there are no under privileged, disadvantaged children in America. Rate this comment: (Reply)