One Laptop For a Child, One Laptop For Me

As my colleague Tom Spring reported this morning, the One Laptop Per Child foundation has kicked off its "Give One Get One" program, which allows folks to spend $423.95 (including shipping) to pay for two XO laptops (aka the "$100 laptop")--one for a deserving child in a developing nation, and one for "the child in your life." (The offer is available through November 26th at LaptopGiving.org.)

Earlier today, I plunked down my money via the LaptopGiving site, and in my case, the child in my life is...well, me. At least at first. I've written before of my desire to own a Firefox PC, and while the XO machine wasn't designed for comfortably well-off geeks, it is indeed an inexpensive, battery-efficient computing device that packs a Mozilla browser. I may eventually hand it off to a child, but I plan to live with it for awhile and report back here on the experience.

I think that OLPC's G1G1 offer, as the call it, is a clever way to let individuals help get some XO systems into the hands of kids in other nations, and I kind of suspect that they know darn well that some of the people who take advantage of it want that second machine for themselves. I wonder if I'll run into anybody else toting one around the Bay Area, or using one on a plane? I suspect that they'll be status symbols, at least for a spell, since this limited-time offer is the only way for individuals to acquire them.

LaptopGiving says that the deal is also a $200 tax writeoff, that being the $399 you pay (not counting shipping) minus fair market value of the XO that gets donated. Which confuses me a little bit since G1G1 purchasers in the U.S. also get a year's worth of free T-Mobile hotspot service, worth about $360. I'd think that the value of that freebie--which normally costs almost as much as both XO machines you pay for--would nullify the writeoff. But apparently I think wrong.

Anyhow, I didn't signup for G1G1 with tax time in mind. It'll be nice to know that some kid somewhere is using an XO I paid for...and I'll report back on my experiences with mine once it shows up. (OLPC says it'll try to get them out by holiday time, but it makes no promises.)

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