For Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, the president of Brazil, deciding what computer to give his country's youth requires more than a trip to the nearest CompUSA. He's deciding between two models of specially designed, affordable laptops, one manufactured by Intel and the other by the OLPC (One Laptop per Child) Association. Each has been designed specifically to help educate underprivileged children in developing nations. The president's isn't a bad predicament to be in; either laptop will help his country's children. But how does he decide?
Although Intel and OLPC advocate the same goal--one laptop in the hand of every child--their approaches are as different as their hardware designs and pricing. OLPC, a nonprofit agency, emphasizes the individual child and teaching children to use technology in innovative ways. Intel's Classmate PC is designed for students in a classroom environment and is being pitched as a "learning-assistant."
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