Dear reader,
As the year of "Mobile is Linux (TM)" has now come, I foresee many devices that will be created this year that will run a variant of a Linux-based operating system. Current choices vary from embedded environments, such as Open Embedded (which is the basis for such operating systems as Maemo and OpenMoko), and to the big named platforms, such as Motorola's Platform and Android. All this leads me to hope and believe that there will be great products made this year, which makes a choice of one even more complicated and difficult (there will be some many great products, how can a person choose one?).
But there's a little thing that keeps me occupied: I like the OLPC. It was built using open source software from bottom up, and the whole idea of creating it was that every single part of it will be open to the public. While I'm not in the right place to argue whether they did it well or not, I know one thing: the software developments and improvements that were made during the life of the project are worthwhile for all projects used in creating this laptop.
Which led me to thinking about the following issue - OLPC is a laptop with, say in short, the following great features:
- It's small
- It's light
- It has great screen (small one maybe, but still a great one)
- It has very optimized software which makes up the great experience of using the device.
- It uses Linux.
- It has a mesh networking
- It's cool
- There are all sorts of recharging devices that help you to recharge it in case of inaccessible power outlets.
And so, I was thinking about this: I like this laptop. I like the small and light computer, which is built upon good hardware, has very developed software and runs Linux. So I though, I need another OLPC, but with the following slightly different features:
- Still small and light, not more than 12" screen. But no less than 11"
- No need for dust, water, wind, fire, bullets and wooden stick proofing case. A good keyboard with maybe fingerprint scanner would do.
- Bluetooth
- Some sort of high speed connectivity, for example 3G or 3.5G
So in fact, I'm looking for a sort of OLPC in a casing similar to ThinkPad X61s. Wouldn't it be great?
I'd call it a One Laptop Per (for) Grown-ups. I believe that such laptop would be appealing to a lot of people who need a simple computing device (journalists for example, or writers, or business people who need simple computer on the road to check their email, check web sites and write documents). It would be great for bloggers (say, something similar to Asus eeePC 701 but with bigger screen and better keyboard). I believe that all this possible, and even more so after the CTO of the project just resigned to start a commercial entity based on technology created for OLPC.
If the OpenMoko project can exists, and Sean says they are ready to produce other devices than Neo, why not make something similar with laptops? Creating a light and low-cost Linux laptop would benefit us all, as we could see it with Asus and Nokia Internet tablets N770/N800/N810.
