The OLPC project brought several dozen machines to the conference to be handed out, at random, to attendees who would promise to either do something amazing with them or give them to somebody else who would. It was, as Rusty Russell put it, rather like being given a puppy. There are, however, fewer cleanup problems to deal with.

Congratulations to the OLPC on such a thoughtful and intelligent move. I agree getting XO’s into the hands of experienced programmers is very important; see rsyncing the planet.

By the way, before I sent my XO off to Tridge he said he already had access to one, but that he knew a good home for another one, so I sent the one I bought for him on its way to Australia.