Charity organisations loved the concept, governments across the world lauded MIT Media Labs and the people worldwide were thrilled about the idea of a perfectly useable cheap laptop. On the other hand, industry big shots like Steve Jobs and Bill Gates have reacted to it unkindly, even publicly dismissing the plan calling it 'a science project'. As Douglas McGray of Wired magazine puts it, "Depending on whom you asked, it was either soon-to-be-legendary vapour-ware or a shortcut to modern education for tens of millions of poor kids around the world."

According to the OLPC's website, "Laptops are both a window and a tool: a window into the world and a tool with which to think. They are a wonderful way for all children to learn learning through independent interaction and exploration."

The One Laptop per Child laptop is in the final stages of design. Just this month, a working prototype featuring its dual-mode display was produced. Earlier in May, the first working prototypes of the laptop were demonstrated. The One Laptop per Child program hopes to deploy 5 million to 7 million machines in Thailand, Nigeria, Brazil and Argentina in 2007.

The machine's specs are simple. It features a dual-mode display with backlit colour and front-lit black and white. Stripped of features and 'bloated software' that typically slow down laptops, the Linux-based laptops comes with a 500mhz processor, four USB ports, and 500 megabytes of flash memory instead of a hard drive. Wireless broadband will allow the computers to work as a mesh network and create an ad hoc, local area network. Though original designs featured a hand crank, testing proved that it was a poor power source. It operates on less than 2 watts of power.

The laptop runs on open-source Linux software, which is free and can be modified by users to suit their needs. The device could tap into Wi-Fi wireless networks for Internet access, and would use so-called mesh networks to link to one another and share a single Internet connection. Each laptop would act as router relaying information to and from other computers. For durability, the laptop would be enclosed in rubber to withstand spills and drops.

More than 500 children in Thailand are expected to receive the machines in October and November for quality testing and debugging. Thailand's government is expected to buy 1 million in the first year. Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra announced in a nationwide radio broadcast that 'if this project is completed' it would reach all Thai elementary students. He said each student would get a free computer 'instead of books, because books would be read on those computers'.

The laptops will be distributed free by governments starting next year, first in Nigeria and Brazil, and then in Argentina, Thailand and perhaps Egypt. Ultimately, Walter Bender, One Laptop per Child's president, said the idea is to reach India and China, home to one-third of the world's children.

Educators said the $100 laptops also should be made widely available in the United States because many poor families still cannot afford to have laptops or desktops with internet access. "It is inevitable that kids are going to have access to modern communications and to laptops eventually," says Bender. "We just want to make it happen faster, so that we don't lose another generation of kids in the developing world."

In fact, the $100 laptops would be very suitable for Bangladeshi children. According to a recent speech given by Dr Muhammad Yunus, "Bangladesh has a very young population. Half of the population is under the age of 18. If we pay serious attention to them, we can build a techno-savvy next generation. A few countries are already singing up with MIT Media Lab to provide $100 laptops to each school student, just like books. A laptop to a child gives a message. The message is: discover yourself, discover the world, and create your own world. There is no reason why we cannot sign up with MIT Media Lab and give laptops to our students. Let us not miss this world-changing opportunity."

The One Laptop per Child also deals with the criticism, "What poor people need is food and shelter, not laptops." According to the One Laptop per Child's website, "This comment, however, is ignorant of conditions in improvised nations around the world. While it is true there are many people in the world who definitely need food and shelter, there are multitudes of people who live in rural or suburbs and have plenty to eat and reasonable accommodations. What these people do not have is a decent shot at good education."

The OLPC is working with a number of partners on the $100 laptops. Quanta Computer Inc in Taiwan is the original designer of the laptop, and Red Hat is the group's partner in software development. The OLPC also relies on donations from sponsor organisations, each donating $2 million. These sponsors include Google, AMD, Red Hat, Brightstar Corporation, News Corporation, Nortel Networks, and Canonical Ltd.

Technology giants have taken note of this project and are racing to create their version of the low-cost laptops. Intel is showing off a $400 education laptop, and Bill Gates has proposed plugging cell phones into televisions as a way to bring computers to the developing world. "A lot of these companies can use this competition. They have dominated the market for far too long," said New York educator Jean DeGioia.

In fact, this trend might just lead to laptops being cheaper than ever. According to Prof Nicholas Negroponte, for too long, technology companies have overloaded their computers with software and features to keep prices high.

"Every single problem you can think of -- poverty, peace, environment -- is solved with education," said Negroponte. "So when we make this available, it is an education project, not a laptop project. The digital divide is a learning divide -- digital is the means through which children learn leaning. This is, we believe, the way to do it," he added.