ICTs and leapfrogging development

$100 laptop having an impact on open source communities

This LinuxWorld article demonstrates several ways in which the MIT Media Lab's $100 laptop project is affecting open source software development, "Doing it for the kids, man: Children's laptop inspires open source projects - Network World"

As Negroponte, the "granddaddy" of the project, has said, the project is not a technology project, it is an educational project. The examples illustrated in the article show that, as an educational project, it extends not only to the children that are eventually destined to work with the laptops, but also to developers all over the world, to help them better understand the needs of computer users in developing countries - an important aspect that I've hinted at before.