Australian Government Backs OLPC

angry tapir writes "One Laptop Per Child Australia had a win in the recent Australian budget, receiving federal government funding for the first time. OLPC Australia will benefit from $11.7 million of funding, which will be used to purchase 50,000 laptops to distribute to students. The organization recently launched a new initiative that builds an educational ecosystem around the laptops, to help integrate them into the learning process."

Re:A good thing

[Anonymous Coward]

I see you're not familiar with the laptops the Australian government foisted onto students a few years ago - cheap 10" netbooks which were too slow to be useful the day they were built.

Now the batteries are shot, they're falling apart, and they haven't gotten any faster...

Laptops is it 2005 still ?

[Anonymous Coward]

Laptop ? what is it 2005 still hasn't everyone moved on to tablets/slates as their primary device ? 1. tablets are cheaper (? I haven't got anything to back this up with) 2. they are lighter (fact) 3. they tend to have GPS, so you track the little buggers... 4. you don't have to deal with an annoying trackpad/mouse or other peripherals... 5. did I mention that they were lighter ? 6. battery power... 7. has facebook, and other distractions 8. it's "cooler" 9. they can't access pr0n (if it is an ipad) since it doesn't support flash well... that is all.