If you haven’t heard of the OLPC (One Laptop Per Child) project, it is high time that you did.  The Delaware based OLPC Project mission is simple: provide a usable laptop computer to nearly two-billion children in the developing world.

It leads one to ask the question: How? The XO laptop under development costs under $100.  Most of that cost goes to the display ($35) which uses q dual-mode display commonly found in inexpensive DVD players which lets it be used in high-resolution black and white in bright sunlight.

Most importantly, they have taken the fat out of the operating system.  First and foremost, it runs on Linux — a free, open source operating system that runs lean and mean.  And did I mention that it is free?

Everything about the laptop is innovative, from its enhanced wireless capabilities with built in mesh networking, its rugged and resilient body (it is for children after all), to its hand crank and solar power system scream success, and offer a glimmer of hope that this project could actually work.

OLPC has even put in place a “Give One Get One” program that runs through December 31st.  Buy one for $299 and get one donated to a child in a developing company.  Two hundred of that cost can be taken as a tax deduction.

In what I consider an amusing turn of events, Information Week reports that Microsoft now wants OLPC to be redesigned to add an additional SD memory slot.  While the OLPC happily runs Red Hat Linux on the current 1GB of memory, a slimmed down version of Windows XP would require at least 2GB.

The question I have to ask is why the hell would OLPC people want to use Microsoft?  Linux obviously would perform better with less resources, is more stabile and is free!

Why even consider using a stripped down and untested version of XP?  I mean if the goal is to expand the number of people who have experienced a Windows “blue screen of death” using a stripped down version of XP would make sense.

Thankfully the goal is a stabile and low cost system.  The OLPC people reportedly have yet to reply to Microsoft.

I am the proud owner of 20/20 vision. I didn’t always have it, and its not visual so you won’t see me training to be a fighter pilot, but the great iMac crash of 2007 has opened my eyes, we are no longer flying by the seat of our proverbial pants… we now have a backup plan.

Yup, daily backups to an external Firewire 400 drive and syncing to our new .mac iDisk, along with prompted monthly backups to CD/DVD should by God be enough to keep us safe. One can only roll the dice for so long before come up snake eyes.

I work as a networking services supervisor, a job that lives and dies on its ability to keep systems up and running and in a state that can easily be recovered from in the event of failure. Why then did I take the most minimum of steps to prevent it from happening at home? I am a dumb ass that is why. No other explanation.

Funny thing is, when I talk to my associates only one of them has done more than I have by way of backup and recovery. Bah.

So the iMac downstairs took a crap, I have limited photo backup, and none of Karin’s stuff backed up. All my attempts to recover have come up with no indication that the hard drive even exists.

We ran the Apple hardware testing tool and it came back saying everything was fine, Karin is taking the iMac to a past co-worker who has access to some heavy duty tools to see if he has any better luck. Keeping my fingers crossed.