An update in BBC NEWS on the $100 One Laptop Per Child project being pioneered by Nicholas Negroponte includes a look at look at how children will be guided to organize information inside the machine:

The computer runs on a cut-down version of the open source Linux operating system and has been designed to work differently to a Microsoft Windows or Apple machine from a usability perspective.

Instead of information being stored along the organising principle of folders and a desktop, users of the XO machine are encouraged to work on an electronic journal, a log of everything the user has done on the laptop.

The machine comes with a web browser, word processor and RSS reader, for accessing the web feeds that so many sites now offer.

“In fact, one of the saddest but most common conditions in elementary school computer labs (when they exist in the developing world), is the children are being trained to use Word, Excel and PowerPoint,” Mr Negroponte said.

“I consider that criminal, because children should be making things, communicating, exploring, sharing, not running office automation tools.”

An update in BBC NEWS on the $100 One Laptop Per Child project being pioneered by Nicholas Negroponte includes a look at look at how children will be guided to organize information inside the machine:
The computer runs on a cut-down version of the open source Linux operating system and has been designed to work differently [...]