Major restructuring at One Laptop Per Child

The faltering global economy and increased competition are partly to blame for the restructuring of the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) program. Half of the staff have been cut and salaries for remaining employees will be lowered according to a statement from OLPC founder Nicholas Negroponte.

The OLPC program was launched with the purpose of providing simple and inexpensive laptops to underdeveloped children. Governments in several Latin American countries- mainly Uruguay and Peru- have purchased hundreds of thousands of units for use in schools. Yet the restructuring plans at OLPC will hit the Americas especially hard:

Negroponte said the foundation also will spin off its operation in Latin America and would no longer work directly on further development of the operating software used on its own computer. He described the moves as a restructuring that would refocus the group's mission on distributing its laptops in sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East, Afghanistan, and Northwestern Pakistan and on creating a second-generation computer.

Image- boston.com
Online Sources- The Latin Americanist, boston.com, wired.com, bostonherald.com, Reuters, endgadget