X0 2 to have a touch screen!
It looks possible that the next generation OLPC might have the touch screen we were wishing for!
Some of the early ideas and mockups are up on the OLPC wiki site and the form factor looks superb.
Is this a good idea?
Of course!
OLPC walk a delicate tightrope between keeping the XO as cheap, robust, and low-power as possible while at the same time pushing to innovate. Theirs is a device built just for students - just for learning. Adding in one (or even two) touch screens moves their device closer to an idealised learning device!
We were lucky enough to hear David Cavallo who head up OLPC's future of learning research talking at ALT-C last week, and were pleased to hear him enthusing about the XO innovations.
Of course there is a long journey between the current announcements and a final release, but two touch screens would be a great response to new devices like the ClassMate PC - and if you believe some of the literature OLPC are creating, they are seriously considering adding these multi-touch screens.
Go OLPC go!
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