How simple is it? In Nigeria a 5-year-old girl with a can-do spirit took it upon herself to troubleshoot and repair the OLPCs of her classmates, said Jepsen. A teacher encouraged her, and the class set up a 'Laptop Hospital,' where the kids learn to repair their own hardware.

How is this green? Shipping is greatly reduced if people can fix their own gadgets on site. Jepsen pointed out that communities in Peru that now have OLPCs take 20 days to reach via roads from major cities. Instead of tossing whole products that have one or two problems, people can swap out individual pieces, leading to much less resource use.

Plus, the whole reason for the OLPC was to serve as a powerful educational tool. When young people, or any consumers, learn better how things work, and take responsibility for them, their experience is enriched. And they learn to take care of things better, which leads to longer life, and less resource use.

I think it's really awesome that they're learning (and at such a young age) how to fix their computers. It looks like they've already got a leg up on their Western counterparts.