I mentioned in my last post that the XO hardware package was pretty robust and well-designed for its educational function. I wish I could say the same about its software package, but I can't. Integrating software, hardware and firmware is difficult (and probably expensive) and OLPC definitely wasn't able to do it on time for the G1G1 release.
Power-management is "coming" but at the moment, it's not possible to put the XO to sleep. Flash animation works poorly if at all, and there's no printing support. "View Source" was supposed to be a pathbreaking feature of the XO, but that isn't quite ready yet, either. It's possible that had they been able to stick to rolling out XO's in phases and in close co-operation with teachers and governments in recipient countries, all these problems could have been resolved or consciously deferred on the grounds that they weren't really important.
Unfortunately, by launching the G1G1 initiative and putting their laptops in the hands of consumers in the affluent world, these omissions stood out as very glaring shortcomings.
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