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In a surprise announcement, the government of the Northern Territory has announced that they are testing the OLPC (One Laptop Per Child) machines with a view to launching trials in remote communities.

The OLPC has been designed for children in the developing world, in regions that struggle for basic infrastructure like clean running water, and electricity. So it may come as a surprise to some that an Australian state government has put up a hand to trial the new laptops.

The Northen Territory is confronted with a number of unique challenges. Whilst most of the population resides in Darwin, the capital city, there are a number of remote communities throughout the top end of Australia that experience similar issues to those faced by remote communities in developing nations.

Significant issues still face any trial, including the quality of the software included with the OLPC, however those involved with the project have expressed confidence in the Free and Open Source Software included, citing the ability to fix bugs in the underlying code.

There will be a demonstration of the OLPC machines at the upcoming linux.conf.au 2007 Open Day, where people will be able to see the hardware that is driving a revolution in computing.

Original Age Article