I built my green computer! Yippee!

That was Sal’s sentence today.

I didn’t know how happy he’d be. Really caught me by surprise and I’ve kind of got myself in a little mess.

Was talking with his Moms about the Give 1 Get 1 promotion that they are doing over at OLPC. It is a promotion in the sense that it’ll have a limited window, not in the sense that you’ll get any discount on anything. They’re just letting you buy one of their $200 computers for your own kid if you give a $200 computer to a kid in a 3rd world country.

It’s Negroponte’s goal to have a $100 computer – and he’s really close – at $200. Sure, you say he’s 100% off, but at the same time, you’re getting quite a bit for the 200 bucks. Anyway, at the time, Sal was playing with Nivita’s computer and so I asked him if he would like his own.

Of course he accepted the offer. So we went to my computer to look at what his might be. And he loved the green keys – and I got a chance to read more about it. Their UI was started from a clean slate – no traditional “business apps” hangups and they cite Papert (pretty much father of modern day child development research, who’s on their board of directors) as being an influential part of their design process.

I’d like one of the machines just to play around with. Even better that I got a kid that I can use as an excuse to buy one. Even better that we’ll donate another.

Sure – he’s not even 2.5 years old. But look at the UI – it is not designed for you or me. Or even people that need to type words for that matter. Visually oriented. Its got a camera and microphone. Each computer is a standalone WIFI hub & client. Don’t you want to know what’s going on with all those little X’s and O’s? Don’t you want to be one? There’s a group huddled around a palette. Some around a little globe. A little dude is at a pad by himself.

What’s that all mean? I dunno – but I want to know. I need to find out if they have an environment that can run on normal PCs – I’d love to be part of Sal’s computer network.

Yes, by now, you’ve caught wind of the fact that this won’t be just his computer. But ours. Still, isn’t that what most of his toys have been?

Growing up, my dad got us a computer and pretty much since then, I’ve been using them a lot. It guided me into computer science. Through grad school. I don’t care if Sal goes into computer science or not – but I’m a firm believer in the ability for computers to open up imagination. There are control freak/God complex aspects of developers, so it’s not all a rosy garden. But there is also unbounded possibility at your fingertips – and that’s what I want him to experience.

Without a computer I wanted to be an architect. Maybe I would have been a writer. I’d hate to feel like I’m locking him into a “computer” lifestyle so quickly, but at the same time, we live in a pretty competitive area. He’ll still goto preschool and play with Swedish blocks and get social and he’ll still goto soccer class and music classes and so forth. Just that he’ll have a computer at home too – I’m sure he feels a little left out when Moms and Pops are on their computers at home. Now he’ll fit in.

And I really want to find out what those X’s and O’s are doing.

But I’m a little worried about this one at this age for Sal. Worst case, we don’t like it, send it back and let them send it to someone else. Best case, he’ll use it to express himself in new mediums. Most likely case – he’ll just break it. So I dunno – get it or not? Will it place him in a nerdy path for the rest of his life – is that a bad thing – is that an inevitable thing? Hey – I can’t second guess all my parenting choices can I?

Or can I?