The Weekly Squeak

Video: Codebreakers – BBC

Continuing the discussion of Open Source and the One Laptop Per Child project (OLPC), here is a terrific article: Breaking Barriers. Thank you Diego Gomez Deck for pointing it out. Squeak even has a mention in conjunction with the Extramadura Project on page 77 (adobe doc page 88).

Critics of Open Source and projects, like OLPC, to help the developing world are missing the point. We are, after all, one people. It’s easy to look at the world and ask what are we doing wrong. It may be difficult to imagine what the world would be like if everyone on the planet could live like the developed world. Is it hard to understand that education plays a vital role and that OLPC and Open Source Software will have tangible benefits for humanity?

Who benefits from the education that OLPC seeks to deliver, or the technology that Open Source seeks to make available? We all do! We benefit from more productive lives. We benefit from education that leads to increased expectations driven by new potential. We also benefit from education that is spent on the common good like the environment, nutrition, or healthcare.

Education leads to a shared hope for the future and a focus on the resources required to obtain a better life for ourselves, our communities, and our children. Most of all we benefit when we know that lifting up all of humanity means that one day we can all live together in peace.

I hope you enjoyed the article and the video and are supporting the OLPC Project, Open Source Software, and Squeak!

Ron Teitelbaum * President * US Medical Record Specialists