OStatic

PCWorld reports that the OLPC (One Laptop Per Child) Group has confirmed that Amazon will have XO laptops for sale on Monday, November 17th. The XO laptops at Amazon are sold in the same manner as they were initially at the OLPC site, with a $400 donation securing a laptop for the customer, and a laptop for a child in a developing country. This donation (or at least the portion used to purchase the laptop for the child) is tax deductible.

OLPC's vice president of software engineering, Jim Gettys, said that the XO laptops sold through Amazon will be Linux based (though some countries are opting for Windows versions), and that there is some talk of selling the XO through Amazon in other countries.

The effort to deliver Linux-based computers to the consumer market has had its fits and starts, but I now see light at the end of the tunnel. While low priced Linux desktops such as the Everex gPC have not set the world on fire, the new crop of Linux-based laptops is nothing to shake a stick at. I've been using a $399 Asus Eee PC with a version of Xandros Linux on it for a while, and despite a few complaints, I really like it. Now, it looks like Asus is prepared to address some of the system's shortcomings.