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One Laptop per Child (OLPC) has announced the planned user interface (UI), called Sugar, for OLPC’s XO laptop computer. The Sugar UI, jointly developed with Red Hat and Pentagram, is the first to have been purposely designed for children (in elementary and secondary schools) using laptops.

The reality that OLPC’s XO laptops will be used by children of varying ages and nationalities, and who have little or no prior computer experience, was a critical consideration when designing the UI. “The desktop metaphor familiar to most laptop users today may make sense in business settings, but it’s not geared for children collaborating with each other and their teachers,” said Walter Bender, OLPC’s president of software and content. “With Sugar, we’ve created something wholly new and suited to the way children understand and describe their world and relationships. Most importantly, Sugar is easy for children to learn to use, yet it’s also rich and capable of fostering unbounded discovery, learning, and exploration.”

In Sugar, the interface hosts four views: home, friends, neighborhood and activity. Surrounding any view is the “Frame,” which is comparable to a menu bar on a traditional interface. The left, top, and right side of the frame represent people, places and things, while the bottom part signifies anything that needs action, such as an invitation or notification. A search bar is located on the top of the frame to search for people, activities, keywords, and tags.

To keep power demand and costs low, the XO features a lesser Linux, a 366-megahertz processor from Advanced Micro Devices Inc., and lacks a hard disk drive. It contains 366 MB of flash memory, a built-in camera, and USB 2.0 ports for more storage. The first 10 prototype machines will be handed out for testing by kids this February.

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