VILLA CARDAL, Uruguay -- The 1,200 inhabitants of this isolated rural town could not care less about a feud between U.S. tech companies Intel and AMD. But recently it began a social experiment that could impact not only its development but also the fortunes of several U.S. corporate giants. Eight-year-old Nahuel Lema and his 135 classmates at Number 24: Italia, the only primary school here, took home new laptops May 10 thanks to a partnership between the Uruguayan government and One Laptop per Child (OLPC), a United States' non-profit born out of the MIT Media Lab. Nahuel's mother, Grisela, sat right beside him in his classroom, her face beaming with pride. Born and raised here, she is anything but a techie, never once having used email. Villa Cardal has one main street and no traffic lights. Many here work as farmhands at dairy ranches. The community is in the "paper and pencil era" says fourth grade teacher Hania Villanueva.
Uruguay Could Become a Model for Low-Cost Laptop Programs
