At a Technology conference in Lake Tahoe, Bill Gates made a prediction that the best education will come from the web in 5 years. Nicholas Negroponte also said that the physical book will be obsolete in 5 years. He compared paper books transition to their digital counterparts to the music and film industry of a few decades ago.

The Uruguay programme has cost the state $260 (£159) per child, including internet connections, equipment repairs, maintenance costs, and training for the teachers, but the extent to which they use the laptops in the classroom is up to them. Meanwhile, pilot programs in Ethiopia with the OLPC XO laptop are stalling. Teachers resent the device and consider it a toy.