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OLPC’s went on sale at 3am PST. I ordered mine at 3:15am PST. According to the website, people who placed their orders in the first couple days should have received their machines before Christmas. People who places later orders should have received them by January 14th. It’s now January 29th. Not only have I not received my computer, I had to write several emails to even get this status update.

Dear Donor,

We are contacting you to provide an update on your Give One Get One donation and the shipment of your laptop.

Our shipment systems are telling us that we cannot ship to the address that we have for you. We are very sorry for this delay.

To expedite the processing of your shipment, please reply to this email with your full shipping address, including the street address. Please also send us a telephone number we can use to contact you if we have any further questions.

If you would rather speak with an agent, we are in the process of setting up a 24 hour dedicated phone line for this purpose. The number is 1-800-883-8102 and it will be operational as of Tuesday, 1/22/2008. Live agents will not be able to assist you until this time.

If you would prefer to receive a refund for the cost of the “get” laptop and associated shipping ($ 199 per laptop plus shipping & handling), please tell us by reply email and we will process your refund.

We appreciate your generosity and patience. We hope you continue to want your laptop, in which case we are committed to getting it to you as soon as possible. That said, if you would prefer to receive a refund, we will issue it promptly.

Sincerely,

OLPC Donor Services

Okay. After doing some research, it appears the reason they can’t ship to the address I provided is that they fucked it up. Somehow, their mailing system dropped a line from addresses that were greater than three lines. I can accept that, but why hadn’t they notified me that there was a problem with my address. Were they hoping I’d forgotten my order?

I’ve since sent them an updated address as well as a status update query. I called the number provided and it rang for 15 minutes without so much as an answering machine. This is really unacceptable.

CNN.com writes about a deployment of OLPCs in Peru. Things are looking really good for the program. Can’t wait to get my hands on the one.

I’ve seen some posts about people starting to receive theirs. I’m still looking to my inbox for a shipment notification.

The first real (non-trial) deployment of OLPCs looks like it was a smashing success. Over a thousand children in Uruguay received the devices over a period of three days.

The Give 1 Get 1 program has been extended to December 31st. It’s a unique opportunity to take part in an amazing piece of history. This is an ambitious project that could have an incredible impact on the future of developing nations.

I’ll be getting my OLPC from one of the first shipments to Give 1 Get 1 participants. This is a program I’m proud to support.