Nicholas Negroponte, the co-founder of the Media Lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, detailed specifications for a $100 windup-powered laptop targeted at children in developing nations.

Massachusetts is working with MIT on a plan to distribute the laptops to schoolchildren.

This is the most important thing I have ever done in my life,” Negroponte said on Wednesday during a presentation at Technology Review’s Emerging Technologies Conference at MIT. “Reception has been incredible. The idea is simple. It’s an education project, not a laptop project. If we can make education better–particularly primary and secondary schools–it will be a better world.”

The project’s idea is to make the PC a grassroots movement like Linux or Wikipedia.

Negroponte said the idea is that governments will pay roughly $100 for the laptops and will distribute them for free to students.

The laptops will have a 500MHz processor, 1GB of memory and an innovative dual-mode display that can be used in full-color mode, or in a black-and-white sunlight-readable mode. Power for the new systems will be provided by electric current, batteries or by a windup crank attached to the side of the notebooks.

The systems will be Wi-Fi and cell phone-enabled, and will include four USB ports for connectivity.
Five companies are working with MIT to develop an initial 5 million to 15 million test units within the year: Google, Advanced Micro Devices, News Corp., Red Hat and BrightStar and the plans are to produce 100 –150 million units by 2007.

There will be available also commercial versions of these systems for $200, and $20 or $30 will be collected for founding this project.

This is a very ambitious project of MIT.