At a MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) event yesterday, Professor Nicholas Negroponte unveiled the next generation of OLPC's (One laptop per child) XO laptop meant for children in developing countries.

Prof Negroponte showed-off the design of XO Next, what he described as XO-2. The XO-2 gives XO's green rubbery keyboard the miss, instead sporting a single square display with a hinge at the center. Which makes for splitting the device into two touch-screens that can function either as a laptop with keyboard or as pages of a book.

"This laptop comes from a different point of view," Negroponte said, adding, "Over the last couple of years, we've learnt the book experience is key." Describing XO-2 as "a totally new concept for learning devices," Negroponte explained that the device combines the functions of a laptop, an electronic book, and an electronic board. Besides it is more energy-efficient, and nearly half the size of the XO, making it lighter to ferry, Negroponte said.

OLPC expects to deliver the first XO-2 machines in 2010, the most important thing being their pricing; OLPC is targeting a price of $75 for XO-2 vis-a-vis $188 for their XO aka $100 laptop.

The launch of XO-2 is being seen as an effort on the part of OLPC to revitalize adoption of its machines. Given that OLPC has managed to sell only about 600,000 XO machines so far, despite the initial target of 100 million by 2008. Just last week, OLPC announced a partnership with Microsoft to offer Windows XP on its XO laptops in four countries instead of the Linux-based 'Sugar' operating system. Future versions of XO will offer a dual-boot option that will allow users choose between two operating systems, OLPC said.

Additionally, Prof Negroponte announced the resumption of the "Get-One-Give-One" program in North America and Europe, starting August or September. He said there's a reduction in the price of XO laptops on the cards.