When One Laptop Per Child designed its low-priced, low-watt, neon-green XO laptop, the company never intended to make it commercially available to consumers in developed countries. The purpose of the program, after all, was to benefit children from poor nations.

When consumers began asking for the computer, however, OLPC got a idea: Why not let people buy one notebook for the price of two? One would go to the consumer and the other to a child in need. Dubbed Give One Get One, the program was a marked success, generating a good deal of money and raising the company's profile even higher. In fact, the program's success pushed the organization's shipping infrastructure to its limits. OLPC received a number of complaints from customers lamenting the company's inability to ship units in a timely matter.

OLPC today released plans to begin selling the XO notebook via Amazon.com. Like before, the laptop will be available to consumers only through the G1G1 program. If anything, it seems that such availability could increase the potential demand for the low-cost, low-powered system.

Volunteers excepted, the organization employs about 25 workers. Is OLPC more prepared to meet the demand for its product this time around? We put the question to an OLPC spokesperson, who answered simply, "OLPC has factored increased volume into its plans."

According to the spokesperson, Quanta in China will continue to manufacture the systems, and Amazon will be handling the shipping to customers in the U.S.