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Amazon.com will start selling One Laptop Per Child's low-cost XO notebook computer as part of the Give One, Get One program OLPC developed last year, according to an official from OLPC.

The non-profit organization started Give One, Get One as a way to raise money to send laptops to school kids in poor countries. The idea is that a person pays for two of the XO laptops developed by OLPC. One is sent to the buyer, and another is donated to a child in a developing country.

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This year, OLPC opted to team up with a Web e-tailer instead of running the program itself, said Matt Keller, director of Europe, Middle East and Africa at OLPC, in an interview Wednesday.

Amazon.com will start selling XO laptops under the Give One, Get One program in late November, around the time of Thanksgiving in the U.S. Sales will likely extend through to around the end of December.

"We're a small group of people," said Keller, explaining the rationale for working with Amazon.com.

OLPC is run by a small group of people, he said. There are a few thousand volunteers that help out with software development and other projects, but the core group itself is just 25 people.

A low-cost XO laptop from the One Laptop Per Child Project (OLPC) that carries both Windows and Linux will be out within the next month or so, according to an OLPC official.

The dual-boot XO laptop was originally expected to be available in August or September. The new device will allow users to boot up the OS they prefer, either Microsoft Windows XP or the Linux-based Sugar OS originally found on the XO.

[ See the related story Amazon to sell OLPC XO laptops. And get the latest on mobile developments with InfoWorld's Mobile Report newsletter. ]

The new device is important to the spread of the XO around the world. OLPC started as an attempt to build a $100 laptop and work with governments to pass them out to kids in poor nations around the world. But some governments have said they don't want the XO laptop, no matter how cheap it is, unless it has Windows.

"Some countries have been adamant about using Microsoft software," said Matt Keller, OLPC's director for Europe, Middle East, and Africa, in an interview Wednesday.

A high-level government official in Egypt was among the first to tell OLPC that his country only wanted the XO if it could run Windows.

Now that OLPC has announced the dual-boot version of the laptop, Egypt plans to use them in schools, Keller said.

There has been some disagreement at OLPC about working with Microsoft and speculators have attributed some high profile departures from the non-profit to its decision to put Windows on the XO. Views differ widely between software developers who believe the source code of an application should be made freely available to users, and those makers of proprietary software who view the source code as a secret ingredient to be guarded.

In OLPC's case, the question came down to reaching out to kids, said Keller.

"We're all about educating kids," he said. "We're willing to work with anyone who shares that vision."

OLPC's goal is to make sure nobody misses out on the benefits of computing. The fear is that the price of a PC is keeping too many people in developing countries from learning how software, the Internet and communications via computing can improve their economies, job prospects and lives. To prevent poor countries from falling further behind the modern world in computing, a number of organizations are working to increase their access to computers.

Microsoft has launched a number of programs with governments in developing countries, including Vietnam and the Philippines, to build computer labs in rural areas and send Microsoft employees to train people how to use software and write programs.

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Sixty-hour work weeks with no overtime or comp time, a BlackBerry hitched to your belt 24/7, mandates from managers who have no clue what you actually do ? all for a job that could be outsourced tomorrow. Is it finally time for technology workers to form a union and demand better working conditions?

After all, if Hollywood writers can organize effectively, you'd think IT workers would have a shot. As with Teamsters in the transportation industry, when IT walks off the job, everything comes to a grinding halt.

[ Stuck in a miserable IT job? Check out How to keep your tech career afloat and learn about today's most marketable skills ]

Unfortunately for would-be organizers, most experts agree that the odds against an IT union are long. Unions don't exactly appeal to the classic techie temperament.

"We're talking about people who are really lone gunmen," says Bill Pfleging, co-author of "The Geek Gap." "They're good at what they do, they're paid well, and they can go wherever they want to ? none of these things are a good fit for working in a union environment."

Then there's the sheer diversity of technical workers ? from help desk personnel to programmers and developers to network and software engineers ? each with their own, sometimes conflicting, issues and concerns.

But that's not stopping some geeks from trying. For example, the Washington Alliance of Tech Workers (WashTech) has been fighting for IT workers' rights for more than 10 years.?

"How much do you think your employer really values your work when they think they can just ship it off to India or China?" asks WashTech director of communications Rennie Sawade. "The union is trying to stand up for your right to be able to work in America and have a job." WashTech is now seeking people to help organize and recruit members, says Sawade.?

So far WashTech, which is affiliated with the Communications Workers of America, has had limited success. In November 2005, it organized approximately 1,100 employees at a Cingular (now AT&T) Call Center in Bothell, Wash. The union is currently negotiating with AT&T over benefits; salary discussions are slated for next year. WashTech also has 243 at-large members, mostly software engineers.

Another CWA-affiliated tech union, Alliance@IBM, boasts roughly 300 dues-paying members, from IT specialists and programmers to scientists, says Lee Conrad, national coordinator for the union.

[ For the untold story of life in the IT trenches, read InfoWorld's investigative report: IT workers pushed to the limits ]

"Even though IT workers are considered a different type of animal, they're still impacted by the same things that hit the manufacturing industries 10 or 15 years ago ? pay cuts, downsizing, and loss of benefits," says Conrad. "We are seeking a union contract, a voice in the workplace, and more respect for IT employees."

But the alliance is still looking to secure a seat at the table with IBM management. So far, its most noteworthy accomplishment is staging picket lines outside the company's annual shareholder meetings.

A better alternative, say some, may be a professional organization modeled after the American Bar Association or American Medical Association. Less formal or rigidly organized than a union, it would allow technology professionals to speak with one voice on issues that affect them all ? such as maintaining limits on H-1B visas for foreign employees or offering tax incentives for companies that keep IT jobs onshore.

"The diversity of employers and job skills makes unionizing IT workers unrealistic, other than within certain large employers," notes Kim Berry, president of the Programmers Guild, a nonprofit that works to advance IT issues. "But clearly IT workers need a voice to level the playing field against the powerful industry lobbying groups, like ITAA, Compete America, and NFAP."

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