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"The vast majority of people I help to work with Windows (and I've been in tech support for the past 20 years) never move beyond the basics."
That's because they're old. I think the OLPC people themselves forgot that kids are actually much better at learning computers than adults. It's two factors. Their brains are better at learning, and they have curiosity that makes them explore the computer. My point regarding windows is that all you need is curiosity to learn it.
"A key advantage of Linux, on the other hand, is that the source of every program is open. For those who do decide to move beyond the basics, it is a much more accessable tool for learning about how computers work."
Did you just imply that after learning how to send email and write documents, step #2 is to read source code?
"The OLPC program has also encouraged the development of a wide variety of learning games, which I believe are much more effective in boosting intelligence then simply handing someone a computer to figure out"
Learning games? Learning games? Are you serious? If they're the same ones they had us play in elementary school, then you must be crazy. Learning games are something that some stoned-out hippie came up with "to make learning fun". You don't learn anything with them. They certainly don't boost intelligence. They are far too simple.
Kids aren't idiots dammit. Educational games are probably the only way a professional such as yourself can get a kid to pay attention to him, so you think that they're so great (and you think kids are so dumb). That is what separates all of your research and theory from reality: the poor interface between the test subject and the researcher. (A profound problem that the researcher, surely, would be loth to admit.)
Kids left to their own devices with a computer learn it very well. 99% of kids with a home computer weren't taught by their parents or teachers anything about using it. They all learned it on their own. Tens of millions of kids learn Windows completely on their own and then teach their parents, and you, as a professional of educational technology, should be painfully aware of it!
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