Dear Squeaklanders,
We're looking fowrard to seeing many of you in Chicago at SqueakFest next week.
For those of you unable to join us, I thought I'd send a few general updates as summer is in full swing, and for many of you, the new academic year may be quickly approaching.
I think most of you are aware of the involvement Viewpoints Research has with the One Laptop Per Child (olpc) initiative (http://www.laptop.org). We are developers for the platform, and have been working closely with the olpc team as we integrate Etoys as an activity on the laptop and develop Etoys specifically for this platform (known as either "the $100 laptop" or the "xo").
We are very happy with the progress we've made and to know that soon, literally millions of adults and children will have an opportunity to make etoys of their own. We believe the olpc has motivated the generation of a better Etoys for all, and a more suitable Etoys for older learners (although we still have much work to do in this area).
That said, it is our plan to offer this new, improved Etoys to you, the Squeakland community, via the Squeakland.org website. In the next weeks we'll be announcing a new download for your use. This version will be demonstrated and used at SqueakFest and shortly thereafter, it will be available to all via the Squeakland website. It runs as before on Mac, Windows and Unix/Linux platforms and really looks much the same as the Etoys you've been using.
So, please keep reading these announcements and check the Squeakland wesbite for "Etoys 2.1". You should know that Etoy projects created in other versions of Squeak/Etoys can be loaded/brought forward into this version; however, the reverse will not be possible.
We continue to encourage you to share the projects you create, the lessons you learn, the experiences you have with your students, etc. through this mailing list and other fora.
Please pass this email to anyone you know that might be interested in this news, but not a subscriber to this mailing list.
Thanks and enjoy the rest of your summer! Kim
squeakland@lists.squeakfoundation.org