I use ubuntu instead of madirisha. Absolutely free. Libre Office for word processing and spreadsheet and firefox as browser. Only drawbacks are powerpoint (have to hand it to monster MS) and lack of drivers for my MFP printer.

Go go C#

For once someone has hit spot on ..not having buildings and infrastructure has no bearing one ones eventual nurturing and maturity of their talent, many of the professional and achievers around today owe it majorly to their own determination and not buildings or quality teachers ..free laptops will be a means not an end to talent nurturing ..of FOSS vs Microsoft merits is inconsequential the end of it all is to achieve the ultimate end ..having the software and hardware delivered , me thinks this laptop thing is an equalizer that eliminates the elitist inequalities that come with a colonial system of elite privileged "national schools" which favored a few. Free laptop + safaricom dongle + google = access to resources previously unavailable to anyone in machinani