One Laptop Per Child's XO computer.

The One Laptop Per Child Foundation is planning to repeat its "Give 1 Get 1" program again this holiday season, but this year it expects to eliminate the bottlenecks that plagued last year's program because Amazon.com will deliver the inexpensive device.

While final details haven't been announced, OLPC indicated this year's offering will be similar to last year's when consumers could purchase two computers for a total of $399 and keep one while the second computer would be given to a needy child somewhere in the world.

Another difference is that OLPC's partnership with Microsoft -- announced in May -- means that OLPC's computers are likely to be available at a still-undisclosed time with Microsoft's XP operating system in addition to the Linux operating system. Microsoft has agreed to charge a token licensing fee, reportedly $3 per unit, for XP.

The Boston Globe reported Friday that OLPC founder and chairman Nicholas Negroponte confirmed the new G1G1 arrangement with Amazon but declined to give further details. While the foundation's XO laptop has received praise for its low-cost, ruggedized, functional design, manufacturing and distribution problems contributed to its rising cost. In the meantime, commercial manufacturers, realizing that OLPC had pioneered a low-cost market largely in developing nations, have jumped into the market with their own inexpensive machines.

While the cost of the XO has crept up way beyond its original target price of $100, the foundation has been developing new designs that seek to lower the price to the $100 range.