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05 Dec 2006
Microsoft wants to make its Windows operating system available on the One Laptop per Child (OLPC) notebook computers, OLPC chairman Nicholas Negroponte said at the NetEvents conference in Hong Kong on Saturday.
"I have known [Microsoft chairman] Bill Gates his entire adult life. We talk, we meet one-on-one, we discuss this project," said Negroponte, vnunet.com can reveal.
"We put in an SD slot in the machine just for Bill. We didn't need it but the OLPC machines are at Microsoft right now, getting Windows put on them."
The SD slots allow users to add additional storage capacity to the laptops. Additional memory would be required for Windows to run on the current OLPC XO test models because they ship with only 512Mb of built in Flash memory.
The system requirements for Windows XP demand a minimum of 1.5Gb of storage space for both the Home and low cost Starter Edition that Microsoft targets at developing nations.
Microsoft's testing of Windows on the OLPC computers marks a major shift in the strategy for the project, which was designed to run a set of open source applications including an adapted version of Red Hat's Fedora Linux distribution.
Gates has publicly criticised the OLPC project, arguing that its small screen and lack of a hard disk make it underpowered.
The educational project attempts to build a low cost notebook computer that will improve education for children in developing economies.
As the device is nearing completion, test units are currently being distributed to nations that have expressed interest in purchasing the notebooks, such as Nigeria and Brazil.
When Negroponte first announced the project in January 2005, he was aiming for a price tag of $100 per device. This prompted the project to be nicknamed the '$100 laptop'.
The first units are expected to cost around $140, with prices dropping as production ramps up and component prices decrease.
A Microsoft spokesman declined to comment.
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Do you agree?
Emporer Bill "Unlimited POWER!!!"
Maybe Bill can put his stupid Office dog on it and we can watch it run the worst search algorithm ever written run on the most bloated poorly written OS ever and then these kids can hate MS computers like all of us civilized people.. or better yet, the BASIC 'Remline', which is the only program he ever actually wrote, cause he is so smart. NOT!
Posted by: Eric Lemle 14 Oct 2008
GREAT IDEA!
Ok, great idea! While we are at it, lets put a semi inside of my mini cooper. All we need to do it weld a truck bed to the hatchback. Give it up Bill, your software stinks and always has. :)
Posted by: Fred maniac 14 Oct 2008
Disaster
If Microsoft is allowed to get to 5 BILLION PEOPLE in these so-called 'third-world countries', this is disaster. By any means, this greedy monster must be stopped.
Posted by: Anonymous 11 Oct 2008
what $ 140
The porject aims on the childern from developing countries. How can they spend on US$140??? The project aims to develop the education, not for advertising. I wish to say "Please Bill, not this one".
Posted by: win myat nwe from Burma (Myanmar) 11 Mar 2007
stupid idea
this is the stupidest idea ive ever heard bump the cost up to 140 plus needing extra addons for XP OR use fedora out of the box and doesnt cost a penny. Kudos to Fedora... Message to Microsoft: open source software owns you greedy people
Posted by: matt 12 Dec 2006
ummm
Apparently you have never heard of windows CE and the 114MB foot print you can drop it to.
Posted by: bob 06 Dec 2006
An outrage
Read the OFFICIAL wiki for the OLPC about licensing and software here: http://wiki.laptop.org/go/OLPC_on_open_source_software Some interesting quotes from it: "Must include source code and allow modification" "Must not be otherwise encumbered by software patents which restrict modification" There's more goodies there. If OLPC and MS go ahead with this, the mr Negroponte has shown the world he is not truly interested in spreading unencumbered knowledge, but rather in helping proprietary imperialism spread to every possible corner of the world
Posted by: Carl 06 Dec 2006
Windows XP does not require 1,5 GB
It seems useless to compare a standard installation with the installation for a OLPC. There is already a possibility to install lite versions of XP for older hardware on 300MB of diskspace and mayby on standardised hardware that could be a lot smaller still.
Posted by: hAl 06 Dec 2006
End of a good initiative
What started as a good initiative now seems to turn into a commercially driven project. The goal was a cheap and reliable laptop so children all over the world could get an educational tool and a "window" to the world. In the FAQ we read that it can be so cheap because "in commercial software 2/3 is actually not needed". Now we put Windows on it: 1 The cost increases because of additional memory requirements. 2 The stability decreases because we get that 2/3 of junk nobody actually needs. 3 Instead of a "window" to the world the children are now becoming Microsoft "trainees". 4 And lastly what about worms and virusses ? Those people already are severely hit by Aids. Is it the intention to also infect their laptops ? Is Microsoft sending thousands of experts to remote areas to clean their laptops....I don't think so. I really get very upset. Why can Bill even with this initiative not back off ?
Posted by: Ed 06 Dec 2006
$100 laptop to $300 easily with Windows Software
Windows operating system software is too expensive for the third world users. Install ubutnu for free and no Microsoft Windows yearly upgrade fee. Open source is the way to go as many communities are developing software for educational use.
Posted by: DeafLinux 06 Dec 2006
Big tobacco and children
Get them hooked early. I would bet the ones running Windows will be free.
Posted by: Richard Dmitruchina 05 Dec 2006
They'll use windows CE not XP
the system requirements for CE are a fraction of that of XP. ex http://www.windowsfordevices.com/news/NS3174902712.html
Posted by: Stranger 05 Dec 2006
I doubt XP will run on it
Now it needs more memory, tomorrow it will need a faster processor, next it should have a hard drive, etc... by the time XP is running on it, it will be costing $500. Then comes the MS software licenses. It will be costing $800-$1000 when MS is done with it. Bill will give a rebate to get it going just like he did with the XBox.
Posted by: XXX 05 Dec 2006
The horror....
Offering low coast computers with a independent basic-build OS, is a great danger for Microsoft. These virus-free, stabile devices are a huge contrast to the disaster-ware that Redmont delivers. Dangerous? Yes. Because "the rest of the world" would want one too. And exit Bill Gates.
Posted by: Jan de Veen, Holland 05 Dec 2006
changing the underlying message
I think this is a bad idea. The underlying message with Linux and Open Source is "we're not quite sure what you need, but we hope this is useful; feel free to adapt it to make it fit". With Microsoft, the message is "we know what you want, this is it". That's a very different message to send.
Posted by: Jiri Baum 05 Dec 2006
Can't get rid of them
Microsoft does not fit with the OLPC project. Is Negroponte out of his mind. Did he get "something" from Bill? I am really upset! There won't be freedom for these kids if Microsoft is on the way.
Posted by: Sergio 05 Dec 2006
This is not a major shift
I don't think that this "marks a major shift in the strategy for the project". I think that it has all the time been the point that the laptop could also run Microsoft software. OLPC will certainly keep putting most of their efforts in Linux though, as open source is important to adapt the software. But for sure Microsoft can always try to do it better if they think they can do it better with some proprietary mix of Windows CE and XP for education or something like that. OLPC is not a Linux or a Microsoft project, it is an educational project.
Posted by: Charbax 05 Dec 2006
Noooooooo!
Agh! What is OLPC thinking, letting MSFT put their bloatware on the OLPC? The XO-1 already rocks out with Sugar! http://www.olpcnews.com/software/operating_system/about_sugar_ui_usability.html
Posted by: Wayan - OLPC News 05 Dec 2006
pathetic
let's proliferate the planet with these computers and put the most virus prone operating system on them... zombie spambots ftw!
Posted by: zym zym 05 Dec 2006
XP will run on it
We developed a WinXP version that runs of a USB flashdrive 512MB. The OS footprint is approx. 170MB,. It can be expanded due to the drivers you want to install. So you can have your own Windows On A Stick
Posted by: reinier 05 Dec 2006
Child abuse
Don't the poor children of the world suffer enough?
Posted by: Tom B 05 Dec 2006
Licensing
Finally, the perfect audience for Microsoft... moving from people that can't understand their licensing to people who can't read their licensing!
Posted by: Doug Karr 05 Dec 2006