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05 Dec 2006
The UK's Green Party has accused Microsoft of "unacceptable bribery" in trying to run Windows on the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) project.
"Open source tools are a way to let the global south develop their own knowledge economies," Siân Berry, principal speaker for the Green Party, told vnunet.com in an email.
"Microsoft wants to restrict the greatest profits in the knowledge economy to already established software corporations like itself.
"By installing its programs on these laptops Microsoft hopes to create market domination and vendor lock in. That is unacceptable bribery.
"It would be a massive missed opportunity not to extend software freedom to students in the global south."
The comment comes on the back of revelations that Microsoft is keen to see Windows running on the OLPC machines.
Nicholas Negroponte, OLPC chairman, told vnunet.com 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.
"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 inclusion of an SD slot will allow the internal storage capacity of the machines to be increased from 512MB to 1.5GB, the minimum necessary to run either the Home or Starter editions of Windows XP.
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A Dear Bill Letter
Dear Bill, Keep your bloody hands off the OLPC. You criticised the project in the first place. Your vision in screwing people, even the poorest of nations is despicable & you should be heralded for the a-hole that you are. Yes, you give millions, or billions away, but that doesn't cut it when you defile anything that isn't made by your own company. The fact is that the millions you give away are a spit in the ocean & between you & your mate "I'm gonna f**king kill Google" Steve "Balmy" Ballmer you hold fairly comfortable leads in the top 5 richest in the world so why shouldn't you give away millions. Bugger off & leave OLPC alone. We'll soon have no need for Microsux anyway!
Posted by: Rex Alfie Lee 07 Apr 2007