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OneLaptopPerChild also for XP

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Curt:
[Original headline changed]

Copyright © 2008 CyberNet |

XP for the OLPC is Ready to go!

Posted: 29 Jul 2008 04:09 PM CDT

It’s hard to believe that Microsoft is still working on XP so many years after it originally launched. Their latest work with the operating system involved making a version that worked well with the XO Laptop (One Laptop Per Child project). Over 40 engineers were involved with the project, and as Ryan mentioned back in December, their hardest task was to get the operating system on a small drive and writing drivers that would work with the laptops’ specialized hardware.

Those engineers completed the task, and as they say, a new Windows XP has gone gold! According to BetaNews, Microsoft wasn’t the only one who had work to do to get XP to work on the XO laptop, the OLPC organization had work as well. They say, “Microsoft spent a year modifying XP to ensure it would work on the XO laptops without problems. But OLPC had work to do as well, including boosting the memory and making hardware adjustments. The switch from Linux will increase the production costs of the XO from $188 to a little over $200. XP itself will cost $3 per each XO shipped.”

Unfortunately, for those who already bought the XO laptops, like all of the people who participated in the Give One - Get One program, they will not have the option of switching from Linux, which their computers came with, to XP. This is likely due to the hardware adjustments that were made so that the laptops could work with XP. Part of the reason that XP is such an attractive option is that many more people are familiar with it than they are Linux.

Windows on the XO laptop is expected sometime in September.

Copyright © 2008 CyberNet |

Edvard:
Misleading headline.
They are NOT dropping Linux, they are making deals to allow the XP operating system as an option, either dual-boot or dedicated. Apparently some countries on the line-up to receive XO laptops balked until they could run Windows, which is obviously the more popular OS, and apparently many government agencies have laws requiring that computers purchased have to run Windows.
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080424-negroponte-developers-at-odds-over-future-of-olpc-platform.html
In our coverage of some of the serious problems faced by OLPC, we dismissed speculation that OLPC was planning to drop Linux and noted that such rumors have no basis in fact. Our suspicions were confirmed by OLPC who responded to our inquiries and told us directly that the project has no intention of dropping Linux.
--- End quote ---
Negroponte is also getting serious with developers of the Sugar interface to whip it into shape, AND port it to Windows.
Smart choice.
"Sugar is a very good idea, less than perfectly executed. I attribute our weakness to unrealistic development goals and practices," Negroponte wrote. "Sugar needs to be disentangled. I keep using the omelet analogy, claiming it needs to be a fried egg, with distinct yolk and white, rather than having the UI, collaborative tools, power management and radios merge into one amorphous blob. Otherwise, it is impossible to debug and will be limited to the small, albeit growing, world of the XO hardware platform."
Negroponte challenges the perception that bringing Sugar to Windows reflects a deviation from the goals and agenda of the OLPC project. "As we reach out to engage a wider community, some purism has to morph into pragmatism. To suggest that this forsakes Open Source or redirects our mission is absurd," he wrote.
--- End quote ---

So all in all, the key word here is pragmatism. I like that word. It means exactly that which I think it means.  ;)

Edvard:
Also, read what Wikipedia has on the controversy:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_Laptop_per_Child#Controversy_Regarding_Mission

urlwolf:
I think this is the direct result of the work of the linuxhater blog guy :)

Edvard:
 ;D ;D ;D

The sudden push to re-work Sugar sounds very linuxhater-like, I'll admit.

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