Posted on 01/11/2008 5:20:22 AM PST by ShadowAce
It's a threat Microsoft can't let stand: the entire third world learning Linux as children, and growing up to use it. And Microsoft is going to get its way.
The move is presented as enabling choice. It starts out with a dual-boot capability, provided by Microsoft engineers. Not that any work by Microsoft was really needed, Open Source firmware that boots Microsoft operating systems has existed for ten years. Microsoft says they will issue guidelines, and start field trials this month. Dual-boot sounds harmless, but Microsoft's version of choice is better stated as we'll give you choice and then make you choose Microsoft. I'm sure there will be pressure on national governments to select Windows-only loads for their OLPC purchases, or to specify texts protected with Windows DRM for classroom use.
Nobody can pretend that the world has ever been absent any choice to run Microsoft software, or that Microsoft must work with OLPC to increase choice. Microsoft operating systems are the only option offered with the vast majority of desktop and server computers. By refusing to tolerate hardware that runs another OS by default, Microsoft is working to reduce choice.
Consider how good it might have been for the third world to have a computer infrasturcture they could support on their own, without any capital and technological drain to the United States. That's what they'll be losing. But that was never the goal of the OLPC project. It's meant to bring free e-Books to students, at a lower cost than their national governments could sustain. With OLPC based on all Free Software, it was likely that those books would have themselves been under similar licensing like Creative Content. Now, it is likely that third world students will be running DRM-locked textbooks that are only acessable under Windows.
Nicholas Negroponte has always been willing to go where the wind blows: the original OLPC prototypes ran Debian, notable because it's produced by a public-benefit non-profit. Once Red Hat offered money and resources, Debian disappeared from the system. Now it's Red Hat's turn to disappear.
The folks I have the most sympathy for are those students who might have been offered a way to take control of their own destiny, and make their nation self-sufficient for the IT infrastructure they need to participate in worldwide trade. Now, they'll get less. But I also feel sympathy for the many Open Source developers who participated in OLPC, and will now see their work discarded or perverted to support Microsoft.
Microsoft should fix Windows (Vista) first before decrying anything.
Sounds like a big restraint of trade problem w Microsoft
I never was a fan of monopolies.....monopolies are the privatized form of Communism
The first bag’s always free.
Yup, Get your first bag of cocaine/coke computer software here.
In addition, they're fighting a battle that uses different rules than what they are used to. They have to learn, and they are learning quite well.
OLPC had a “get one, give one” campaign. Some of the laptops are now being advertised on eBay.
Indeed!
.
Any smart kid is gonna trade the laptop for an AK-47 and get on with business.
OLPM (One Laptop Per Marty).
How does it work for you?
But the EEE has easily connected with unencrypted wireless signals.
The screen is a weird resolution (800 x 460?), which causes a lot of web pages to fall off the right side. On the plus side, the EEE can easily handle an external monitor with more standard resolution of up to 1200 x (?).
As a lot of people have noted, the keyboard is OK for basic web surfing but don’t expect to compose your next Magnum Opus on this thing. The tiny keys take a lot of getting used to.
The touchpad mouse is also less responsive than I’d like, so an external USB mouse may be necessary at some point.
INITIAL IMPRESSIONS:
Value: ****
Portability: *****
Ease of use: ****
Design: ****
Thanx for the pictures and mini-review. I see the Everex Cloudbook is coming out Jan 25 to compete with the Asus Eee PC. Competition is good (but M-soft hates it).
Thanx. Certainly priced right, but definitely doesn’t appear to be particularly portable like the Eee and the Cloudbook.
The OLPC crap is getting old. I’m already sick of seeing it everywhere. It’s ridiculous.
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