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Microsoft Wants One Laptop Per Child System To Run Windows XP
InformationWeek ^ | December 6, 2007 02:06 PM | By Paul McDougall

Posted on 12/07/2007 5:37:18 AM PST by SubGeniusX

The software maker wants OLPC to redesign its XO low-cost PC for children in developing nations.

Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) has asked the designers of a low-cost Linux laptop intended for children in developing nations to redesign the system so it can accommodate its Windows XP operating system. In a move sure to provoke controversy, Microsoft wants the designers of the XO laptop, available through a non-profit initiative called One Laptop Per Child, to add a port through which the storage capacity required by Windows XP can be added to the system.

The XO currently runs on a Red Hat Linux operating system. Making the laptop compatible with XP would give students in poor countries access to "tens of thousands of existing educational applications written for Windows," said James Utzschneider, a Microsoft general manager, in a blog post Wednesday.

Utzschneider says a shrunken version of Windows XP could potentially run on 2 Gbytes of flash memory. The XO, however, can only hold 1 Gbyte. As a result, Microsoft wants the XO's designers to add a slot through which more memory can be added via a secure digital (SD) card, Utzschneider said.

"We asked the OLPC to add a slot for an internal SD card that will provide the 2 Gbytes of extra memory," Utzschneider wrote. It was not immediately clear if the OLPC has responded to Microsoft's request.

The OLPC project was launched in 2005 by Nicholas Negroponte of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The aim is to build industry support for the production of low cost laptops for poor children on the wrong side of the so-called "digital divide."

The group's first offering, the XO, runs on the Linux operating system and an Advanced Micro Devices (NYSE: AMD) processor and is priced at less than $200.

Last year, Microsoft chairman Bill Gates chided the XO for its lack of functionality, insisting that the fact it requires a hand crank for power would make it difficult for children to use.

Microsoft's call for changes to the system that would add features but increase its price could provoke a backlash from OLPC purists who maintain that the XO must be produced at the lowest cost possible.

Microsoft's renewed interest in participating in OLPC might be viewed by skeptics as an admission that a rival offering for developing markets called Classmate -- which uses an Intel processor on Microsoft software -- has failed to catch on.

Virtually all major U.S. tech vendors are looking to emerging markets to drive the bulk of their sales growth in the 21st century, and are loathe to see rivals establish an early footprint.

Microsoft on Wednesday said it's planning "limited field trials" in January of an XO system running Windows XP.


TOPICS: Miscellaneous; Technical
KEYWORDS: linux; microsoft; olpc; resistanceisfutile; wearetheborg; xp
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1 posted on 12/07/2007 5:37:20 AM PST by SubGeniusX
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To: SubGeniusX
Microsoft wants the One Laptop Per Child to run XP.



"It looks like you're trying to find some food and avoid being shot. Do you want some help with that?"



Tech PING!

2 posted on 12/07/2007 5:38:59 AM PST by SubGeniusX (The People have Unenumerated Rights, The Government does not have Unenumerated Powers!)
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To: SubGeniusX
Wow, what a way to turn a good idea into a piece of crap.


3 posted on 12/07/2007 5:39:29 AM PST by darkwing104 (Lets get dangerous)
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To: SubGeniusX

So what.


4 posted on 12/07/2007 5:39:48 AM PST by mtbopfuyn (I think the border is kind of an artificial barrier - San Antonio councilwoman Patti Radle)
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To: darkwing104
Gbytes of flash memory.

If THAT is shrunken, what the hell are WE running?????............

5 posted on 12/07/2007 5:41:59 AM PST by Red Badger ( We don't have science, but we do have consensus.......)
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To: darkwing104
OOPS!....HTML error!..... ....a shrunken version of Windows XP could potentially run on 2 Gbytes of flash memory.

If THAT is shrunken, what the hell are WE running?????............

6 posted on 12/07/2007 5:42:37 AM PST by Red Badger ( We don't have science, but we do have consensus.......)
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To: SubGeniusX
"It looks like you're trying to find some food and avoid being shot. Do you want some help with that?"

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket

7 posted on 12/07/2007 5:43:05 AM PST by martin_fierro (< |:)~)
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To: rdb3; chance33_98; Calvinist_Dark_Lord; PenguinWry; GodGunsandGuts; CyberCowboy777; Salo; Bobsat; ..

8 posted on 12/07/2007 5:43:31 AM PST by ShadowAce (Linux -- The Ultimate Windows Service Pack)
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To: SubGeniusX

I think the OLPC folks are smart enough to dodge this bullet.


9 posted on 12/07/2007 5:44:58 AM PST by gridlock (Recycling is the new Religion.)
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To: SubGeniusX

That is one butt-ugly computer.

10 posted on 12/07/2007 5:45:11 AM PST by martin_fierro (< |:)~)
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To: SubGeniusX

I guess Vista is out of the question.


11 posted on 12/07/2007 5:45:58 AM PST by kidd
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To: Red Badger
I don't know but the Commodore 128 I use at work still does the job.


12 posted on 12/07/2007 5:46:13 AM PST by darkwing104 (Lets get dangerous)
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To: SubGeniusX

The non-sequitur comic strip has a regular caption entitled, “People unclear on the concept.” The whole point of the XO is to provide a basic, useable laptop for the least possible amount of money. That means no nothing except maybe a USB port for a printer. If they could afford the Flash memory they wouldn’t nee the XO.

Oh, let me guess. Microsoft wants the XO project to build and distribute the laptops with the port, and then they would provide the flash memory for $5 each, and skim off the best talent from the pool? Nothing stops MS from doing their own XO. No matter how remote or small the pool, Microsoft always wants to pee in it.


13 posted on 12/07/2007 5:49:06 AM PST by Dr. Sivana (Not a newbie, I just wanted a new screen name.)
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To: kidd
I guess Vista is out of the question.

One set back to that is the hardware needed to run Vista would cost twice as much. Microsoft and their bloatware.

14 posted on 12/07/2007 5:49:26 AM PST by Always Right
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To: ShadowAce
"It looks like you're trying to find some food and avoid being shot. Do you want some help with that?"



Ping!

15 posted on 12/07/2007 5:49:34 AM PST by SubGeniusX (The People have Unenumerated Rights, The Government does not have Unenumerated Powers!)
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To: SubGeniusX
would give students in poor countries access to "tens of thousands of existing educational applications written for Windows,"

If one can set aside any disdain (or hatred) for Microsoft, the above claim certainly makes sense. Then again, there is also a ton of educational material written for MSDOS and earlier versions of windows that might not carry the storage requirements of XP.

16 posted on 12/07/2007 5:50:59 AM PST by NonValueAdded (Fred Dalton Thompson for President)
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To: SubGeniusX

I wonder how much rent Microsoft would be asking for this software?


17 posted on 12/07/2007 5:54:21 AM PST by snowsislander
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To: NonValueAdded

Just as an aside . . .okay so these are poor and developing countries . . . what languages are these software programs published in? English?

Poor/developing can mean some serious variance is languages spoken.

I’m with you though :)


18 posted on 12/07/2007 5:55:02 AM PST by twinzmommy
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To: Always Right
Microsoft and their bloatware

.... sigh

I just (foolishly) bought a new laptop with Vista Home Premium. Thought I was getting a bargain. Ha! Now, how much is it going to cost me to turn it back into an XP machine that is actually useful and workable? I was never in the hate-Microsoft camp, but I'm getting closer.

19 posted on 12/07/2007 5:57:42 AM PST by RightField
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To: All

>> Microsoft wants the One Laptop Per Child to run XP.

Does this mean they finally realized what a piece of cr*p the VISTA operating system is?


20 posted on 12/07/2007 5:58:33 AM PST by excalibur1701
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