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.
"It looks like you're trying to find some food and avoid being shot. Do you want some help with that?"
Tech PING!
So what.
If THAT is shrunken, what the hell are WE running?????............
If THAT is shrunken, what the hell are WE running?????............
I think the OLPC folks are smart enough to dodge this bullet.
That is one butt-ugly computer.
I guess Vista is out of the question.
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.
One set back to that is the hardware needed to run Vista would cost twice as much. Microsoft and their bloatware.
Ping!
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.
I wonder how much rent Microsoft would be asking for this software?
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 :)
.... 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.
>> 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?
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