Microsoft is not going to stand on the sidelines when it comes to the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) project. They have given 40 engineers the daunting task of getting Windows XP running on the OLPC (a.k.a. XO project), which is equipped with a 433MHz processor, 256MB or RAM, and a 1GB flash drive. The biggest chores they face is getting XP to fit on such a small drive, and writing drivers that will work with the laptops specialized hardware.
Microsoft is trying to convince the XO project to add a slot for an internal SD memory card, which would be able to boost the amount of storage space to 2GB. It sounds odd that the XO project would listen to Microsoft’s requests, but there have been reports that countries are holding out on buying units because they do not run Windows. So there is some incentive for the XO project to keep an open ear to Microsoft.
Microsoft is hoping to have the a test release of XP for the OLPC in early 2008. They are investigating the possibility of having the operating system installed before the computers even leave the factory, but schools and government will still be required to buy a license. There’s no word on how much that would cost, but manufacturers are rumored to pay $15 to $30 per license for regular versions of Windows, so it will likely be lower than that.
Maybe they’ll also be able to change their slogan from “One learning child. One connected child. One laptop at a time.” to “One learning child. One connected child. One laptop at a time. Unlimited Blue Screens!” 
[via BBC]
Haha! Unlimited Blue Screens
Glad you liked it.
It went well with the image I made.
ROFL hilarious
good for Microsoft
Yeeeee-haww! Give people who can’t feed themselves a laptop! It makes such good sense that only that famous fooktard Bill Gates could figure out the logic of it. This is the stupidest idea of the current century.
not stupid at all; i just got back from malawi and you should read how they now feed themselves:
“Ending Famine, Simply by Ignoring the Experts”
[nytimes.com]
the way to do it: subsidize fertilizer and do NOT listen to the world bank;
and please click on “More Photos” (a small link under the main picture);
photos might wake you up and show you that computers have nothing to do with food, because curiosity and creativity need to be fed as well;
some great photos of nigerian kids with the green computer in their classroom;
and yes the classroom looks a bit different from what you are used to, also the number of kids is rather high;
but that is the way it goes and it goes very well, thank you;
here is the bbc link for the photos, it has audio accompaning the slideshow and again click on “Show captions” on the bottom right hand side of the picture, they give interesting facts;
bill, as always, is a bit late;
ubuntu and firefox will do; and you know where ubuntu comes from and what it means don’t you?
forgot the bbc link:
[news.bbc.co.uk]
That is just wrong trying to stuff Windows XP on to such a tiny hard drive.
You just know that they did this to make sure that these people wouldn’t be made familiar with Linux. Call me an open source hippie, but it’s so true.
Hi Zeepkist:
Just saw the pictures of the students at the Galadima Primary School in Nigeria using the OLOC computer. As the teacher said, “it’s a blessing from the sky”.
Thanks for the link.
Regards,
Omar.-
@zeepkist: Are you Dutch by any chance?
@omar: pleasure; glad you liked the real thing;
@pieter: klopt, een echte amsterdammer;
indeed i am dutch and work in micro finance;
i get a bit tired when people think that the only thing that counts is food;
mobile phones is another thing that is growing very rapidly in many african countries; and people might only eat once a day, but they have a mobile phone;
and the same is now happening to computers;
# Ubuntu (philosophy), a concept of community from Sub-Saharan Africa, often summarized as “humanity towards others”.
Of course. That would be like them standing back and watching the Linux marketshare increase by millions of users. From their stand point they would be stupid not to try and get Windows on it.
Wow, those images and narration really put the whole project into perspective. I wonder what the kids thought the first time they were able to use it, and how quickly they were able to catch on.
@ryan: glad you liked it ryan;
if you think it is appropriate maybe you could put it up on cybernet;
it merits to be seen by as many people as possible;
too many negative news items about africa, lets here the good news;
and kids are kids the world over and their curiosity and creativity will make them take to new things without any hang-ups.
We’ll be sure to include it in the next article we write about the OLPC.
If MSFT didn’t do this, the next generation throughout the world would never have heard of them!
And these inexpensive computers are needed in Asian countries as well, such as Thailand, where 80 or 90% of the population can barely afford these inexpensive computers. And they are needed by young kids to learn from as well as older students and adults.