Hopes for a 2008 release
The XO laptop, developed by non-profit organisation OLPC, is a low-cost laptop that currently runs an open source Linux operating system at no cost to the consumer.
Hoping to stifle the increased usage of the Linux platform, Microsoft aim to bring its ever popular XP operating system to the XO laptop. Though users of the Microsoft software would be required to purchase a license in order to use XP, somewhat defeating the purpose of a $100 laptop, Microsoft looks set to test Windows XP on the XO as soon as next month. If the trials prove successful, we could see Windows XP appear on the XO laptop as soon as mid-2008.
Speaking on his blog, Microsoft's James Utzschneider states "Between Microsoft employees and third party contractors that we have brought into the effort, we have over 40 engineers working full-time on the port. We started the project around the beginning of the year and think it will be mid-2008 at the earliest before we could have a production-quality release."
One of the biggest problems facing Microsoft is that the XO laptop doesn't have a hard drive. It comes supplied with only 1GB of internal flash memory and fitting Windows XP has proven to be troublesome, so much so that Microsoft took the time to ask the OLPC to add an additional internal SD card to provide more memory.
Despite being determined, Microsoft does make clear that XP isn't a certainty for the XO. James Utzschneider iterates "we have not announced formal plans to support the XO yet, and we will not do so until after we start getting feedback from our first limited field trials starting in January before we make the final call. We do not want to set expectations we subsequently cannot meet, especially when it comes to supporting the children’s machine."
Useful links
James Utzschneider's blog
Explore the XO laptop
