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Windows XP now available on the XO laptop

by Parm Mann on 16 May 2008, 12:30

Tags: Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT)

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Microsoft has today announced an agreement with the One Laptop per Child that will see its Windows XP operating system appear on the OLPC's low-cost XO laptops as soon as next month.

Though the Windows XP operating system used on the XO is said to be unchanged, Microsoft states that it has spent the best part of a year working to develop drivers supporting the laptop's e-book reading mode, standard Wi-Fi networking, camera, writing pad, custom keys, and power saving features.

Craig Mundie, chief research and strategy officer at Microsoft, said:

"Transforming education is a fundamental goal of Microsoft Unlimited Potential, our ambitious effort to bring sustained social and economic opportunity to people who currently don’t enjoy the benefits of technology. By supporting a wide variety of affordable computing solutions for education that includes OLPC’s XO laptop, we aim to make technology more relevant, accessible and affordable for students everywhere."

However, Nicholas Negroponte, founder and chairman of OLPC, has stated that Windows won't rule the XO platform. He states that customers will have the choice of Windows XP or Linux, and declared future plans for a dual boot version of the XO laptop.

Here's a Microsoft demonstration of Windows XP running on the XO laptop:


Official press release: Microsoft and One Laptop per Child Partner to Deliver Affordable Computing to Students Worldwide

HEXUS Forums :: 4 Comments

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Posted by directhex - Fri 16 May 2008 12:34
note: does not support mesh networking, forcing people in XO installations in poor areas to have a full wireless infrastructure

note: does not fit on XO disk, forcing use of an SD card (with extra contacts to get damaged in dusty environments)

note: does not use special “sugar” UI which encourages kids to tinker and learn, instead is normal XP

the XO is not, and never was, a technology project. it was an education project - more akin to shipping textbooks and writing materials

and now, through microsoft's involvement, poor kids in ethiopia will be able to jump onto the wireless in their local starbucks whilst sipping a latte, and have msn webcam conversations with their buddies in california. yippee.
Posted by TheBloodyNine - Fri 16 May 2008 16:42
The OLPC scheme is a bloody stupid one any way.

How about spending the money on infrastructure, farming, water, fraking schools for the kids to actually be students at!

But no its fine because every child will have a laptop, now all we need is every kid to have the electricity to power the bloody thing :censored::censored::rant:
Posted by directhex - Fri 16 May 2008 18:15
TheBloodyNine
The OLPC scheme is a bloody stupid one any way.

How about spending the money on infrastructure, farming, water, fraking schools for the kids to actually be students at!

But no its fine because every child will have a laptop, now all we need is every kid to have the electricity to power the bloody thing :censored::censored::rant:

that's the idea behind the hand crank for charging

of course, you're right on many levels - for poverty-stricken countries to prosper, they DO need things like decent infrastructure. but how are those things going to be paid for and maintained? give a man a fish, etc etc etc. the idea with the olpc project is to get kids educated - and with an educated workforce, poor countries will actually be able to build up its own infrastructure, via global trade in valuable resources like skilled people. no farmer with a share in the village cow is going to afford to put in a comprehensive sewerage system
Posted by zugged - Fri 16 May 2008 21:04
“Now I have the handpump, I have more time to weave because it doesn’t take me so long to collect water.”

Kironbala Tonchanjgya, from Debarchari, Bangladesh.

This is from WaterAid, who can supply such a pump for £50 ($100), which seems a bargain compared to a laptop. Note the direct economic benefit, not just the potential for such benefits in many years time.