OLPC goes with XP - official
16 May 2008 | 13:32 BST
Giving up sugar
AFTER FALLING OUT BIG TIME with Intel a few months ago, the One Laptop Per Child project has signed up with Microsoft to make Windows XP available on the OLPC.
The move will only bump up the price of the low-cost device by $3, says Microsoft.
The deal is a shot on the arm for the low-cost laptop after its credibility plummeted following the Intel spat and the departure of several key employees including company president Walter Bender. Bender had maintained that Linux was a better choice for the project as XP was rapidly-approaching its end of life.
Now that educational software designed to run on Windows can be used on the machine, it will undoubtedly make it more useful and acceptable to schools.
"This will have a huge impact on the psychology of OLPC. It brings us more into the mainstream of people's minds," said Nicholas Negroponte, OLPC's founder and chairman.
Microsoft says it spent more than a year adapting Windows XP for the XO laptop and trials of the laptop running Windows are scheduled to begin next month in six developing countries.
The machines will be now be equipped with two gigabytes of flash memory. µ
© 2007 Incisive Media Investments Ltd. 2007