Intel's Classmate PCs to adopt Sugar UI

BACK IN APRIL the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) organisation hinted that it might dump Linux for Windows XP. But now, in an interesting twist, Intel has approached OLPC’s scorned open sourcer, Sugar Labs, and asked it to develop a UI for its own Classmate PC.

The move means that Intel’s low-cost educational Classmate could soon have an almost identical user interface (UI) to OLPC’s XO, in what would doubtless be a huge boost for the demoralised folks at Sugar Labs.

Walter Bender, one of Sugar Labs’ founders, who quit as OLPC's president of software and content when the firm announced it would be dumping Sugar for Windows XP, talked to PC World, where he welcomed Intel’s advances. In an interview, he noted, "OLPC is the primary, but not exclusive, downstream project," but added "We continue to work closely with OLPC".

Bender, a staunch advocate of Open Sauce for OLPC’s XO low-cost laptop, quit the company when his efforts to stave off loading the Vole’s clunkier Windows XP to the machines failed. Open saucers world over showered him with praise for the decision, but OLPC chairman, Nicholas Negroponte, simply sneered that Sugar had been a "weakness" consisting of unrealistic development goals and practices.

Nasty Nick’s comments were a blow to Bender and his newly-established Sugar Labs, but now, just six months after Intel quit the OLPC programme, it seems there could be a continuation of little laptop love for Open Sauce after all. Intel, who used to sit on OLPC’s board, quit after refusing to give up marketing its rival Classmate PC in the third world.

With Intel’s endorsement, Sugar Labs might now be able to get the push forward it so needs to fulfill its goal of building all kinds of hardware and open-source platforms, for a range of different laptops. It just goes to show, you can’t keep a good open sourcerer down. µ

L’Inq
PC WORLD

See Also
OLPC goes with XP - official z

OLPC to scrap Linux for Windows

Bender quits OLPC project