Microsoft is serious about getting Windows XP to work on OLPC's low-cost laptop, but the company still isn't sure it will be able to make a go of it. In an interview, James Utzschneider, the general manager of Microsoft's emerging market unit, says Microsoft has devoted about 40 employees and contractors to work on its effort. However, there are plenty of technical hurdles, he said. One of the biggest is the fact that the XO has no hard drive and only 1GB of built-in memory. The company concluded it needed at least 2GB of memory just for Windows and Office, so it convinced the OLPC folks to include an SD slot on the laptop's motherboard.
To read all comments associated with this story, please click here.
Member since:2005-07-06
Member since:2005-07-06
Member since:2005-07-24
"""
Nope.
All your base are belong to us!
"""
Indeed. And how many dollars per unit will buyers pay for that otherwise unnecessary SD slot? Multiply that by the number of units and what will it come to? Does the Windows tax know know bounds? Even users of hardware explicitly designed and built for another OS have to pay it!
Member since:2005-07-06
I see it as just the opposite. The purpose of the OLPC was to have an open platform so that anyone could create an OS for it. By having XP on it will increase the amount of software available for the laptop tremendously. This may even increase sales of the laptop. As for the SD slot, thats one of the best features of the laptop according to those who have it, because they can load their applications onto the card and take it with them or order more cards and have unlimited storage. I see no greed here on Microsoft's part, just an interested party in working with the OLPC. After all, it is an open platform.
Member since:2005-07-06
Member since:
2007-05-16
Really, in my opinion, this is defeating the object of the laptop. It has a customized Linux OS that has a very different user interface. It has been designed with certain goals in mind.
By putting XP on, which is *not* customizable to the same extent, you are removing one of the main parts of the project. The fact that you have to hack it (by placing an extra SD slot) should be your first warning.
Does Microsoft's greed know no limits? Why not just focus on getting XP on the Eee PC and leave this non-profit project alone?