Moderator’s note: I agree with Wayan. One of the purposes of the XO is to promote creation of free software. As I’ll say in my review of the XO as an e-book and K-12 machine, the existing apps have a way to go. But Windows on the XO? Please, no! – DR
XP on the XO is not news, Microsoft announced it was trying to squeeze Windows onto the OLPC laptop in 2006, and talked about their progress late last year.
But the possibility of a dual boot is. And Nicholas Negroponte just told Dan Nystedt of IDG News Service that OLPC is working on a dual Windows/linux boot of the XO laptop:
“We are working with [Microsoft] very closely to make a dual-boot system so that, like on an Apple, you can boot either one up. The version that’s up and running of Windows on the XO is very fast, it’s very, very successful. We’re working very hard to do both,” said Nicholas Negroponte, chairman of OLPC.
But is it possible? In the comments of another post, Winter, a frequent OLPC News contributor has this to say:
There is no room in the current XO for two OS’s. It is that simple. To deliver dual boot laptops, they would need up to 8GB storage. But that would be a complete waste of storage space. Furthermore, for a lot of the technology, there is no Microsoft counterpart.
Therefore, I guessed that MS would use the SD slot to plug in a bootable card. Moreover, they could use Linux virtualization to run their OS (XP crippled or CE) on top of Linux. Virtualization would give MS access to the Linux drivers for the alien hardware.
But this is really complete guesswork.
And more that the possibility, how is it possible that Negroponte can keep flirting with Microsoft for a Windows OS XO laptop? Isn’t that degrading the efforts of his gifted Sugar developers? Doesn’t that negate the Constructionist basis of OLPC’s educational thrust? And wouldn’t a proprietary system invalidate the core Open Source principals of OLPC?
Or maybe an XP XO is about more than education. Maybe its about selling XO laptops:
OLPC is also working with Microsoft and possibly the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation on combining OLPC laptops with some of the educational programs run by Microsoft in developing countries.
“There is talk in that direction and it’s directly with Bill and [Microsoft chief research and strategy officer] Craig Mundie, especially this morning, so this is really cooking at the moment,” Negroponte said.
So is this where we’re at Nicholas? Would you put XP on the XO just to get to your mythical millions of laptops? Are you that desperate?
Other links of interest:
- Microsoft Windows XP on the Children’s Machine XO?!
- A SD Slot, Hardware Upgrade, and Windows Backstory
- OLPC News XO Laptop Help Forum – SD Card
- Secure Digital Isn’t Open Source
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Negroponte could be getting justifiable pressure from poetntial client government buyers, to wit: When these kids graduate, we want them to go into business — and that means knowing Windows, not Sugar.