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Microsoft's XO Laptop Strategy
gbulmash writes "Microsoft is spending a 'non-trivial' amount of money to get Windows XP working on the OLPC project's XO laptop. But why? Despite the conjecture that the Linux-based XO could convince millions of people in the developing world that they don't need Windows and build a huge base of developers for Linux, there still remains the question of how Microsoft would convince owners of XO laptops to buy and install Windows XP over the functional Linux-based OS already on it. It's doubtful that Microsoft could encourage or coerce Negroponte to put XP on the machine, so whose arms will they twist?"
. . . its first piece of malware.
The problem they ran into was translating "Not Allowed" into all those third world languages.
If they can get Vista running on the XO, I'll eat my shoe.
sure it'll run Vista... you just have to duct-tape this $1000 laptop to it
When some African child gets a 419 scam he can just get a couple of his buddies together and walk down teh street to personally kick the guy's ass!
Give a man a fish and you have fed him for today. Teach a man to fish, and he'll say "WHERE'S MY FISH, YOU IDIOT?"
This is exactly what OLPC needs. Before getting too excited about it, read up on OLPC. Not only does it fail to address real educational concerns, the interface is sufficiently proprietary that these kids aren't going to learn how to use a standard GUI.
Kudos to Microsoft for supporting this platform, and hopefully Classmate PC will be able to bridge this gap with a real system. Certainly the OLPC business model is exciting and I think given the opportunity to buy a student this kind of computer would be something better for students and teachers to work with.
I wouldn't buy Office at any price (I never need it, so it is worth zero) but I would pay a reasonable price for Windows. Say... three or four dollars. Five seems a little steep.
Real Men(tm) use the shell.