No Dual-Boot XO Laptop, According to Microsoft

Posted by Soulskill on Thursday January 10, 2008 @02:21PM from the bringing-bsods-to-the-third-world dept.

Yesterday, we discussed reports of Microsoft and the OLPC project working towards a dual-boot version of the XO laptop. Now, BetaNews tells us that Microsoft has issued statements denying such plans. The software giant has also reaffirmed their intention to develop a Windows-only version of the laptop. Microsoft's statement to BetaNews had this to say: "While we have investigated the possibility in the past, Microsoft is not developing dual-boot Windows XP support for the One Laptop Per Child's XO laptop. As we announced in December, Microsoft plans to publish formal design guidelines early this year that will assist flash-based device manufacturers in designing machines that enable a high-quality Windows experience. Our current goal remains to provide a high-quality Windows experience on the XO device."

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Re:I just threw up my dinner..... by wertigon · 2008-01-10 16:11 · Score: 5, Informative

Taken from Wikipedia (emphasis mine):

The users can modify the laptop's operating system, a special version of Red Hat Linux running the new Sugar graphical user interface and operating on top of LinuxBIOS and Open Firmware. The original system remains available in the background and can be restored.

So, it would appear MS do not have a choice in the matter, since the BIOS cannot be altered without substantial effort (requires a developer key) and that is what controls the fallback mechanism.

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systemd is not an init system. It's a GNU replacement.
Re:Non-sequitur warning by ScrewMaster · 2008-01-10 16:48 · Score: 5, Informative

It means "that does not follow". So far as I'm concerned, a high quality experience does not follow installation of Microsoft Windows.

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The higher the technology, the sharper that two-edged sword.