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Negroponte Says Windows 'Runs Well' On XO Laptop

Posted by Soulskill on from the set-the-hook-and-reel-them-in dept.

Stony Stevenson alerts us to comments from OLPC founder Nicholas Negroponte indicating his approval of Windows' performance on the XO laptop. Negroponte said in an email, "Sugar needs a wider basis, to run on more Linux platforms and to run under Windows." The full email is available at OLPC News. He was also quoted by the Associated Press as saying that Sugar "didn't have a software architect who did it in a crisp way," and cited the lack of Flash as an example. Negroponte continued, "There are several examples like that, that we have to address without worrying about the fundamentalism in some of the open-source community. One can be an open-source advocate without being an open-source fundamentalist."

5 of 339 comments (clear)

  1. Wow by Rix · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Negroponte decrying fundamentalism. That's rich.

  2. just remember nicholas by frinky525 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    you can't get a little bit pregnant

  3. Re:Screw Sugar by Enderandrew · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The one thing I rather like about Sugar, is that the interface was designed to be accessible in countries lacking proper localization, using symbols heavily in the interface, and by representing data graphically perhaps moreso than via text in some places.

    It also allows young children who can't read to interface with the computer in a meaningful way.

    Sugar was also designed around mesh-networking, power-consumption, e-reader mode, etc.

    Certainly there is room for improvement, but Puppy/Slack/DSL would not have been a perfect implementation either.

    --
    http://blindscribblings.com - Tasty pop-culture in conceptual fashion.
  4. Re:Lack of Flash?!?!?! by cretog8 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The reason they went with Gnash in the first place was because the Adobe Flash player needs more CPU power than the entire damn machine had available. Flash runs fine on my XO. It's easy to install it and use it instead of Gnash.

    The lack of Flash is a really stupid argument against OLPC design, though. I don't think there's anything--legal or technical--to keep a school or country from mass-installing Flash for themselves, even if OLPC doesn't.

  5. Re:Power Power Power and infrastructure by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    So maybe Microsoft is up to the task.

    Are you nuts man? Maybe Microsoft is up to the task of total world domination, you mean. This is totally a farce! They want to train the 3rd world to use the Monopoly software so that they can continue their evil ambitions on into the far future - that's all.

    But MS does have the dowry and an incentive. And the OLPC does need the cash.

    I am really, really pissed off that Negroponte has sold out to the Monopoly. I mean - sorry to call you nuts, but I don't think you realize what you are saying. It's just monstrous that the Monopoly has the cash to corrupt every person on this planet! All these poor people in the 3rd world - they could start a revolution with Linux! I mean - they could p0wn it! They could do something with their miserable lives, instead of being locked into the Monopoly.