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Colombia Signs Up For OLPC Laptops With Windows

Posted by timothy on from the buncha-the-green-ones-hold-the-sugar dept.

Reader Cowards Anonymous writes with this excerpt from Good Gear Guide: "Colombia will become the second country to use the One Laptop Per Child Project's (OLPC) XO laptops running Microsoft Windows XP in schools after signing an agreement for pilot programs in two towns. Schools in the towns of Quetame and Chia will be outfitted with the small green XO laptops developed by the OLPC. The pilot programs are expected to expand over time."

2 of 154 comments (clear)

  1. failure for Sugar, not for Linux? by Mr.+Slippery · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I have to wonder what role Sugar plays in the decision to go with XP.

    You get one choice that looks like a computer, windows and menus and the like; and you get one choice that looks like nothing you've ever seen, that doesn't give kids experience with a typical computer internface and is based on unproven ideas about how children learn.

    OLPC w/ XFCE FTW.

    --
    Tom Swiss | the infamous tms | my blog
    You cannot wash away blood with blood
  2. Re:...and the slavery begins. by icepick72 · · Score: 4, Interesting
    Nevermind that it's second-rate and vastly inferior to Linux in more aspects than I care to count.
    Unless you look at the aspects where Linux is inferior to Windows.

    They'll all be dependent on us!
    How did Microsoft becomes "us"? ... assuming you mean the Windows OS on the XO laptops. Microsoft is based in the US but the company exists around the world so finding support shouldn't be hard from any country. You're too Microsoft focused. Your perceived entrapment case is larger than you think if you broaden your scope beyond only the OS: OLPC is funded by member organizations, including AMD, Brightstar Corporation, eBay, Google, Marvell, News Corporation, SES, Nortel Networks, and Red Hat.[2][3] Each company has donated two million dollars. While OLPC is 'not for profit', the XO-1 manufacturers including many members are expected to receive 5-10% profit from sales of the unit. Companies are profiting fiscally and Microsoft isn't mentioned...

    crippling developing nations with Windows, future generations are gonna hate us more than you can ever imagine...
    Nothing is being forced on them. It's the developing country's choice what to deploy. There's no reason for "them" to hate "us" over their decision about these laptops.

    Dammit the incessant arguing gets tiring. Ultimately these countries are getting set up with hardware and software. Learning can be achieved on any of these platforms. Many techies are putting their OS arguments as priority over real people in developing nations. This is why things slow down. But this is tech news, and maybe we shouldn't expect to find many altruistic nerds.