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Windows Cheap Enough For $2B Aussie Laptop Deal

Posted by kdawson on from the if-you-give-it-away dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Windows-based netbooks aren't too expensive to be ruled out of the Aussie government's billion dollar promise to give a laptop to every school-aged child, according to several education departments. The admission follows an earlier report that open source machines based on Ubuntu or Mandriva are the only option to deliver up to four million computers to students for under $2 billion. Microsoft itself claimed it will keep costs per unit down by hosting a lot of the educational software in the cloud rather than on the netbook devices."

2 of 234 comments (clear)

  1. Re:What a surprise by grege1 · · Score: 5, Informative

    I agree absolutely, and Microsoft will have to cave in because the thought of every school kid in the country using Linux and OpenOffice would give them nightmares. I would like to see the Education departments really use Linux laptops, but they do not have the guts to carry it through.

  2. Re:$500 a "netbook"? by strider44 · · Score: 5, Informative

    This is in Australian dollars (approx. $330 USD) and includes a maintenance contract.