One Laptop Per Child with Windows XP
Microsoft has joined forces with the One Laptop per Child (OLPC) project in a bid to provide inexpensive portable PCs to schoolchildren in developing countries. The announcement means that the XO notebook will run Windows as well as the OLPC’s home grown Linux-based operating system. OLPC will be hoping that the partnership with Microsoft will help kick-start demand from education ministers for its XO laptop, which has thus far received orders for just 600,000 systems. The project has also struggled to drive down the price of its laptop to the highly publicised $100 mark; the current version is priced at $188.
OLPC and Microsoft said in a joint statement that trials of laptops loaded with Windows will begin in “four to five” countries from next month, with a broader release in August or September. “Transforming education is a fundamental goal of Microsoft Unlimited Potential, our ambitious effort to bring sustained social and economic opportunity to people who do not currently enjoy the benefits of technology,” said Craig Mundie, chief research and strategy officer at Microsoft. “By supporting a wide variety of affordable computing solutions for education that includes OLPC’s XO laptop, we aim to make technology more relevant, accessible and affordable for students everywhere.”
Source: Vnunet
Comments(58)
charity comes always first! RIGHT?
@2
of course, as long as there is a profit to be made!
@3
a profit to who? what you mean, Microsoft, or the children?
calling Mr. Perma-ban – Perma-ban for ‘Dave’ please…
PCs to schoolchildren in developing countries… So what about kids that are poor at home? , makes for good PR in developing countries!
What a joke
Poor kids, its bad enough me staring at a PC wondering wtf has gone wrong with it and im a pc engineer. Let alone some kid thats never seen a pc before lol.
Maybe microsoft are just wanting to piss the world off!!
it helps to the poor person Bill to be more richer
Pirate:
Um yeah because the market for Microsoft is sooo huge in developing countries, that they need to do a PR stunt there.
Ya Right, give a poor chilled in the third world a pc and he will be able to sleep with no hunger!!!!
and the feeding begins. they use the same tactic as the tobacco industry
I am a poor child…can i get the laptop?
I thought hunger was some population control nature had to “invent” in order to avoid over population since the average human age goes up
yes, they must worry about the hunger in the world, because, for example, RICE is getting even more expensive, and when i say rice i say many food that exists in the world.
ps: but consider the act. It’s charity, and charity is a act of goodness.
Why Ubuntu didnt’ show any support.
Ubuntu is from Africa and Africa is poor country or what…???
So now we are going to create even more young people who sit on their asses and grow obese and live like mushrooms never seeing the light of day. Let kids be kids and play OUTDOORS and teach them through interaction with other humans and not some computer that can’t create a sense of wonder or develop their personalities in meaningful ways. Between computers and MTV young people are being robbed of their innocence and childhood.
@15
Africa is a continent not country
where can i pick up this laptop? im poor.. and in need of a laptop
good choice, xp might be made by evil himself but you can – in contrary to linux – actually use it! linux is just plain rubbish.
(Shamelessly stolen): “One License Per Child”-Laptop
One For Me Plz…..
So, the laptop that was supposed to cost 100$, retails at 200$ now wil have a license on top of it costing lets say 200$ more?
Yeah, real bright idea this.
They may be struggling for food and water, but now they get to watch free porn.
Macs would never do anything like this. They sign deals with public schools to provide macbooks for students. However! They only do this to gain Mac customers at an early age. They don’t care for underprivileged children like microsoft does. Bill Gates is a generous and loving man. Steve Jobs is selfish and greedy.
-nuff said
OK i’m from a 3rd world country!!!
I luv this project i had classmates in my childhood that they where pull off of school cause their parents couldn’t afford the books.
The whole idea of a laptop x children is to “give”(loan) a laptop from 3rd grade to 6th grade so they don’t have to buy books.
Most of u had pretty shinny books with colored pictures i had some really ugly textbooks with text only.
For microsoft is a win win situation:
a)Lots of good PR
b)A good tax write off
c)And is making sure the new generation grows getting use to windows.
Most of the people in teh first world expend 50us$ in a dinner.50us$ for my it’s my groceries for 15 days.
Just remember share your wealth and you will be rewarded.
Steve Jobs do not work at mac no more
@16
Real smart. Lets just let them play and not learn any skills needed to handle modern technology. It’s the fat little computer nerd who’s gonna fix his boss’s computer and get a raise. The rest will be swatting flies off their backs in the rice fields.
at: danza:
Have U ever used Linux ? Ok, it comes with xp which is ok, but its support will end in a couple of months. What’s next? Upgrade to Vista?
The truth is that this laptop needed M$ to reach the right people in gov so them will buy this!
Glasgow Scotland Its a poverty hole with kids selling charlie to feed themselves so why no laptops for the disadvanaged in the UK its covered in poverty most inner city towns and villages are slums.Great PR for microsoft but does this mean xp updates will be avaliable past the 2011 deadline if it doesent then whats the point there just shipping crap to zimbabwe & burma it doesent make much sence.
They already tried to push this once before and it failed
because they couldn’t make it for under a $100..
It has just the basic minimum stuff..
It can only do a few things..
CPU: 433 MHz AMD Geode LX-700
256 MB of Dual (DDR266) 133 MHz DRAM
1024 MB(1gig)of SLC NAND flash memory <– No Hard Drive
Built-in color camera
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OLPC_XO-1
http://www.laptopgiving.org/en/index.php
This laptop is too slow to run XP, and it has no hard drive.
Also, poor people in Africa do not know how to use a mouse, so they will not understand how to use Windows.
Because laptops taste so great when you are starving…
Plain horrible
OLPC already has a good and useful OS.
Why replacing that with Wintendo?
Kids need a real OS, not a toy like Windows.
Also see:
Can we rescue OLPC from Windows? (by Richard M. Stallman)
http://www.fsf.org/blogs/rms/can-we-rescue-olpc-from-windows
hye critisize him all you like …. however he does do alot and give alot to charity from what i hear
@KR3
You’re either completely missing the point or just plain stupid.
What i want to know is where i can get one or 3 of them since i have 3 daughters that will not leave my laptop and my pc alone and this would be perfect for them if anyone know where i can get some of these Id really appreciate it a whole lot
I’m glad these people and all of our wonderful celebrities help the under privelaged kids in the United States.
That money could be so much better spent, the laptops will be sold, stolen and more over taken by crime lords who control places like these?
If i gave you a laptop and hungry, you’d sell it for food…
@jv
I read the article you linked to. The author uses an OLPC XO laptop, but he deleted the wireless internet driver because it is not open-source. However, by doing that, he cut off his own wireless internet connection.
That is just stupid, and I can’t trust the opinion of a stupid person.
“ubuntu is from africa…” its from south africa. its major funding comes from a white south african billionaire through his company canonical. south africa is top tier as far as africa goes. not to mention.. “africa” is not a country. Also ubunutu is free (as in beer and open). if they want to put ubuntu on ten million free laptops than no one would raise a finger in objection. its a linux system, and so is what olpc is already running. so whats the point? Every kid who gets one of these laptops to should pawn it for a kalishnakov anyway…
If they were to skip the coloring of the plastics I bet they would reduce the price by o couple of cents. Vanity of vanities.
Poor children
how do i buy one of these things? I’m poor and I want a laptop.
well, all you belly achers out there complaining, I am not a big Microsoft fan but at least the Gates foundation is trying. He is using his wealth to help the third world countries. It’s damn if he does and damn if he doesn’t. Well i will take damned if he does any day. There are CEO’s such as Warren Buffet donating to the Gates Foundation because they know it will make a difference today. I live here in Seattle and have many friends in Research and development at the Gates Foundation searching for cures for malaria and other illnesses. Sorry to be long winded but trying is better than complaining…
THIS WONT HELP ITS A PUBLICITY STUNT! Think what is actually useful about a laptop compared to water or money? Don’t pretend they are trying to help… this is all to do with publicity and creating a new market for microsoft products…
Thanks, Keep posting news about this project. It was first announced in the 2005 World Summit on the Information Society in Tunisia, my country, and everyone was sure that every child will have his laptop in February 2006.
BS,BS,BS
What about the people that are poor in America..My parents cant afford to buy me one and I cant afford one either.
I wonder how many of these poor family’s that are getting the pcs will be able to get online?
poor children bill gates is really stealing there money then helping them out they want food and shelter not a stupid laptop because the children dont have homes idiots like my cuzzin
Can they eat this?
publicity stunt? http://www.gatesfoundation.org
starting with an education will help to end poverty. For all you guys complaining about not being able to buy one, how did you get online? Maybe it would have helped if you actually got an education and empowered yourself to get out of poverty or are you just waiting for a handout from the government or Bill Gates? I prefer apple products more but what has Steve Jobs done lately towards ending global poverty?
Thanks Martin for posting. keep up the great work at rlslog!
@35 JZ
LOL na i’m just miss-informed lollll and it was kind of a joke not to be taken seriously …. sarcasticaly said if you like…. obviouslly a publicity stunt duh
From what i hear bill gates is spending 90% of his fortune of 50 billion on charity + he is donating billions each year to his gatesfoundation, so please don’t talk smack about him being a greedy mofo. I actually am fond of this idea. The only way people in the 3rd world are ever going to get out of their financial problems is to get a decent job as doctor or police officer, and for this they need education. (not hating on anybody, just pointing out the way i feel about it.)
If this doesn’t make sence than this is because i’m fricking wasted. Thank you for your time.
bill gates can donate all that money too charity, but he probably gets it all back when he does his taxes.
and i thought the 2nd richest man donated 90% of his fortune to Bill Gates’ foundation
Windows included in the cost of them lappys?
@ 27
There are better ways to learn than sitting a child in front of a laptop and letting a program do the job of educating instead of a human being. These kids need books that don’t require a plug and internet access. Giving them a laptop in an environment that is dusty, dirty with few repair parts is just a waste of resources. This is just another way these technology companies have concocted to increase revenue. If Bill Gates really cares about these kids then hire them good teachers and send them some books that can be handed down year after year to the new students. Computers don’t create educated people, gaining knowledge creates educated people. Many of these kids are lucky to have clean drinking water and you think they need a laptop? Crawl out of your climate controlled computer cave and learn what living is really like in a Third World country. Giving these kids computers is a complete waste of resources.
200$ xD OMG
I ve ther are really, really lucky, this is the money they use to eat the whole year, did Bill think they give up this to gnaw on that Green ugly think xD
Local warlords will take these and sell them back to westerners…
Wow, look at all this anti-microsoft and anti-bill gates crap.
Kinda mean to a person who donates BILLIONS of dollars ever year to charity.
I saw awesome for the One Laptop Per Child initiative, Education is the way to go.
obiewan
You should read how the laptop is made before posting. Due diligence might help or you can use the Jedi mind trick and learn something. It is completely sealed so that sand and dust want get in and there is a hand crank for power. It also has wifi and can link itself to other computers. Not sure how many text books you can put on laptop but i am assuming more than one? I guess i am being presumptuous but then the AC conditioner is freezing my brain here is Rainy Seattle.