One Laptop Per Child will ship a special version of Windows on their low cost laptops for poor children, the two companies announced this afternoon. Previously the laptops, which to date have been tested in a number of countries, ran only Linux. Trials of the Windows version of the machines will begin in June in “key emerging markets.” OLPC is also working with third parties to port its user interface, called Sugar, to Windows, and is hoping to have a machine with dual boot options to allow “users” to choose between operating systems.
There are no financial terms being disclosed, although it wouldn’t be dumb to assume that not only is the software being supplied for free, but Microsoft made a healthy donation to the organization as well. The last thing Microsoft wants is for anyone who’s computer literate to think that a world without Microsoft Windows is possible.
On the upside, though, the pain of having to deal with Windows crashes may make some of these kids excellent technical support people over time. They’d just get lazy with Linux being so stable all the time.
If it isn’t obvious from what I’ve written above, I’m not impressed. OLPC is in danger of becoming a celebrity cause rather than a real attempt to bridge the digital divide. My guess is Linux worked just fine as an operating system for these machines.
Next up: Google Tools and AOL Dial Up service pre-installed on OLPCs?
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I wonder how the OLPC developers feel: http://lists.laptop.org/piperm.....13141.html
you suck
This is really funny ‘will no longer have to struggle with linux’. The real deal is that they’d become way smarter then our kids. Also as the third world giants emerge into the tech world MS is probably afraid to have a few billion Linux savy users added to the world. Poor children
Peter
do you follow me @ http://twitter.com/peterurban
They don’t give a crap about what OS runs on their laptop. Linux, Windows…nobody gives a shit.
How much tech support per child is the real question now…
The problem is you can’t log on internet using Wifi. Many poor children don’t know how to setup internet access. They should test drive the product before shipping cripple linux.
My brother brought two laptops; one for her daughter and another for poor countries.
I don’t know the background of this movement but Microsoft is not to blame but praise because they’ve made a very easy and intuitive operating system. People can choose to Linux but they don’t. Why? Let’s face it - Microsoft has the best operating system yet.
you r so mean to children hoe biotch
This is another way for Microsoft to outsource all of the tech jobs here in the US. Smart move Microsoft. lamo!!
You’re failing the point - Why was linux used in the first place ?
These OLPCs lack computational power - linux bridges the gap. At the end of the day you need a platform on which to run basic apps without draining the resources of the PC. Why on earth was XP SP3 released ? - to help close that gap.
Over the last 2 years Linux desktop has become more user friendly - in another few years users will only see the GUI like mac users of today who fail to see what a wonderful operating system resides underneath the hood.
Yes linux has a long way to go but imho shouldn’t be ruled out especially with all the mobile linux distros in development specifically geared for under powered machines.
When a lead developer quit OLPC, he posted this essay: http://radian.org/notebook/sic.....ia-laptopi
I highly recommend that everyone read it, as it gets at the heard of what Nicholas Negroponte’s real intentions are.
Here’s a relevant quotation from the essay:
“In fact, I quit when Nicholas told me — and not just me — that learning was never part of the mission. The mission was, in his mind, always getting as many laptops as possible out there; to say anything about learning would be presumptuous, and so he doesn’t want OLPC to have a software team, a hardware team, or a deployment team going forward.”
This just about killed the project - at least from an ideological standpoint. What many people in the US and other rich countries fail to realize is that most people in third world countries hardly have money to buy their hardware, let alone pay a bunch of money for Windows, plus a lot of money for Office or whatever else they need. That’s why Linux is so important for including these people in the internet age. I should know, I live in Brazil and see this everyday - Microsoft here doesn’t mind too much if you use a pirated version of Windows, as long as you don’t even know that there is an alternative (whatever it may be, not only Linux). That’s why it’s so bad that they won’t ever get to know about this if they get their OLTPC with Windows…
“The last thing Microsoft wants is for anyone who’s computer literate to think that a world without Microsoft Windows is possible.”
Everybody should know that Ctrl+Alt+Del is part of normal daily life with computers.
Ha. Well at lease Micro$oft will now find use for all those unpurchased licensed of Vista.
This is the worst thing OLPC could have done. Shame on them for screwing up what may have been a huge success, and condemning themselves to short-sighted actions which will likely cripple the project in the long run.
This seems like a good-old-boys decision to ensure Microsoft’s monopoly of the consumer operating system market continues. A vicious company that makes crappy products, and has no place in the future of pervasive computing. And when I say crappy, what I really mean is terribly short-sighted, insecure, bug-ridden software, at monopoly rates, and with an ongoing mediocrity at practically everything they do. There are many talented people working there, but their efforts lie in vain when they punch in an MS, because the game has already been lost. Society will reclaim the realm of operating systems just as it has with web browsers, no thanks to OLPC.
A personal letter to OLPC:
Thanks for letting down the world’s poorest, and allowing Microsoft to take hold of their futures. In my view, you have taken what was a wonderful idea, and amazing project, and pretty much chucked it to the garbage. The good news is, it’s still not too late. How about giving Microsoft back their license and telling them to shove-off?!
Why do you say “struggling with Linux” Arrington?
Just because you’re too incapable to use it doesn’t mean they are. They’re probably smarter than you. Plus the OLPC interface wasn’t standard linux, it was embedded linux running a user friendly OS.
I’d hate to see those kids vs Arrington in an IQ test. He wouldn’t stand a chance.
Are you kidding me? I’m so sick of this zealous anti-MS junk. “the pain of having to deal with Windows crashes” When was the last time you’ve used Windows? I’m a software developer and I push my PC running Windows Vista to the limit 10 hours a day 5 days a week and for all practical purposes never have problems.
Let’s face it, besides server applications, Linux is an academic exercise and 10 years behind Windows in UX. Is the goal to get these kids to learn about low-level computer operations (which they will become intimately familiar with after trying to figure out Linux) or is the goal to help them use a computer to solve real life problems? They’ll accomplish tasks much faster and be better trained for any job after a year of Windows than a year of linux.
Readers, don’t buy into this crap; Michael Arrington has obviously drank the Kool-Aid.
The fall of OLPC in my opinion. It’s too bad.
Chris - i’ll let you figure this one out for yourself and then apologize. Hint: read past the title.
T - I am accused daily of being a microsoft shill. don’t be a troll just because someone has an opinion that you incorrectly disagree with.
“On the upside, though, the pain of having to deal with Windows crashes may make some of these kids excellent technical support people over time”
A bit snobbish.
I never understood why people associate Microsoft with words like corrupt, bully, or evil?
Could you possibly know less about OLPC? Why not just ask someone before you make a post? Like a real journalist!
That’s pretty fucking lame. I use a Windows laptop as my main computer so obviously I have no problems with Windows personally, but for this particular case I think it’s a big mistake to get MS involved. They should not be here at all.
“the pain of having to deal with Windows crashes”. I must be the luckiest guy on the planet. I have used and developed with Windows 1,2,3, 95, ME, NT, XP, Vista and have never had the OS crash!
Oh, wait, I forget — once while I was the IT guy at my company I left an NT server security loose so some Unix folks could experiment on it as a platform. The Unix programmers of course stopped working on all of their projects for three days until they had tried everything they could read about until they got a blue screen. They had plenty of laughs about the vulnerability of a non-Unix OS — And I promptly brought up the security on the system so the jerks deprived themselves of any opportunity to explore the Microsoft OS. And never were able to crash it again.
So a gift of an OS that cost multi billions to develop to revive a project that has such merit is dismissed as a stupid marketing trick.
Hey, there a gazillion operating systems for the brilliant IT pros to attack, How about PSOS, IRMX or UCos? Not familiar? Well if youi aren’t you probably are not qualified to judge OS’s.
Now I wonder why am I still following OLPC on Twitter? *few clicks later* *remove* there we go.
I’m sad to hear this news. I thought the kids will be able to have perfect expirience, developed with them in mind. Linux was a good choice.
I think this is good news. The move might not be as ideologically pure as staying with Linux, but it had to happen at some point. If you guys recall, some of the governments who were thinking about buying a bunch of OLPCs for their students were reluctant to do so because the OLPC didn’t run Windows. Intel’s Classmate PC, one of their competitors, does run Windows.
From the perspective of an owner, the Sugar OS the OLPC was shipped with is a usability disaster. If it was a regular distro of Linux, it would have been a little better, but the OS is just terrible to use - kids in developing countries deserve better.
Arrington once again proving his lack of knowledge in anything technological.
Ivan Krstić, former security officer of the OLPC project, wrote a brutal critique of the project a couple days ago that puts this switch in context.
http://radian.org/notebook/sic.....ia-laptopi
I think it’s just a bit sad reading the comments that people think that this goes against the objectives of the program? Surely enabling 3rd world countries adoption of the same software as 90% of the rest of world uses is a good thing?
For many users OpenSource is not free. They have to pay for support - it’s just a different business model. Redhat, Novell, IBM are not charities.
Don’t get suckered into it.
Michael,
You walked the line so delicately that you got the zealots on both sides pissed at you.
Rejoice Poor Children of the World
No wheat, No rice, but plenty of Linux.
Americans are so out of touch.
I love the comments taking bigger picture issues and boiling them to twitter-sized responses. Leo is not running the org any more. The org needs to have big partners involved, and after Intel pulled its support they need to go where they can get support. Linux, Windows, who cares so long as it works and teaches something.
@John Red… “Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day. Teach him how to fish…”
I think this project has had a lot of problems but enthusiasm for the cause has never been one of them. The people working on it have good intentions and certainly aren’t in it for the money. I hope it’s a huge success regardless of how they get it done.
Kids who grew up in 3rd world countries that are now programmers or web designers got their start using pirated version of Windows 98.
Linux was already available then and for free! So why did they chose Windows over Linux?
They just lost a powerful open source community.
They could just as well say that windows was no priority, but microsoft could offer it in isolation.
OLPC just became a pathetic circus, a mere competitor to the EEE/mininote/MSI wind. They are now a distributor of microsoft in 3rd world countries.
Didn’t Apple offer OSX for FREE and was turned down precisely because it was closed source?
These closed behind doors deals in a nonprofit smack of corruption.
Hey Arrington, you ok?
You sure you didn’t fall off the bed this morning?
Didn’t slip in the bathroom and hit your head with the toilet?
You advocating Linux instead of M$????????
I SAW A PIG FLYING BY!!!
Poor children of the world are doomed to struggle with Windows
Poor children of the world may never know what a reliable OS is
Poor children of the world will get a chance to learn to hate computers
Those would have been a better headline.
You’re not from a poor country so you wouldn’t know. Most of us started on Windows then graduated to OSX forget linux. OSX is the best linux distro out there.
The fences were installing pirated Windows on these anyway. Just makes their job easier.
Sorry Mike, I see that it was sarcastic now.
The mission was, in his mind, always getting as many laptops as possible out there;
Yes, it’s clear the OLPC isn’t really about learning or connecting, it’s about distributing totemic symbols of…something. Geekness.
I think development projects that infantilize communities or carve out children away from adults as the cute “unspoiled” recipient of aid are doomed. If somebody has $100 to give away a million times, they should give it in the form of salaries for adults. Let them select the laptops they’d like to buy with whatever software works for them in it.
People use Windows and never face with BSOD or crash is actually people who use their computer only to play musics and videos.I think there is no more “view the source code” option on olpc as Windows is a closed source.
Any of you folks ever worked in technology for the developing world (I have)? The point is to give these kids something they can connect to the rest of the world on. Half the places that will receive them, the nearest machine might have a pirated copy of Windows98. Computing power? Who cares. Give the kids something they can bang on to get accustomed to technology so that maybe they can get an office job one day instead of working in the fields or on the streets. In most of the developing world (even Brazil where Linux is near-mandatory by the government) knowing computers means getting comfortable with Microsoft products.
The other reason to have kids get laptops: get them on the web, if possible. Let them see things about the world and how their country and culture is perceived. It’s not about building future admins or developers (though that would be great!) it’s about letting people reach out to some things they can’t get otherwise. I don’t know a single person who isn’t a sys admin or a dev that runs a Linux desktop (OSX doesn’t count).
The really sad part is, yeah–most development work is a lot of ego and wasted cash and OLPC is no different, but I hope the tech community quits the silly bickering about OSes and starts doing some things that make a difference. Want to see less MSFT in the developing world? Go work on an open source projects that supports something in economic development and make sure it can run on both. I’m sure GeekCorps or Mifos would love some more volunteers.
Been There - give them a browser and the internet.
hey this ones cool then i can hope for one to work hard on my best blog
http://lapnol.blogspot.com which gives complete windows operating system issues
This is like the flying in thousands of cans of asparagus to disaster areas - tastes great now but what about tomorrow? Linux is like flying in millions of apples as well as the seeds to grow more fruit. Linux would allow users of the $99 laptop to grow with technology (The latest distribution is free and easily available, even in many parts of Africa, where I live).
Linux also offers thousands of free apps, all the users would need to develop is an internet connection (Which would be the water for the farming) - which is this the underlying goal of the project is it not. I can see the ‘poor kids’ still sitting on XP in 10 years time…
Wow. They just have to keep on hitting the third world. Just when they would have one thing better than us, they take it away from them. Have fun running vista on your OLPC:s, dumb poor kids!
So what operating system do you use, Mike?
As much as I like Arrington’s post most of the time, i dont quite agree with this. I live in a 3rd world country and i work for a nonprofit organization that is focused in giving IT education to the poor. I dont think that the primary concern in education projects (laptop projects) is the OS. If they can be productive in any OSes then it’s good. the problem with using Linux here in my country (the Philippines) is that not a lot of educators are comfortable with Linux, they have to learn how to use it to be able to teach the children. Imagine the delay it will cost the project and the money that will be spent for training these people. The need for educating the kids is very urgent, that’s why some of our projects rely on the windows OS because we know how to use it. I’ll say it again, education projects are not about OSes, they are about education. The people who think that it is dependent on that has got it all wrong and I pity you for that…
And one more thing, when the kids actually look for jobs after the education program it’s easier for them to get accepted if they know how to operate the windows machine. With Linux they have to relearn it again. Third world countries do not have the luxury of time, Mike.
From the BBC
“The move was prompted by countries which demanded the operating system before placing an order.”
I guess choice isn’t an option you support.
Oh and blue screen jokes? really on the cutting edge here aren’t we.
OLPC “is hoping to have a machine with dual boot options”. So calm down, everyone. Something added, nothing taken away.
It took until comment #18 till I saw the point I wanted to see: yes, MA, it was a funny line but cringe-making too. You could certainly read it as suggesting that tech supporting was all that OLPC users would be good for.
Open source is cool
!
I’ve never understood this movement. Shouldn’t try to feed the poor first before giving them laptops??