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Negroponte Not Seeking Replacement, OLPC XO to Run Windows in 60 Days or Less (Laptop Magazine)

[Posted March 11, 2008 by jake]

Laptop Magazine is reporting two interesting things about the OLPC. The first is that contrary to other reports, Nicholas Negroponte is not looking to "replace" himself, but is looking for a CEO for the company. The second is that Windows XP will be available for the XO soon. "'Microsoft and OLPC are in discussion on how to release it, as well as how to announce,' he said. Negroponte added that the Windows operating system should be available on the XO in less than 60 days." (seen on OLPC News)
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Negroponte Not Seeking Replacement, OLPC XO to Run Windows in 60 Days or Less (Laptop Magazine)

Posted Mar 11, 2008 17:32 UTC (Tue) by petegn (guest, #847) [Link] (1 responses) 

just what the hell is the point of installing a known purveyor of viral infestations on what
is otherwise an extremely good machine  this frikin MS crud has got to be stopped dead will
someone please drop a couple of megga tons on Redmond then maybe we can get computing life
running correctly 

Pete     (having a screw microslops session )

Negroponte Not Seeking Replacement, OLPC XO to Run Windows in 60 Days or Less (Laptop Magazine)

Posted Mar 12, 2008 8:34 UTC (Wed) by Cato (guest, #7643) [Link] 

Indeed... the last two friend's PCs I've seen, both Windows, have been infested with spyware
despite in one case having a commercial anti-spyware tool, fully updated.  One particularly
nasty spyware (Vundo variant) I encountered took 4 separate programs to clean it out.  

The sheer hassle of keeping a Windows PC malware free, and periodically re-scanning it because
the non-techie users say Yes to installing trojans, is significantly more than it would be to
install Ubuntu and migrate them over.  (They could say Yes to trojans on Ubuntu, but so far
there aren't any major trojans for Linux, and it's generally better configured for security.)

The idea of OLPC helping propagate even more Windows malware is depressing, but will certainly
happen given the bandwidth and software costs of running anti-spyware, anti-virus,
vulnerability scanning (Secunia PSI) and Microsoft Update.  Most OLPC users simply won't have
the Windows skills, bandwidth, organisational support or money (for non-freeware security
apps) to keep their Windows OLPCs secure. 

I can't imagine why OLPC is cooperating with Microsoft like this, other than caving in to
pressure from developing world governments who have been sold on 'Windows is the only way' by
Microsoft.

Negroponte Not Seeking Replacement, OLPC XO to Run Windows in 60 Days or Less (Laptop Magazine)

Posted Mar 11, 2008 19:42 UTC (Tue) by fuhchee (guest, #40059) [Link] 

> [...] "'Microsoft and OLPC are in discussion on [...] how to announce

I guess that cat is now out of the bag.

Negroponte Not Seeking Replacement, OLPC XO to Run Windows in 60 Days or Less (Laptop Magazine)

Posted Mar 11, 2008 22:50 UTC (Tue) by jmorris42 (guest, #2203) [Link] 

And this is news how?  :)  Happens all the time.  Explained using the underpants gnome
business method:

1.  Announce a Linux deployment.

2.  Wait for Microsoft to make ya an offer you can't refuse.

3.  Profit!

Even the eeePC is going Windows.  Guess XP won't be going into retirement as planned after
all.

Negroponte Not Seeking Replacement, OLPC XO to Run Windows in 60 Days or Less (Laptop Magazine)

Posted Mar 12, 2008 2:28 UTC (Wed) by NightMonkey (subscriber, #23051) [Link] (1 responses) 

Wow. Total letdown. Time to revise the now laughable "OLPC Five principles"
(http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Core_principles), specifically the "Free and Open Source" section.
How sad. Sad for the kids, the educators, and the F/OSS software developers who put tons of
work into the project (for the originally stated goals). At least the F/OSS devs work up to
the present is shared with all of us.

And to those who say "well, it's an open platform, you should be able to do what you want with
it, including install XP" - you miss the point. Negroponte is taking resources out of the OLPC
project to actively work with Microsoft, and making Windows compliance a specific goal. How
does putting a closed OS onto an open hardware platform still creating a fully open computing
platform? Answer: It doesn't. How does this priority shift make the legion of volunteers who
worked to code specific software components to support this device feel? I suspect that many
will feel used.

...unless it's Microsoft

Posted Mar 12, 2008 7:27 UTC (Wed) by man_ls (guest, #15091) [Link]

Someone took care of that:
==Free and Open Source Unless Its Microsoft==
I'm not sure that vandalizing a wiki page is the best way to go about it, but I do share the sentiment.

Negroponte Not Seeking Replacement, OLPC XO to Run Windows in 60 Days or Less (Laptop Magazine)

Posted Mar 12, 2008 13:16 UTC (Wed) by no_treble (guest, #49534) [Link] 

So the idea that the machine is supposed to be basically trouble free, so that disadvantaged
children in very poor countries can get lots of use out of it instead of ending up with a
broken system that bogs down and doesn't work right anymore, has gone down the toilet now?

Kind of makes you wonder if the project's intent is as noble as it first seemed. The consumers
of this product (children) are going to get a massive downgrade in terms of longevity and
robustness. I would think that would clash with the original goals of the project, but maybe
those goals got displaced somewhere along the way...

Negroponte Not Seeking Replacement, OLPC XO to Run Windows in 60 Days or Less (Laptop Magazine)

Posted Mar 12, 2008 15:24 UTC (Wed) by zlynx (guest, #2285) [Link] 

What is behind this weird idea people seem to have that OLPC should actively *prevent*
Microsoft from running Windows on OLPC?

It isn't OLPC's function to force open source on the world.  They're trying to educate
children, which is *better* when done with open source code but isn't impossible with Windows.

As far as I know, the only support Microsoft has been given by OLPC is an SD-card slot (which
is also useful for everyone else) and explanations of some hardware quirks from the engineers.

I don't believe you can support both the ideas that hardware should have open specifications
*and* that only "approved" software should be running on it.  That's hypocritical.


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