Microsoft Lends a Helping Hand

The One Laptop Per Child Project (OLPC) has reportedly received a boost from corporate gorilla, Microsoft. The original project was started by Nicholas Negroponte (yes, that’s his name) in hopes to bring user technology to better educate children in third world countries such as Afghanistan, Rwanda, Mexico, Peru, Uruguay, Mongolia, Birmingham.

Laptops that supposedly costs only $100 each were set to run with a custom educational interface called Sugar. However, recently, and after many months of corporate dealings, Microsoft is coming on board and is engineering XO’s (the name of the laptop) which run with a version of Windows.

Microsoft’s and OLPC’s story has been a rather confusing one. At the birth of the project Negroponte’s proposal of the XO running with Windows was said to have been rejected due to the XO’s lack of processing power and tiny screen. After that, Negroponte looked to Linux to help run his Sugar interface. He stressed that since Linux is a free software, it is detrimental in order to produce relatively cheap laptops. But somehow, in a strange twist of fate, Microsoft comes back with a version of the XO running with Windows. It might have cost a little more ($188), however, Negroponte now has the backing of one of the largest corporations in the world. Negroponte proposes that eventually the XO will feature a “dual boot” option, so the kids would be able to use either Linux or Windows for an extra $10.

While all this may seem like good news, many people have to come to question Negroponte’s so-called philanthropy. From what started out as a $100 laptop, it is almost twice as much as it is today. At the start of the project Negroponte was said to often mention that “the OLPC is an education project. It is not a laptop project.” Now, Ivan Kristic–a former security developer for the laptop group commented on Negroponte in a recent e-mail stating, “OLPC changed its mission outright, and in the most ill-conceived way imaginable.” Oh well, it seems that money really makes the world go round.

Currently, as reported in Newsbeet.com, the OLPC’s Sugar software has announced that it is going to be developed independently in hopes to “advance its development even further.” Who knows what other twist of fate is in store for the project? Hopefully it doesn’t end up as being a $500 laptop project in the future.


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