OLPC is all the Rage
January 11th, 2008 by Justin Ryan
The One Laptop Per Child project has been all the rage lately, from the infamous split with Intel to reviews of the Give One, Get One systems now arriving to users — including one by our own David A Lane. Now there's even more news, and as usual, it's wild.
The first to hit the radar was OLPC founder Nicholas Negroponte's announcement Tuesday that OLPC is working closely with Microsoft to create a dual-boot XO with both Linux and Windows. He even revealed having spoken to Bill Gates and Craig Mundie, Microsoft's chief researcher, that morning about the process. But of course, nothing is ever smooth sailing, as Microsoft issued their own announcement today refuting the claims, saying that while there would be an XO that runs Windows, it won't be a dual-boot machine. It is — interestingly enough — the second time this week that someone has called the philanthropist a liar.
In more positive news, it was announced Wednesday that Mary Lou Jepsen — OLPC's power behind the throne, who resigned two weeks ago — has put together a for-profit venture called Pixel Qi to produce a $75 laptop, based on the work done by the OLPC. The system will be sold as a commercial version of the not-for-profit OLPC, and Pixel Qi will continue to support the OLPC by providing products at cost.
__________________________
Justin Ryan is News Editor for LinuxJournal.com.
Submit a tip: Email IRC
Special Magazine Offer -- 2 Free Trial Issues!
Receive 2 free trial issues of Linux Journal as well as instant online access to current and past issues. There's NO RISK and NO OBLIGATION to buy. CLICK HERE for offer
Linux Journal: delivering readers the advice and inspiration they need to get the most out of their Linux systems since 1994.
Sorry, offer available in the US only. International orders, click here.
Delicious
Digg
Reddit
Newsvine
TechnoratiSubscribe now!
The Latest
Featured Videos
Email is one of the least private and least secure forms of communication, although few people realize this. MixMaster is one way to allow secure, anonymous communication even over the very public medium of email. This tutorial will get you started with MixMaster quickly and easily.
In case you were wondering about the fun side of Linux World Expo, we thought we'd give you a peek at our shenanigans. We at Linux Journal love what we do so much, that we can't help but have a ball wherever we go.
Recently Popular
From the Magazine
September 2008, #173
Feeling a bit like a Thermian? Never give up, never surrender! Someday, you could go from underdog to top dog. Just take a look at a few of the underdogs we highlight in this issue: Mutt, djbdns, Nginix, Gentoo, Xara and the program voted mostly likely to fail just a few years back—Firefox. If Firefox is not radical enough for you, check out Chef Marcel's column for some more alternatives. Having trouble mapping your program data to your relational database? If so, Rueven Lerner shows you some tricks in his At The Forge column.
Need to run GUI applications on your server in the next state? In his Paranoid Penguin column, Mick Bauer shows you how to do it securely. Kyle Rankin keeps hacking and slashing and shows you a few split screen secrets you may not be familiar with. Finally, we all know what happens next February, but only Doc knows what happens afterward.
