Windows XP to be included with One Laptop Per Child

[Spastic]

Link. (http://www.geek.com/microsoft-gets-xp-on-the-olpc/)
Video:
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So it looks like OLPC is basically throwing the idea of giving a laptop to each child out the window with this move, which is kind of sad. Looks like they are tailoring it for the government officials of poor counties now, not the children.

What are your views on the subject? Have you been following OLPC or have you had any interest on what they have been doing?

[SODA]

Are they including it on all or is this just proof that they could do it?

[GrapefruitMovin]

Like like you already stated it dose defeat the purpose of give a child a laptop act. What he demonstrated are essentially useless items that laptop can be shipped with a much better alternate would be if they were to ship this laptop with Edbuntu a free Linux distribution already packaged with open office and many educational games not windows recorder or movie maker. And shipping it with windows xp will put the price the of the entire unit up as well as the increased cost for upgrading the computer. This dose ruin the idea for a laptop for a child.

[fcon]

It's going to be XP/Linux dual boot for $7 extra. Interesting quote here (http://blogs.zdnet.com/hardware/?p=1871)

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.

[MistyTehMoose]

That's disappointing. It was made for such a good cause and people got greedy again.

[LaPhBu]

But, instead of putting that (7 Dollars x ammount of laptops) dollars, they could spend the money on more useful stuff.

[fcon]

XP shouldn't be on it at all. Linux is a much better option.

In terms of cost its $3 for SP and $7 for a dual boot. For something that should only cost $100 thats a 10% increase for something unnecessary.

[timbot]

Wait, who got greedy? I don't know a ton about this whole project, but I don't see what all the fuss is about. There hasn't been any kind of huge demand for OLPC so far. It's not like there was some huge groundswell of support from poor people around the world who will not be able to afford the computer now that it costs a few dollars more. It seems like a simple case of supply and demand. The people who are actually purchasing the computers are demanding Windows, and the people who are selling the computers are supplying it. There's nothing wrong with that. If you ever thought this was going to be completely non-commercial and altruistic, you're naive and misguided. It's not, nor should it be.
To be honest, I think this whole project is bound to fail no matter what operating system the computers use. Giving computers to a bunch of poor kids isn't going to change the world. I doubt many poor people are clamoring for computers. If they were, the big companies would have been supplying that demand. And, if government officials are buying them to give to people...well, that's a bad idea too. Handouts rarely work. Sure, people will take them, but you can't make them utilize them. It's rarely the case that someone truly appreciates what is given to him/her with no cost or obligation.
I say, good for OLPC. Give the people what they want. Give them an operating system that they're very likely to see on computers in schools and offices. Raise your price if you must. Make more money if you can--and you probably can't.

[BurgerKueen]

Blah blah supply and demand. The idea that a poor kid would find $100 to spend on a laptop itself is unrealistic. Sounds like they did this as a final way out to increase demand that doesn't exist. If they wanted more laptops out there, instead of using poor kids as an excuse, they should have built a computer a little more expensive than this meant for the regular markets.

[P0K3M0N_MA5T3R]

Blah blah supply and demand. The idea that a poor kid would find $100 to spend on a laptop itself is unrealistic. Sounds like they did this as a final way out to increase demand that doesn't exist. If they wanted more laptops out there, instead of using poor kids as an excuse, they should have built a computer a little more expensive than this meant for the regular markets.
Well said, the scheme always seem like a stupid idea, I'm most African families would rather spend 100 dollars on food if they ever even had that much, they'd probably have to save a dollar a week for like 2 years to even get enough for it and still be able to feed themselves. After that the child would've missed out on two years of learning anyway. The only way this scheme works would be if the government were to pay for every child in the country to get one, which is pretty unlikely.

[fcon]

There's also the whole problem of trying to get decent internet in these areas.

[Spastic]

These have a built in network, connecting them to each other. Not sure how long the range was, but internet has nothing to do with this.

[Quadros]

I'm just waiting for the 'laptops for guns' drive that's all too likely to follow to be honest.