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Must Microsoft Mess With Everything?

Dec 07, 2007  By Justin Ryan

News broke from Redmond today — much to the horror of the Open Source community — that Microsoft plans to deploy Windows XP onto the One Laptop Per Child program's XO laptop in "limited field tests."

The OLPC XO-1 — intended as an ultra-low-cost laptop for children in developing countries — runs a Fedora-based Linux operating system intended for optimal use of the systems light-but-rugged hardware. The laptops come out of the box with only 1GB of flash memory, far too little to run heavy-laden operating systems like Windows. However, Microsoft insists it plans to try to make Windows work on the systems, in what appears to be just the latest of Microsoft's desperate attempts to hold down Linux in the developing world.

The ray of light at the end of the tunnel, however, is that Microsoft isn't committing fully to the project — just yet.

Read more.

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Justin Ryan is a Contributing Editor for Linux Journal.

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Why they mess with everything

Anonymous's picture
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Sun, 12/09/2007 - 12:05.

Microsoft is doing what they can to keep the future computer users tied to their OS. They are very concerned about a whole new generation of computer users growing up with a choice. The automatic bundling of hardware with their OS has made them billions and they are fighting to keep that market. Nothing scares them as much as the possibility of loosing the "hearts and minds" of tomorrow's users.

Especially those users who

Anonymous's picture
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Tue, 12/11/2007 - 08:37.

Especially those users who will never be able to get another computer.