AnnounceFAQ

This page exists to answer questions about the agreement between OLPC and Microsoft announced 15 May 2008. Please sign your edits. Mchua

Articles about the agreement

• Microsoft press release
• New York Times
• CNN
• BBC
• BBC dot.life
• Engadget
• Slashdot
• Microsoft Technet

Questions here

• What changes, if any, will be made to the XO hardware specs in order to accommodate Windows?

Windows XP single boot is accomplished using a 2Gb Class 6 SD Card in the existing slot on the XO. (The current estimated cost for this additional card is $4 to $7, based on retail prices in the $8 range from reliable second-tier vendors.)

(To hold Windows XP without the additional SD card would require hardware modifications to increase the NAND flash from the current 1Gb to 2Gb. This has not been tried yet.) --Gnu 13:23, 19 May 2008 (EDT)

• Will multiple versions of the XO hardware be available simultaneously?

No need; the hardware is unchanged.

• Can G1G1 participants buy a version? Are beta testers needed/welcome?

The answer is probably no. Microsoft is concerned about this $3 version of Windows XP leaking into the overpriced proprietary software market. People might wonder why they are paying hundreds of dollars for the same thing. Eventually some "pirate" will probably grab and publish the drivers needed to adapt an ordinary XP installation to the XO, at which point US and European consumers could jury-rig something. Life is so much simpler with free software. Note also the restrictions specified at Microsoft's Unlimited Potential site: "we are offering software licenses for the Microsoft Student Innovation Suite at a special discounted rate exclusively for governments wishing to provide PCs to students, and subject to specific conditions." The Microsoft initiative is aimed at OLPC's primary market (education bureacracies), not at G1G1 donors.

• How many machines are we talking about here when you say "increased volumes" that will "lower the XO-1's price"? Tens of thousands? Hundreds of thousands? Millions?

Hundreds of thousands to begin with, from countries like Egypt where the Ministry wants Windows so that they can claim they are preparing the children for the job market. Never mind that WinXP will be long gone when these children graduate.--Mokurai 04:21, 16 May 2008 (EDT)

• Will you continue to sell XO laptops without Windows to those countries who (have the wisdom to) prefer it?

And so get a lower price for each XO?

Nicholas says yes. The price difference is about $10. --Mokurai 04:21, 16 May 2008 (EDT)

• While you call it dual boot, MS engineer imply windows-only and even mentioned OLPC's two kinds of packaging plan. dual boot(able) is just a technology. YOUR packaging strategy need to be explained.

Nicholas says that OLPC will sell Linux-only and dual-boot, and will not sell Windows-only.--Mokurai 04:21, 16 May 2008 (EDT)

The only firmware technology that Microsoft had (/has today) was a proprietary Incyte BIOS that didn't work with OLPC's Linux kernel, so that's what they talked about. But OLPC has created new tech that supports both Windows and Linux. (Also, Linux kernels in general do support running under proprietary BIOSes. The difference in the XO's Linux kernel is that it relies on the firmware for the XO's special power management and anti-theft system.) --Gnu 13:23, 19 May 2008 (EDT)

• Which countries will get XP on XO trials? I would expect Egypt, but who else? What languages? Has Sugar been localized for those languages?--Mokurai 04:48, 16 May 2008 (EDT)

• What technologies are being provided by Microsoft for localization of XP on XO? Windows XP Professional Language Interface Pack (LIP),Multilingual User Interface Pack (MUI), Office MUI all have restrictions on supported XP version, limited number of available languages, etc. This makes it essential to have further details of localization plans for a WinXO laptop. Cjl 19:03, 16 May 2008 (EDT)

• What is the performance difference between booting Windows XP using a $10 2GB Class6 SD card and using a 2GB internal nand flash memory? --Charbax 13:41, 17 May 2008 (EDT)

Nobody knows, since nobody's built a 2GB internal nand flash version (that I know of), nor provided such hardware to MS. Note that the internal nand flash (JFFS2 file system) is managed very differently than SD cards, which support any filesystem but usually use FAT. It is possible that Windows doesn't know how to manage the bare flash chips yet. --Gnu 13:23, 19 May 2008 (EDT)

• Does Microsoft accept to licence the $3 Windows XP for XO-1 laptops that are going to be delivered with the dual-boot option? --Charbax 13:41, 17 May 2008 (EDT)

• Does Windows XP for the XO take into account the Bitfrost anti-stealing and secure upgrading security? How about Wi-Fi mesh and the special keyboard shortcuts? --Charbax 13:41, 17 May 2008 (EDT)

Not yet, as far as I know. --Gnu 13:23, 19 May 2008 (EDT)

Message from Nicholas to the community lists

One Laptop per Child is announcing an agreement with Microsoft to make a dual boot, Linux/Windows, version of the XO laptop. In addition, our intention is to engage one or more third parties to port Sugar to run on Windows in order to reach a wider installed base of laptops. In the meanwhile, OLPC remains fully committed to our goal: a completely free and open learning platform for the world's children. The mission statement of OLPC has not changed in three years (attached).

Sugar is the first user interface specifically designed for children and teachers to learn and collaborate, and remains central to our strategy. Broadening Sugar's reach to as many children as possible remains key to OLPC's mission.

To enable the Sugar environment to reach as many children as possible, particularly in the poorest areas of the world, OLPC must be able to bid on educational technology contracts, some of which require that Microsoft Windows be able to run on our hardware. The increased volumes will lower the XO-1's price, already lowest in the industry with capabilities no other laptop shares.

OLPC is substantially increasing its engineering resources and all software development continues entirely on GNU/Linux. We will continue to work to make Sugar on Linux the best possible platform for education and to invest in our expanding Linux deployments in Peru, Uruguay, Mexico and elsewhere.

No OLPC resources are going to porting Sugar to Microsoft Windows, although as a free software project, we encourage others to do so. The Sugar user interface is already available for Fedora, Debian and Ubuntu Linux distributions, greatly broadening Sugar's reach to the millions of existing Linux systems. We continue to solicit help from the free software community in these efforts. Additionally, the Fedora, Debian and Ubuntu software environments run on the XO-1, adding support for tens of thousands of free software applications.

Open Firmware V2, the free and open source BIOS, is now capable of running Linux, Microsoft Windows XP and other operating systems, and was developed by Firmworks with support from OLPC. This will enable dual boot of OLPC XO laptops with Microsoft Windows XP in addition to the existing Fedora-based system and will become the standard BIOS/bootloader for all XO systems when completed. With this "free BIOS," the XO-1 continues to be the most open laptop hardware currently available.