Windows

Comment to the lately asnnounced "strategy change": Microsoft (win XP) instead of Linux!?

If you did that, you would betray the whole free open source software community and, even worse, your whole project and educational goals:

Question in FAQ: What software will be used with the $100 laptop?

The one-laptop-per-child computer (OLPC) will come with some general purpose software: web browser; word processing; basic tools for personal expression; etc. There also will be high-quality educational examples of OLPC use. A more complete list is found here.

OLPC is working with Red Hat on a Linux kernel for the machine, but we are opening up the design; it is inevitable that there will be several variants of Linux to choose from, as well as some version of Windows, and perhaps an OS X offering.

We made a decision to base the OLPC on open-source software in order to provide countries (and to whatever degree appropriate, the children themselves) with the freedom to decide for themselves what to place on the machines, and to share and localize examples of best practice generated domestically and taken from abroad.

Open-source software gives children the opportunity to “own” the machine in every sense. While we don't expect every child to become a programmer, we don't want any ceiling imposed on those children who choose to reach towards complexity. We are using open document formats for much the same reason: transparency is empowering. The children—and their teachers—will have the freedom to reshape, reinvent, and reapply their software, hardware, and content.