Another possible factor, from an article that appeared yesterday on Ars Technica:

The New York Times says that the Windows license and the extra hardware required to support Windows brings the total cost of the XO machines up to approximately $200 each

Dunno what this business about “extra hardware required to support Windows” is all about, but it may preclude installing XP on existing XOs.

“Can I load Microsoft Windows or my own software onto the XO laptop?

“At this exact moment in time, no, but possibly in the near future.

“OLPC maintains a firm and unequivocal commitment to open source software. Having an open system is fundamental to OLPC’s mission, please see: http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Core_principles/lang-en

“Any software developed by or for OLPC is released under GPL v2. The open source community remains a critical success factor in the one laptop per child mission.

“Microsoft is developing a version of its XP operating system that runs on the XO laptop. OLPC will continue to develop its Linux-based OS and distribute it on all its XO laptops. Future distributions may include both open and proprietary software; however, the choice of what to use will remain the child’s and the default will remain open source.”

Still ambiguity here, but who knows? Perhaps the support would come from Microsoft (seller of the XP) rather than OLPC.

Thanks,
David

Anyone know if/when existing XO-1 owners in the Give One Get One program will get access to Windows?

I wouldn’t hold my breath if I were you. By all accounts OLPC has huge infrastructure problems, and I seriously doubt that software upgrades for devices they’ve already sold are anywhere near the top of their priority list. My guess is that you’ll have to wait for the Give Another One, Get Another One program to be announced.

And that’s assuming OPLC manages to stay afloat. Key members of the project team have been dropping like flies recently, and if this scathing rant is representative, OLPC may well be on its last legs.

OLPC itself was supposedly part of the open source community

That assertion certainly made for good propaganda, but I suspect that in reality it was Double-N’s baby all the way. The open source community doesn’t usually warm to benevolent despots.

B: Actually there is the risk of DRM ending up on the XO because of pressure from misguided educational publishers. As for commercial vs. noncommerical, I still maintain that economies of scale would be more achievable without sharp lines between the two. Then we’d see more apps created. A bunch of open source people did get XOs as developers, and I just wish one of them had gone to the trouble to Sugarize FBReader.

A: Couldn’t agree with you more about the barriers that Sugar threw up. Remember, though: OLPC itself was supposedly part of the open source community. So the mistake happened within it.

Thanks,
David

However the technology behind the XO can be licensed so the screen could surface in other tablets. In fact I’m pretty sure the lady behind the screen tech (too lazy to look up) left the project with a view to commercializing the technology, possibly in the e-book area but I can’t remember the specifics.

The XO isn’t a commercial device so chances are there aren’t that many in the hands of opensource developers anyway. As it isn’t (and can’t be) a commercial project I doubt there’ll be much effort put into DRMed e-books by MS, particularly as it’s going to be hard enough to squeeze XP onto an XO as it is.

What you’re REALLY looking forward to is the 2nd generation of licensed and commercialized XOs which should be coming any day now (hopefully). I’m sure those will come with the option of XP – it wouldn’t make any sense for them not to. Using the UMPC XP license that’s now been given the greenlight by MS should let them run most Windows software.

All theoretical, of course.