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XO is the look on my face (Score:2, Funny)
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Get your hand off my ass!
Delusional (Score:5, Insightful)
What caused you to write that sentence, I will never know. Was Stevie B. holding a firearm to your head when you wrote this article? Or simply placing a sack with a large green $ on your desk?
Seriously, this is an all out attack on open source software. They are vying for the young minds of every single child in developing countries. What is so special about this that GRUB or LILO cannot be used for the dual booting? Is Microsoft developing the code to dual boot? I would be shocked if they were.
If you claim Microsoft just wants to make sure the kids get the best operating system for learning, why weren't they handing out free copies of Windows and Office to 3rd world children/schools before the OLPC project started? Because they'd rather give away their product than let a competitor fall into the hearts and minds of these children. Linux has always been free to everybody. Think about it.
Those 419 patent violation accusations [slashdot.org]
It may have become a little less religious recently but only so far as the ends justify Microsoft's means. They are interested in profit, nothing more. I would love to applaud them for coming around and realizing that open source software is a viable solution for making money--and even improving a product! But I cannot say that today. They only actively threaten it in underhanded ways.
Of course MS embraces OSS (Score:3)
There is nothing really new in this from the OLPC side, Negreponte has always wanted MS onboard. Any change of heart has been from the MS side. MS was rubbishing OLPC only a few months back.
Re:Delusional (Score:5, Funny)
Microsoft has embraced the open-source community over the past few years in a very different way than before
My daughter's cats have embraced mice over the past few years in a very different way than before. Previously they would lay the dead mouse by my dining room chair, now they just eat the mouse.
Don't forget Microsoft's mantra: Embrace, extend, extinguish. Much like my daughter's cats; mantra about mice.
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At least my death will not be in vain
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He says, "We are working with them very closely to make a dual-boot system so that, like on an Apple, you can boot either one up."
But Apple doesn't provide Windows for you.
It would appear that Negroponte is in need of further funding. That would explain the Intel involvement. Their departure has been noted. Now Microsoft is on board, no doubt bringing cash. Personally, I think this is a mistake. There are millions of PC's
Re:Delusional (Score:5, Interesting)
So yup, Microsoft's involvement is only reactionary because the project leveraged the cost savings and efficiencies of Linux and OSS. From what I've heard, even the Bill/Melinda Gates Foundation computer donations come with restrictions on usage of Linux and OSS. So they still want Linux and OSS destroyed and helping kids is only PR. IMO.
LoB
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I think if you were intelligent at all, you would do the exact same things as current MS management if you were in their shoes. You may think it's
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Yep, interesting. Sugar is a lot more than just an OS.
Microsoft wouldn't want to be seen as the loser in a competition like this, so how will Microsoft provide all the additional functionality? Bundle Works?
They'll also need to address the malware aspect, and do so in the very limited space available on the XO. If they manage to do that, they'll also have to be careful to cripple it so it won't run on ordinary PCs. A stripped down, low cost, lightwe
Um.. . . (Score:2)
Simple. (Score:3, Funny)
So how could MS lose with this scenario? (Score:5, Funny)
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That's a very Slashdotesque point of view and a good example of missing the forest because of one tree. You need to see the source only if you want the kid to become a programmer or maybe a sysadmin. The third world countries targeted by the OLPC have much higher and more urgent priorities. They need educated people in many other areas, not only programming. They need better, more knowl
Re:So how could MS lose with this scenario? (Score:4, Insightful)
Do they _really_ need to learn Windows, or just basic computing concepts? I'd wager that the later is far more useful than learning a specific OS.
When you say the source code is irrelevent in all those "urgent priorities", I say that windows is also - The only requirement is that it displays graphics and text on the screen, so there's absolutly no reason I can see why they couldn't learn all those things with a non-Windows OS.
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I'm not sure what you mean, but the discussion started with the "show source" requirement, so I'll assume you don't include everyday computer usage as a computer concept, even basic.
Here, on Slashdot, we tend to exaggerate the importance of computer knowledge. Basic computing concepts (such as the capability to read/write a program or a script) are needed for engineers, system administrators, certainly for programmers, and a few
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Re:Not all code needs to be made visible (Score:5, Interesting)
But isn't that what MS has done with computers until 2 or so years ago? Until 2 years ago or so, it was nearly impossible to go to a major manufacturer such as Dell and the like and get a computer with a non-MS OS on it. Whats to say that the OLPC won't turn out this way? With Intel leaving, OLPC needs cash, MS has a lot of cash, if MS for the next model of computers by the OLPC decide to pay OLPC say 50 million if they ship with Windows CE on them rather then Linux, how are they to complain? It always starts out small with MS, then before any non-geek knows it, MS controls it. If OLPC turns to MS, you can bet that freedom will get restricted.
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Sure there is, it's called Microsoft's desire to stop open source software. In Microsoft's eye( Sauron ) there can be no existing with OSS. Any statements of cooperation and the like are misdirection since publicly stating the goal of ending any love between corporations/businesses and OSS would harm their existing position in
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Dual OS on laptop/pesktop (Score:3, Interesting)
MS need dual boot on OLPC!
XO is already dual-boot (Score:4, Interesting)
KeS
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Re:XO is already dual-boot (Score:5, Informative)
KeS
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What can I tell you? It's a documented part of the OpenFirmware in both the shipped and current upgrade version. I was able to install Debian by following a rather trivial set of directions on a XO without developer access. Note that some people are of the mistaken impression that dev access is required, but that is not the case: dev access is only needed to alter OpenFirmware settings or access the OF command prompt to specify arbitrary boot files. You can Google OLPC Debian and come up with the
"Could this be the end of the OS wars in Nigeria?" (Score:2)
Dual-boot beta. (Score:5, Funny)
Speed Considerations? (Score:4, Interesting)
Please don't do this. (Score:4, Insightful)
First Intel attempted, and now Microsoft is trying to torpedo this project because they realize it's a threat to their future markets. Imagine a whole generation of Linux-schooled programmers writing the next killer apps, or buying last year's hardware to run Linux desktops (or servers!) - now imagine how Wintel feel about that.
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Combine that with how Intel and Microsoft are paying original OLPC customers to go Classmate PC with Windows and you've got another project with its air supply being cut off. This project is far cheaper to kill off then say Netscape was. It's a non-profit so there's not much cash for it to to begin
Why, again, is Windows desirable for this market? (Score:5, Insightful)
To my mind, Windows seems like an expensive and unneeded distraction for these children.
solitaire + minesweeper = productivity-- (Score:2)
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As far as I am concerned, you touched on THE key point as to why Microsoft thinks it is a good idea (in fact, they should view it as near essential to their survival in these areas of the world) to work with the OLPC. If you have a generation of children who grow up knowing open source operating systems an
And they turned Apple down ... (Score:5, Insightful)
"Apple offered free licenses of Mac OS X for MIT's proposed $100 laptop initiative, however, the proposal offered by Apple's CEO Steve Jobs was declined because the program was looking for open-source software [...]"
Uhuh, yeah, right ...
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OLPC-capable version of Windows (Score:2, Interesting)
Eww (Score:5, Insightful)
Close that platform, and suddenly it makes no sense at all. It's no longer an extensible means of cultural and technological expression but just another consumer product, good for nothing more than keeping the Third World in its place, right at the bottom.
Thanks, Microsoft, for staying in character.
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please, have mercy! (Score:2)
And I am serious. I know a few people whose first computing experiences were not windos. To a man (or woman, in some cases) when they "met" windos later on they found it horrible and hard to use.
So please, let's at least give the untainted a view on what computers co
I wonder what (Score:4, Funny)
OLPC Principles compromised??????? (Score:2, Interesting)
How is this free and open source? Are these principles that flexible?
Windows kills the OLPC (Score:5, Insightful)
The problem with installing Windows on the OLPC is that it destroys the original purpose of the device: to educate children about how computers work. With Windows:
If Windows goes on the OLPC, the project has failed. It's that simple.
And so the stupidity spreads. (Score:4, Insightful)
It will start with older children assuming Windows looks more 'serious' and grown up, like the computers people in images and movies they see online use. Governments will be taught to prefer Windows on the basis of it being more 'competitive' because Windows is "more like" what people in wealthier economies use.
The result of this is that more kids will learn to be bored by computers and computing, believing that they are opaque appliances with western graphic metaphors (what's a 'desktop' to someone that's never sat at a desk?) that seem to get slow over time. Just a small segment of the truly curious seeking alternative operating systems. Governments that bought the machines will wonder what went wrong when they see little or no innovation in the IT sector yet a massive outsourcing industry to faltering IT giants like the U.S.
Negroponte has always wanted to work with Microsoft on his terms. Windows will certainly enjoy a long and prosperous life.
Negroponte, you're being an idiot.
Why can;t the rest of us have the version? (Score:3, Insightful)
Why can't the rest of us have Windows that works like that?
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2) There is an SDHC slot already built into the device which supports up to 256GB cards (if they existed). This space can readily be mounted permanently (fstab) or semi-permanently (alias) into the directory structure, as I've done with my 8GB card.
KeS
Re: Dual Boot Tricks (Score:3, Insightful)
In the seven seconds of space when a nasty salesman is spreading FUD about the Linux half, even a Linux expert might not find the poison pill in time for the emotional hysterics to win the day.
Maybe this would be a use for stray batches of Vista code.