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From the News Desk
Friday, 7. December 2007
Microsoft Wants XP on OLPC XO Notebooks
The project One Laptop per Child, coordinated by Professor Nicholas Negroponte for the benefit of developing nations, represents a new challenge for Microsoft developers in their attempt to implement Windows XP on a computer initially designed for Linux software.
In a move sure to provoke controversy, Microsoft wants the designers of the XO laptop to add a port through which the storage capacity required by Windows XP can be added to the system.
One of the challenges for Microsoft is that Windows, a hard - drive based software, has to be made compatible with the XO laptop, which currently is designed to use a semi-conductor based memory instead of a hard drive.
Because the XO comes with just 1 GB of flash memory and no hard drive, Microsoft has been working on how to cram Windows into such a small space. In fact, the team cannot get XP into 1 GB and asked the OLPC to add a slot for an internal SD card that will provide the 2 GB of extra memory needed to run XP. In addition, Microsoft is writing a new BIOS so Windows can boot and run off the SD card.
“We are hard at work on the project here. Between Microsoft employees and third-party contractors that we have brought into the effort, we have over 40 engineers working full-time on the port,” said James Utzschneider, general manager of Microsoft's Unlimited Potential Group.
Utzschneider said the company would test the Windows-based XO laptops starting January 2008 in the U.S., India and possibly Romania. Depending on the outcome of these trials, they could become available on the market as soon as the middle of 2008.
Apart from the trial versions, Microsoft declared it does not intend to commercialize the product in North America.
OLPC XO is produced by Quanta Computers, who has a 33 percent market share of laptops world-wide. It contains an AMD LX-Geode CPU at 700 MHz and 256 MB of RAM. There is no hard disk, but a 1 GB flash memory. A dual-mode SVGA LCD screen (monochrome and color mode) helps saving power. It has a built-in wireless network interface and color camera. The XO has no moving parts, can be powered by solar, foot-pump or pull-string powered chargers, and is housed in a waterproof case. The laptop is sold only in batches of 250,000 units to governments.
It was previously rumored that Steve Jobs offered to equip the laptops with a free copy of Mac OS X, but the foundation rejected Apple's offer on the grounds it did not want to accept proprietary software.
In a move sure to provoke controversy, Microsoft wants the designers of the XO laptop to add a port through which the storage capacity required by Windows XP can be added to the system.
One of the challenges for Microsoft is that Windows, a hard - drive based software, has to be made compatible with the XO laptop, which currently is designed to use a semi-conductor based memory instead of a hard drive.
Because the XO comes with just 1 GB of flash memory and no hard drive, Microsoft has been working on how to cram Windows into such a small space. In fact, the team cannot get XP into 1 GB and asked the OLPC to add a slot for an internal SD card that will provide the 2 GB of extra memory needed to run XP. In addition, Microsoft is writing a new BIOS so Windows can boot and run off the SD card.
“We are hard at work on the project here. Between Microsoft employees and third-party contractors that we have brought into the effort, we have over 40 engineers working full-time on the port,” said James Utzschneider, general manager of Microsoft's Unlimited Potential Group.
Utzschneider said the company would test the Windows-based XO laptops starting January 2008 in the U.S., India and possibly Romania. Depending on the outcome of these trials, they could become available on the market as soon as the middle of 2008.
Apart from the trial versions, Microsoft declared it does not intend to commercialize the product in North America.
OLPC XO is produced by Quanta Computers, who has a 33 percent market share of laptops world-wide. It contains an AMD LX-Geode CPU at 700 MHz and 256 MB of RAM. There is no hard disk, but a 1 GB flash memory. A dual-mode SVGA LCD screen (monochrome and color mode) helps saving power. It has a built-in wireless network interface and color camera. The XO has no moving parts, can be powered by solar, foot-pump or pull-string powered chargers, and is housed in a waterproof case. The laptop is sold only in batches of 250,000 units to governments.
It was previously rumored that Steve Jobs offered to equip the laptops with a free copy of Mac OS X, but the foundation rejected Apple's offer on the grounds it did not want to accept proprietary software.
