GOC

The One Laptop Per Child Project (OLPC) and Microsoft (News - Alert) are working together to develop a dual-boot system to put both Linux and Windows on laptops aimed at kids in developing countries, according to Nicholas Negroponte (News - Alert), chairman at OLPC.

 

Negroponte told IDG News Service that OLPC working with Microsoft very closely to make a dual-boot system so that, like on an Apple (News - Alert), you can boot either one up.

 

“The version that’s up and running of Windows on the XO is very fast, it's very, very successful,” Negroponte said. “We're working very hard to do both.”

 

He pointed out that this is a brand-new development for the XO laptops, as the low-cost notebooks are known, and came about because of Microsoft’s friendlier attitude toward open source software.

 

Mentioning that Microsoft has embraced the open source community over the past few years in a very different way than before, Negroponte said, “And that really helps, because it’s become a little bit less religious than it was a few years ago and that’s really good. In the end, I think, the more people that have software and hardware out there, the better.”

 

At present, OLPC laptop runs a Fedora-based Linux OS, and Microsoft has offered a version of Windows XP for the laptop project.

 

Analysts had in the past speculated that OLPC would try to offer two separate laptop PCs, however a dual-boot system could remove the need to do so. The dual boot system is also expected to reduce the need to have competing low-cost laptops—running Linux or Windows—in the marketplace.

 

OLPC is also said to be working with Microsoft and possibly the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation on combining OLPC laptops with some of the educational programs run by Microsoft in developing countries.

 

Recently, Intel had announced that it is leaving the One Laptop Per Child project, reportedly the chip maker parted ways over its Classmate PC. The OLPC wants Intel to stop selling in the same markets in which the OLPC -- equipped with an AMD (News - Alert) processor -- is being promoted.

 

“We at OLPC have been disappointed that Intel did not deliver on any of the promises they made when they joined OLPC; while we were hopeful for a positive, collaborative relationship, it never materialized,” Negroponte said in a statement.