OLPC - Microsoft invade!

[viciouslime]

http://www.pcauthority.com.au/news.aspx?CIaNID=43121

This is dated 5th of December so maybe this has already been mentioned, but I didn't notice it anywhere. I can't believe they're worming their way into this project too, I thought OLPC was a great idea, especially since it ran open source stuff, but windows... ugh

[Mathiasdm]

It's not going to happen, it would inflate the cost too much (since it would require an SD card and Windows).

[viciouslime]

It's not going to happen, it would inflate the cost too much (since it would require an SD card and Windows).

What if bill decides to give windows for free though, like the starter edition where you can only run 3apps at once. Then m$ will have a good grip on the project.

[bastiegast]

What if bill decides to give windows for free though, like the starter edition where you can only run 3apps at once. Then m$ will have a good grip on the project.

anyhow its gonna cost ms a lot of money if they want their os in :twisted:

[Lord Illidan]

What if bill decides to give windows for free though, like the starter edition where you can only run 3apps at once. Then m$ will have a good grip on the project.

Why would I want to run 3 apps at once, and pay some 15$ than pay 0$ and have a fully functional OS?

[smoker]

as far as i know red hat are developing the os for this project:
http://laptop.media.mit.edu/laptopnews.nsf/latest/news?opendocument=

of course, ms will try to weddle their way into this project somehow, can you imagine 50-100 million new young linux users, all growing up without windows!

i wish the olpc project success (without ms)

[BoyOfDestiny]

Why would I want to run 3 apps at once, and pay some 15$ than pay 0$ and have a fully functional OS?

I know... I imagine they are just scared people will get used to a Free OS and software... I mean I switched from Windows to Linux. Imagine going the other way around if you grew up with it...

What do you mean I can't copy this?
Why do I have to pay for this?
Why can't I build on it?
Why do I have to register online?
Why can't I update my whole system at once?
What is this "driver" disc...

OK I'm being facetious, but still... Can you imagine switching from a free environment (that you are used to, and has met your needs) to a locked down, proprietary, inflexible one...

[smoker]

imagine all those young linux users growing to maturity, having used open source all the way, there are bound to be a good proportion of talented people there who will go on to help develop linux in the future.

[BoyOfDestiny]

imagine all those young linux users growing to maturity, having used open source all the way, there are bound to be a good proportion of talented people there who will go on to help develop linux in the future.

Yup, it actually gets me reasonably excited. Genius knows no race, sex, age, country of origin, especially not financial status. I wouldn't be surprised to see a lot of rising stars emerge.

I mean a farm boy essentially invented TV. The lines across a field, where the seeds are planted, inspiration for lines of resolution... Anyway going by what I remember watching on the discovery channel...
Wikipedia article on the man here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philo_Farnsworth

My point remains the same, even these guys/gals aren't all coders, with the right math, art, physics, etc tools at their fingertips, I expect to see some good stuff...

[viciouslime]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Logie_Baird

I think there's also some russian guy attributed with inventing TV but I can't remember his name. I suppose the truth is, none of them did. I mean TV is made up of so many things, and a modern TV has pretty much nothing left of any of their inventions, LCD screen, DVB in stead of analogue signals etc. etc.

It's a bit like that whole "who invented the internet?" thing. I'm hoping to study Physics at university next year and almost every university i have visited has told me how Tim Berners-Lee invented the internet and it was all because of physics and the internet is an entirely English invention, etc. etc. But it's all such rubbish. I mean sure, he pulled a few things together and gave it a bit of a push so that it got started, but what is the internet? It certainly isn't httpd and html, it's thousands of other technologies, most of which he had nothing to do with, all combined together.

In other words, any "invention" of that scale, be it TV, radio, the internet etc. is an international thing - much like ubuntu :D

I suppose you could claim that Tim invented the World Wide Web... but even then i'm not sure, I mean can you really attribute that to one person? It seems to me like saying someone invented music, or someone else invented English/German/French