One Laptop Per Child has been discussed on misc@ before, including decisions
made by the organization's technical leadership to sign NDAs for their
particular hardware choices on the XO laptop.
This slashdot posting:
http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/05/15/2320243
references a New York Times article published today by Steve Lohr describing a
new agreement with Microsoft, to replace Linux in markets which prefer
Windows. The slashdot posting missed a couple of key points from the article,
which I will outline here, as I think might be of interest as well:
1. The decision to push for WXP to replace Linux was due to pressure from
prospective buyers of the XO laptop, which was slowing sales. "'The people
who buy the machines are not the children who use them, but government
officials in most cases,' said Nicholas Negroponte, founder of the nonprofit
group. 'And those people are much more comfortable with Windows.'"
2. The article also pointed out difficulties OLPC had with corporate
interests outweighing their own. Describing the Microsoft agreement's
structure, Lohr wrote, "That contrasts with the approach of Intel, which
joined the project last July, took a board seat and pledged an $18 million
contribution only to quit in January amid squabbling over Intels aggressive
sales tactics with the Classmate PC."
