OLPC says "we want kids connected" - Open Source Software Up the Stack

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February 24, 2008
OLPC says "we want kids connected"

Here's a breath of sensibility in the midst of the open source software (OSS) movement's explosion of Microbashing on the blogosphere beginning February 21.

Nicholas Negroponte is quoted February 24 in the Boston Globe as follows:

"One of the argument here at OLPC (One Laptop Per Child) is, if 100 million kids could have an Asus running Windows, is that better with (sic) two million kids running the XO? And the answer is yes. We want kids connected and the largest possible number is the goal."

XO is the OLPC laptop that bundles a Red-Hat/Fedora-based Linux but could also run Microsoft Windows . It has a price tag goal of $100 but OLPC has moved its price tag down to about $200 at this point as production ramps up. That is still lower than Asustek's series of Eee PCs, some bundled with Xandros Linux and some with Windows XP, beginning at about $245 (subject to exchange rate variations since the Asustek's announcement in 2007) .

The real ideal is billions of kids running whichever they like. Or even both. Unfortunately manipulative politicians around the world, supported by corporations that are anti-competition (in the name of "wanting a level playing field") will get involved and muck up the ideal.

But at least Mr. Negroponte, founder of the One Laptop per Child Foundation, has his head on straight.

Congratulations.

(By the way, I do not mean to imply that the stories about OLPC and the Microsoft open source interoperability principles are related. The Negroponte interview by Hiawath Bray in the February 24 Boston Sunday Globe was most likely conducted prior to Microsoft's announcement.)