GNU, Linux and Everything in Between  

There has been a lot of debate concerning OLPC’s (or Negroponte’s) decision to load XO laptops with XP. I say it is a downright idiotic decision, and not because of RMS’ article about freedom (don’t get me wrong here, Stallman is my hero, but he develops his article in a completely wrong way in the XO case).

I for one believe this was all caused by a huge wad of cash sent Negroponte’s way. Negroponte just wants to get it done and go on vacation.

Why? Let’s take a look at some facts:

5) Windows XP will no longer be supported and useful when those kids are old/educated enough to get hired.

4) Windows XP is probably going to run the same interface as the Linux version, namely Sugar. That means the only difference will be the base system, and people aren’t really interested in that, especially some poor kid from Peru. Linux consumes far less system and storage resources.

3) Windows XP is not open source, so you’ll need some good localization support for even the most obscure languages. Mocovi, anyone?

2) OLPC will have to pay for every copy of Windows… and even if it’s $3 per laptop, multiply that by 50,000 and see how many kids stay without a laptop. Are we donating laptops to the governments or the children of third world countries?

1) After a while, this thing will get slower and slower. Try running an antivirus, a firewall, an anti-spyware suite, and a full-blown Windows environment. Then launch Photoshop and see what it looks like when a laptop throws up.

That’s my $0.02. It may be a bit extreme, but I wanted to express my outrage about this decision. It just ain’t right.