Comments on: OLPC and Windows (and Microsoft and the education system) http://jonathancarter.co.za/2007/04/29/olpc-and-windows-and-microsoft-and-the-education-system/ rebel without a pause Fri, 12 Mar 2010 12:12:03 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: Ubuntu | Morgan Collett: OLPC Impressions http://jonathancarter.co.za/2007/04/29/olpc-and-windows-and-microsoft-and-the-education-system/comment-page-1/#comment-13485 Ubuntu | Morgan Collett: OLPC Impressions Mon, 30 Apr 2007 22:29:57 +0000 http://jonathancarter.co.za/olpc-and-windows-and-microsoft-and-the-education-system#comment-13485 [...] I really don’t see how running Windows XP on these laptops, even at $3 per “user”, makes sense. There is so much innovation here that it would be a complete waste to run a partially disabled version of a 6 year old operating system on the XO. Microsoft, 6 years old refers to the users, not the software! For more on this, see Jonathan Carter’s rant. [...] [...] I really don’t see how running Windows XP on these laptops, even at $3 per “user”, makes sense. There is so much innovation here that it would be a complete waste to run a partially disabled version of a 6 year old operating system on the XO. Microsoft, 6 years old refers to the users, not the software! For more on this, see Jonathan Carter’s rant. [...]

]]> By: OLPC Impressions « Feeding the Penguins http://jonathancarter.co.za/2007/04/29/olpc-and-windows-and-microsoft-and-the-education-system/comment-page-1/#comment-13410 OLPC Impressions « Feeding the Penguins Mon, 30 Apr 2007 14:22:28 +0000 http://jonathancarter.co.za/olpc-and-windows-and-microsoft-and-the-education-system#comment-13410 [...] I really don’t see how running Windows XP on these laptops, even at $3 per “user”, makes sense. There is so much innovation here that it would be a complete waste to run a partially disabled version of a 6 year old operating system on the XO. Microsoft, 6 years old refers to the users, not the software! For more on this, see Jonathan Carter’s rant. [...] [...] I really don’t see how running Windows XP on these laptops, even at $3 per “user”, makes sense. There is so much innovation here that it would be a complete waste to run a partially disabled version of a 6 year old operating system on the XO. Microsoft, 6 years old refers to the users, not the software! For more on this, see Jonathan Carter’s rant. [...]

]]> By: Tristan Seligmann http://jonathancarter.co.za/2007/04/29/olpc-and-windows-and-microsoft-and-the-education-system/comment-page-1/#comment-13285 Tristan Seligmann Mon, 30 Apr 2007 06:34:26 +0000 http://jonathancarter.co.za/olpc-and-windows-and-microsoft-and-the-education-system#comment-13285 I would like to note that having a platform locked in to GNU/Linux-based operating systems is probably better than having a platform locked in to Microsoft, but it is still far from ideal. A truly free platform needs to allow all comers, proprietary or otherwise. Free software needs to compete on its own merits, and its own principles; anything less misses the whole point. Fortunately, I have confidence that the people involved with the OLPC project recognize and embrace these principles. Anyhow, I'm starting to sound way too pompous and philosophical, but I do believe the "bigger picture" is very important to consider. I would like to note that having a platform locked in to GNU/Linux-based operating systems is probably better than having a platform locked in to Microsoft, but it is still far from ideal. A truly free platform needs to allow all comers, proprietary or otherwise. Free software needs to compete on its own merits, and its own principles; anything less misses the whole point. Fortunately, I have confidence that the people involved with the OLPC project recognize and embrace these principles. Anyhow, I’m starting to sound way too pompous and philosophical, but I do believe the “bigger picture” is very important to consider.

]]> By: Tom Hoffman http://jonathancarter.co.za/2007/04/29/olpc-and-windows-and-microsoft-and-the-education-system/comment-page-1/#comment-13256 Tom Hoffman Mon, 30 Apr 2007 04:49:53 +0000 http://jonathancarter.co.za/olpc-and-windows-and-microsoft-and-the-education-system#comment-13256 I think it also became clear that the lack of a L2 cache in the original configuration was crippling. I think it also became clear that the lack of a L2 cache in the original configuration was crippling.

]]> By: donalde http://jonathancarter.co.za/2007/04/29/olpc-and-windows-and-microsoft-and-the-education-system/comment-page-1/#comment-13061 donalde Sun, 29 Apr 2007 16:16:11 +0000 http://jonathancarter.co.za/olpc-and-windows-and-microsoft-and-the-education-system#comment-13061 jonathan, the fact that "Vista requires hardware update" is mostly FUD. pretty much all the computers that run XP in a sane way run also Vista in a sane way. the higher requirements are mostly only for the eye candy and couple new other features (which you can disable automatically anyways). jonathan, the fact that “Vista requires hardware update” is mostly FUD. pretty much all the computers that run XP in a sane way run also Vista in a sane way. the higher requirements are mostly only for the eye candy and couple new other features (which you can disable automatically anyways).

]]> By: antoine http://jonathancarter.co.za/2007/04/29/olpc-and-windows-and-microsoft-and-the-education-system/comment-page-1/#comment-13044 antoine Sun, 29 Apr 2007 15:14:20 +0000 http://jonathancarter.co.za/olpc-and-windows-and-microsoft-and-the-education-system#comment-13044 AMD Geode LX-700 433/333 Mhz now as opposed to 366/266, 1.5w vs 3w, not the GX and bumps L1 cache up to 64Kb from 32kb and L2 up to 128K more advanced graphics acceleration (allegedly allowing better scaling support plus full 24 bit color alpha channel now but not yet confirmed!) Ram to 256Mb, Flash storage to 1gig And before the conspiracy theories start let me just mention that the upgrade was primarily due to Geode GX having very sluggish graphics performance when running Sugar and RAM boosts due to countries wanting a longer operational life out of the machine :-) AMD Geode LX-700 433/333 Mhz now as opposed to 366/266, 1.5w vs 3w, not the GX and bumps L1 cache up to 64Kb from 32kb and L2 up to 128K more advanced graphics acceleration (allegedly allowing better scaling support plus full 24 bit color alpha channel now but not yet confirmed!)

Ram to 256Mb, Flash storage to 1gig

And before the conspiracy theories start let me just mention that the upgrade was primarily due to Geode GX having very sluggish graphics performance when running Sugar and RAM boosts due to countries wanting a longer operational life out of the machine :-)

]]> By: jonathan http://jonathancarter.co.za/2007/04/29/olpc-and-windows-and-microsoft-and-the-education-system/comment-page-1/#comment-12999 jonathan Sun, 29 Apr 2007 12:50:39 +0000 http://jonathancarter.co.za/olpc-and-windows-and-microsoft-and-the-education-system#comment-12999 Antoine, thanks for clearing that up. I think it's good that there will be a more powerful version of the XO laptop. It would probably be nicer for running a full-blown Gnome or Xfce session too. Do you have specs for the $175 version? Antoine, thanks for clearing that up. I think it’s good that there will be a more powerful version of the XO laptop. It would probably be nicer for running a full-blown Gnome or Xfce session too. Do you have specs for the $175 version?

]]> By: jonathan http://jonathancarter.co.za/2007/04/29/olpc-and-windows-and-microsoft-and-the-education-system/comment-page-1/#comment-12998 jonathan Sun, 29 Apr 2007 12:46:25 +0000 http://jonathancarter.co.za/olpc-and-windows-and-microsoft-and-the-education-system#comment-12998 Hey Petaris, I stand corrected. I see that I've misread the original article, which did say /able to run/. Corrected in post. BTW, the link you specified, http://ubuntudiaries.blogspot.com/, seems to be incorrect. Donalde, there are plenty of reasons why some schools will have to upgrade to Vista at some point. One big reason locally, is licensing. Many schools received free XP licenses, that was valid for three years, and it's unsure whether they'll have to pay for the next round. This will leave some schools with a choice: should they buy Windows XP, which is already more than 5 years old, or do they upgrade hardware and buy Windows Vista? I agree with you though, the competition is good. There's nothing like competition to make big companies through more money at free software development :) Hey Petaris, I stand corrected. I see that I’ve misread the original article, which did say /able to run/. Corrected in post. BTW, the link you specified, http://ubuntudiaries.blogspot.com/, seems to be incorrect.

Donalde, there are plenty of reasons why some schools will have to upgrade to Vista at some point. One big reason locally, is licensing. Many schools received free XP licenses, that was valid for three years, and it’s unsure whether they’ll have to pay for the next round. This will leave some schools with a choice: should they buy Windows XP, which is already more than 5 years old, or do they upgrade hardware and buy Windows Vista? I agree with you though, the competition is good. There’s nothing like competition to make big companies through more money at free software development :)

]]> By: antoine http://jonathancarter.co.za/2007/04/29/olpc-and-windows-and-microsoft-and-the-education-system/comment-page-1/#comment-12997 antoine Sun, 29 Apr 2007 12:44:11 +0000 http://jonathancarter.co.za/olpc-and-windows-and-microsoft-and-the-education-system#comment-12997 There is a lot of misunderstanding going around at the moment regarding Windows and OLPC since that post on slashdot. The crux of the announcement is not that the XO _will_ run Windows in the USA but rather that the recent hardware improvements have opened the door to the XO having sufficient power to be _able_ to run Windows. Having choices is a good thing and openfirmware linuxbios means never having to ask for permission to dual boot. There is a lot of misunderstanding going around at the moment regarding Windows and OLPC since that post on slashdot.

The crux of the announcement is not that the XO _will_ run Windows in the USA but rather that the recent hardware improvements have opened the door to the XO having sufficient power to be _able_ to run Windows.

Having choices is a good thing and openfirmware linuxbios means never having to ask for permission to dual boot.

]]> By: donalde http://jonathancarter.co.za/2007/04/29/olpc-and-windows-and-microsoft-and-the-education-system/comment-page-1/#comment-12981 donalde Sun, 29 Apr 2007 11:49:40 +0000 http://jonathancarter.co.za/olpc-and-windows-and-microsoft-and-the-education-system#comment-12981 Vista comes with DX9 as well, meaning that nothing has changed - the old games and such keep running. There's no mandatory admin overhead caused by Vista. Most of the games and applications to be ported you are referring to are not using much of the DX. It would be actually more suitable to use WPF for them (The "Cairo Glade" combination of Microsoft) instead of DX. It's easier to translate definitive languages and WPF has got awesome tools for conceiving small games and such. In fact WPF doesn't have equivalent at all in the open source world. The similar separate components are available but the integration and the tools are just simply better with WPF.. Anyways, umm.. It's just good to see Windows on OLPC. It's healthy to have competition. If the open source zealots can't provide superior software stack they should lose on their objective anyways. Vista comes with DX9 as well, meaning that nothing has changed – the old games and such keep running. There’s no mandatory admin overhead caused by Vista. Most of the games and applications to be ported you are referring to are not using much of the DX.

It would be actually more suitable to use WPF for them (The “Cairo Glade” combination of Microsoft) instead of DX. It’s easier to translate definitive languages and WPF has got awesome tools for conceiving small games and such. In fact WPF doesn’t have equivalent at all in the open source world. The similar separate components are available but the integration and the tools are just simply better with WPF..

Anyways, umm.. It’s just good to see Windows on OLPC. It’s healthy to have competition. If the open source zealots can’t provide superior software stack they should lose on their objective anyways.

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