Microsoft and One Laptop per Child (OLPC) Partner: Windows Available on XO Laptops

The latest press release news in is about Microsoft and One Laptop per Child (OLPC) partnering to give very affordable computing to students worldwide. It is also said that Microsoft Windows is now available on XO laptops, these trials will begin in key emerging markets next month.

Microsoft and One Laptop per Child (OLPC) have yes just announced an agreement which will indeed make the Microsoft Windows operating system available on OLPC’s low-cost XO laptops for the world’s poorest children, their plan is to start all this as soon as June in key emerging markets. We all know that by providing high-quality education for our children in the developing world is very large indeed in solving any single organization, so with Microsoft and OLPC committed to working with nongovernmental organizations and governments will ensure the success of these pilot programs.

With the availability of Windows in addition to Linux on XO laptops this will now allow customers the expanded choice of operating environments that best fit their requirements and that their intention to create a version of the XO laptop which will provide the best ability to host both Linux and Windows operating systems, this will in return give the users the ability to run either on XO laptops.

Part of the press release says ““Transforming education is a fundamental goal of Microsoft Unlimited Potential, our ambitious effort to bring sustained social and economic opportunity to people who currently don’t enjoy the benefits of technology,” said Craig Mundie, chief research and strategy officer at Microsoft. “By supporting a wide variety of affordable computing solutions for education that includes OLPC’s XO laptop, we aim to make technology more relevant, accessible and affordable for students everywhere.”

Microsoft have now spent well over a year working on a variety of partners to develop customized drivers that enable Windows to run on the XO laptop and now Windows now supports the laptop’s e-book reading mode writing pad and custom keys, standard Wi-Fi networking, camera, as well as the power-saving and other features of the XO hardware. More technical details regarding Windows for the XO laptop and a video demonstration can be found at http://blogs.technet.com/jamesu