One Windows Per Child
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News Analysis. Microsoft's OWPC initiative has succeeded, nicely. Apparently, Sugar isn't so sweet. |
But will the alternative be any tastier? That's the question to ask as the drama around OLPC (One Laptop Per Child) becomes the ever-growing soap opera. High-level executive departures, a near-$200 laptop price instead of the planned 100 bucks and now Windows XP pushing out Sugar OS. Somebody wants to influence the world's youth.
Microsoft made its announcement late yesterday, and I almost blogged it before going to bed. But this one needed a fresh mind to grapple with all the nuances behind the drama.
Microsoft's announcement is simple: OLPC will license Windows XP for its XO laptop. Trials will start in June in some emerging markets, which Microsoft's press release doesn't identify. Fortunately, Microsoft's Unlimited Potential blog is more forthcoming. James Utzschneider, marketing and communications general manager for Microsoft's Unlimited Potential group, blogged:
"The offering will RTM [release to manufacturing] in August or September. Initially it will only be available in emerging market countries where governments or NGOs [non-government organizations] are subsidizing the purchase of a large number of PCs for students, but there is the possibility of making this available for other customers through a broader set of channels at a later point in time."
James is refreshingly frank about Microsoft's objectives:
"From our perspective, Windows on the XO is a nice addition to the portfolio of products and services Microsoft has created to help transform education, one of the key themes of Unlimited Potential...The Windows port to the XO is a snappy release that doesn't cut features or functionality in order to work in the constrained memory and storage environment of the XO...Why is Microsoft doing this? The answer is simple: people are asking for it—it transforms education and it leads to the creation of jobs and opportunity."
Follow the Spiritual Leader
Maybe Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates always will be the company's spiritual leader. I find interesting that Microsoft is putting so much emphasis on emerging markets at the same time Bill is transitioning from full-time monopolist to philanthropist. Microsoft puts a real charitable PR spin to its Unlimited Potential program, which isn't philanthropy. It's business. Microsoft wants to sell more products in more markets. The charitable facade is part of the sales effort.
Yes, Microsoft is helping people. But it's not like Mother Theresa work, where the personal benefit is satisfaction of giving. Microsoft profits from its Unlimited Potential work. Cheap XO PCs running Linux interferes with future Microsoft profits, since the company's software and the majority of its services require Windows.
Sorry, but I would be embarrassed to work on what I call the One Windows Per Child program. For too long emerging markets have received cast-off goods, clothes and even pharmaceuticals from so-called mature markets. Microsoft's modern operating system is Windows Vista, but XO laptops will instead get 8-year-old Windows XP. I concede there are limitations. Vista demands too much hardware resources to run on low-powered, flash-based devices such as XO. But that's a problem of Microsoft's making.
Worth noting: Bill may be pushing along the charitable path, but Microsoft isn't wholly following. I don't see Bill advocating second-best anything for emerging markets. In that respect, he's more unlimited potential-minded than his company.
Conflicting Interests
OLPC's approach certainly is imperfect. There is plenty of justified criticism. But at least founder Nicholas Negroponte initially tried to find compromise by creating something new, yet affordable, for emerging markets. That goes for the hardware design and Linux-based Sugar OS. But charitable work often encounters opposition from businesses with conflicting interests.
For example, Intel has been a vocal critic of the OLPC program. Early on, Microsoft executives criticized the XO—Bill on several occasions, including a January 2006 speech before the World Economic Forum. A cheap, Linux laptop for students could disrupt Microsoft's emerging market business objectives.
The decision to adopt Windows XP appears to have caused conflict and division within OLPC. Many charitable organizations produce even bigger egos than do businesses and with surprisingly less willingness to adapt. In March, Ivan Krstic left OLPC because of changing goals, which some people assumed had to do with Windows XP. He blogged:
"Not long ago, OLPC undertook a drastic internal restructuring coupled with what, despite official claims to the contrary, is a radical change in its goals and vision from those that were shared with me when I was invited to join the project."
About a month later, Walter Bender also left OLPC. Walter and Ivan were two of the principal developers working on Sugar OS. Walter's exit statement says nothing specifically about Windows XP on XO. However, he was reportedly demoted as head of Software and Content before the departure.
Do You Want Sugar or Spice?
The decision to adopt Windows XP, and quite possibly to abandon Sugar, surely has no one cause. The aforementioned business and internal OLPC conflicts must be some reason. Windows familiarity may be another reason. As Microsoft has learned with Windows Vista, something new is harder sell when businesses or consumers are satisfied with something familiar (Windows XP).
I don't doubt James when he writes that some "people are asking" for Windows. But who are these people? Governments and NGOs want what for their students? The more pressing concern is what they want for their local economies today. Microsoft has partners pretty much everywhere. It's in better position to attach additional products and services to Windows than Sugar OS. I highly doubt that students are rising up demanding XP over Sugar. In many geographies, the kids would be happy just to get the laptop, regardless of operating system. For Microsoft, One Windows Per Child is the only program, if anybody asks.
For now, OLPC recipients will choose from either a Sugar or Windows XO laptop. But James blogged:
"OLPC plans to write a new BIOS and increase the amount of flash storage on the XO to support a 'dual-boot' option that would enable children to use either Linux or Windows on the same machine. This is fine with us as long there continues to be an excellent Windows experience on the XO."
The last sentence asserts Microsoft's business priority as superseding OLPC's objectives. Read the sentence again. Read it in context of James' entire blog post.
Microsoft is licensing Windows XP Home, not Professional, for devices such as XO. So how will schools network the computers? Peer to peer? Unmodified XP Home doesn't connect to a network domain. It's one of the many problems associated with offering something old, or, in the case of Windows Starter Edition, something less.
I can't say that Sugar is the best real-world, practical operating system choice for XO. But its development is a commendable effort, and the OLPC Wiki chronicles lots of Sugar and XO success, without ever offering Windows XP.
One Laptop Too Many?
In the end, OLPC's biggest problem may be the fundamental concept: one laptop per child. On several occasions when criticizing XO, Bill said the cell phone would be a better choice. He is absolutely right. In most emerging markets, the cell phone is the first Internet-capable computing device, not the PC.
Some people call the phenomenon "technology skip," where a market jumps over one class of product for something newer. As cell phones get smarter, wireless data bandwidth increases and smart phone costs decline, the mobile device makes more sense as alternative to the PC.
Technology skip would bring bleeding-edge, or at least current, products to emerging markets. It's where these markets can leap ahead of mature ones built up around older technologies. It's also an area where Microsoft does offer current, rather than old, software or services.
For some people, the future of computing will be a smart phone running Windows Mobile 7 connected to Live Mesh. Will the combination release their, uh, unlimited potential?
Related Posts:
- XP Pro Execution Set, Home Gets Reprieve, Microsoft Watch, April 3, 2008
- Microsoft's Big Problem in a Small Box, Microsoft Watch, Dec. 7, 2007
- Microsoft's One Laptop Per Windows Project, Microsoft Watch, Dec. 5, 2007
- Microsoft's $3 Anti-Linux Weapon, Linux Watch, April 19, 2007
Comments (21)
Yet another classic MSFT move, "hey look Linux is making these huge gains and we must stop, crush, eliminate the competition no matter what the cost".
(Kind of reminds me of Netscape doesn't it? "Lets release Internet Explorer for free and put Netscape out of business..we'll stop, crush and eliminate the competition no matter the cost".)
Of course the "spin" is a lot different from the Castle of Redmond. The shills will be out in force with comments like the following.
"How nice of Microsoft to "help" the third world by "giving" them a "opportunity" to have Windows on these laptops."
Truth is, maybe MSFT still has that mind set that some how they, stopped,crushed, or eliminated Linux in some way.
They didn't...and Linux still has nowhere to go except up and continue to make huge in-roads like recent advances with Verizon and the New York Stock Exchange.
Microsoft maybe have "helped" the "third world" from their point of view. But actions like these are not going to bode well for MSFT's case in the European Union, which from what I last understood ...are not done with MSFT just "yet".
The announcement that XP Home will be sold to tiny PC OEM's for $32...or as little as $26 ..or with the special discount for some OEM's could end up being as low as $16 to $22. Clearly shows that MSFT is desperate to quench the "competition" or at least try to stop Linux in its tracks.
MSFT also admitted to the world that Vista IS way overbloated and can't run on these laptops so it has to rely on a seven year old OS to get the "job done".
Just like the Corporate IT World and major companies like GM are doing, relying on a seven year OS because Vista can't run properly on their older equipment.
And more importantly instead of developing out a special operating system for these laptops based on Vista or maybe Windows 7. MSFT was caught by surprise and had to scramble to "come up with something".
Clearly no one at the Castle of Redmond was able to see the tiny laptop revolution coming, just like they could never imagine that "other geeky operating system" would be serious competition for them.
Makes one wonder whats really going on at the Castle of Redmond. And I would not want to be the one to try to explain to MSFT stock holders and investors on why it was so important to sell XP Home to the tiny laptop market for $16, just to under cut "that other geeky OS" while at home discontinuing retail sales of $99 to $249 + of XP home and XP Pro.
Posted by Ralph | May 16, 2008 3:34 PM
My understanding is OLPC will be available in both Linux and Windows versions. What's wrong with giving buyers choice? The Linux Jihad doesn't care about the welfare of poor children, they just want to push Linux. Desktop Linux is a marketplace failure. Linux folks - get over it.
Posted by TomW | May 16, 2008 5:22 PM
What's hilarious about this article is the one on LinuxDevices and DesktopLinux is actually objective and this one is bias.
It's so horrible that people might have a choice of OS and some might actually pick XP - OMG.
Come Joe, I've been calling you the most bias tech writer out there for some time.
Go ahead and prove me wrong - have someone you know read the article you wrote and then the one on those Linux sites - see if they agree with me how ridiculous your negative attitude towards MS has become.
Mr Vaughan Nichols stopped attacking MS and starting writing interesting articles Linux.
Try objectivity - just once.
Posted by BlahBlah | May 16, 2008 5:58 PM
"In the end, OLPC's biggest problem may be the fundamental concept"
Yep, now that Microsoft is in the driver's seat, all the OLPC LOVERS turn on the charity. How typical. Up until now, I haven't heard one cross word on the charity.
Haters are haters are haters are haters.
Posted by uhura | May 16, 2008 6:17 PM
Joe,
Beware of the snakeoil salesman. Why no dual boot when I've got dual boot already on the default XO? That's right, I can boot the standard builtin flash Linux/Sugar OS or I can boot from the SD card. I have Ubuntu on there now. So why is Microsoft insisting on a Windows-only boot while Mr Negroponte claims a dual-boot in the future? Hmmm.
Another interesting tidbit is this video they are pushing. It says Windows boots 4 times faster by booting in 50 seconds. What's wrong with that is that the Linux/Sugar I have installed boots in 96 seconds to the Sugar desktop and Microsofts 50 second boot is only to the login screen.
the third issue seems to be that the video pushing Windows on XO is very well produced and reminds a few of us of a particular anti-trust case involving video production. When you look at that video, look at the wall behind the presenter and notice that in the recorded video shown as live, the poster on the wall is missing.
beware of the snakeoil salesman.
Posted by doog | May 16, 2008 6:23 PM
Choice is always good for customers. However, the fact that Microsoft has to offer XP, and offer it at a cut-down price, is only going to hurt Microsoft. It's never been very good with low-margin products, and it's going to have to bleed red ink to stay in this market.
And to what point? In the hope that it will be able to sell those customers higher-margin products in future? How likely is that? Once they've become accustomed to getting things cheaply, why should they ever want to pay more?
And so Microsoft is painting itself into a corner.
Posted by Lawrence D'Oliveiro | May 17, 2008 1:36 AM
Great, now the Linux Community blames MS for their own failures. Why didn't push the open community around Linux to make the product better for a use on those scaled down PCs? It was such a great opportunity to spread Linux out to millions of kids around the world and ensure Linux gets the advantage over Microsoft in the future. Intead all those Commercial Linux Companies focussed on their own business and trying to make as much money as possible - and giving a 'sh...' about open projects as the OLPC. Microsoft simply graped opportunity others didn't want to take. Shame on you Open Sourcers.
Posted by Roland | May 17, 2008 5:41 AM
Chips and Marco must be hopping mad right about now. Anyway, I am sure the director of development on the Unlimited Potential blog in a video was running Windows XP Professional on the OLPC. There was no mention of Windows XP Home and the OLPC itself has a 2 GB SD card, 256 MBs of RAM, 400 MHz AMD Geode processor, it was also running Microsoft Office 2003. So, please correct what you just said.
Next up, even if it was running XP Home (which supports up 5 simultaneous workgroup connections), there would still be no need for a Domain. Since OLPC uses a 'Mesh' topology, where the network feeds off itself, if one OLPC goes down, its not a problem like a Bus network, the other OLPCs will continue to have access to resources.
You noted that the OLPC is not running Windows Vista. I think the version of Windows is the last thing on the childs mind who is getting an OLPC. Its about education and empowerment and XP meets these needs. I am sure somewhere in the near future they might become more powerful in terms of memory, disk space to support Windows Vista.
Posted by Andre Da Costa | May 17, 2008 9:34 AM
Ok I think you guys better look a lot closer.
Linux guys setting up sugger were forbin from using adobe flash plugin even that there is 1 that could have be used on the platform so flash had to be done threw a reversed build form.
MS windows output restricted to only there own software could sux big time too.
So I would not be calling this a win yet. Lets see how bad they treat Microsoft this could have been the woste deal MS could have done.
Its not a victorly over Linux. Its a victory over a completer that was having there hands tied behind there backs. Worry is if they are going to repeat this.
Posted by oiaohm | May 17, 2008 10:27 AM
I certainly believe it is good this happened, but a shortsighted proposal by Microsoft. One can not possibly support competition from Linux on the desktop without allowing competition on the XO from Windows. This I believe is unquestionable and to do otherwise is hypocritical. In this I'm in agreement with TomW and Roland.
Unfortunately the comments are so centered on the OS itself they seem to leave out two key elements. One is development tools and the second is office tools.
I've read a few articles related to this matter and none have mentioned Microsoft giving out free or $20.00 Visual Studio and Office 2007 releases. Well Visual Studio 2005 was a 2.8 Gig download so I don't even know if it will fit into XO! Does Office 2007 run on XO?
It's a wonderful thing that Windows boots up 4 times faster than Linux on that system. Then what? We stare at it? Or do we start downloading and installing all the open source apps and development tools that run on Windows just like they run on Linux?
XO could be a Windows platform for Open Source usage. Simply because Microsoft development tools, productivity tools and multimedia tools have become so bloated and bound to current versions they no longer fit in a system like the XO. In this point I base my comment of being a shortsighted proposal from Microsoft.
It is also shortsighted because it shows how much Microsoft is willing to get up and get moving and release "newer" more compact versions of their software when under competition. This alone proves the stagnation we've achieved on the desktop.
Posted by Gerardo Tasistro | May 17, 2008 11:25 AM
The thing with the OLPC is complex.
The initial idea was excellent, but very hard to put into practice (to get a Laptop that is resistant and child-proof at a low cost).
Negroponte could not carry it out. But companies like ASUS saw its potential-and we are seeing their results. Obviously, Negroponte felt its thunder was being stolen (bruised ego) and its reaction was to make a pact with Ms (the devil?).
What will the result be? It's too soon to give a prognosis. But the importance of the project OLPC has diminished greatly.
Reality is now very different from what it was a year ago. Hardware is cheaper every passing day; software is plentiful and cheaper/free and its quality good enough.
Companies, to be competitive, cannot add a premium for software to their hardware. If the software is free, even better (as the tendency goes.
We are getting to a world where people don't care about the software which handles their hardware. This can be plainly seen in the low-cost phones and PCs (I hope you've noticed that MS' software is falling down in price and it's even free sometimes) The money's on the internet-advertising-and if MS does not get there, it's ruined...Remember Yahoo?
---
The sad thing is that MS (Bill) does not proceed under good faith. And what could be a positive act is merely hypocrisy, as more and more people are realizing.
Bill, remember that the Creator judges intentions not result. Hope yours -intentions-are good.
Posted by Marco | May 17, 2008 11:55 AM
This can be plainly seen in the phones and low-cost PCs
Posted by Marco | May 17, 2008 11:58 AM
SBS 2008 Takes a Price Hike
This is simply the need to get back some of the money which is being lost due to the reduction of other products' price.
Posted by Marco | May 17, 2008 12:11 PM
Posts on Raging Bull go missing.(By Portuno)
This information went to Raging Bull VCSY board where it was immediately deleted:
Morrie,
The time for talk is over. There are people who talk and there are people who do and there are people who do nothing but talk and laugh.
As was noted on the RB VCSY board this morning, there are a whole lot of people posting on RB VCSY who have no financial stake in the stock. They spend an awful lot of time talking and laughing about something they don't know anything about. That alone should be a signal to others, but, others are easily lead and they end up laughing when others laugh.
I offere the following Yahoo VCSY board posts to demonstrate what I think is going to be the least understood jolt to the software world. I want the world to be able to see why they were not allowed in on the secret. That's why I'm posting here those posts and this one blurb from those posts I think will mean the most to folks who were prevented from learning about VCSY by those who did the most to lead the laughing.
"We (VCSY longs) have a list of people who laughed loudest. When the noobies get here and wonder out loud why nobody told them VCSY had what it has, we VCSY longs are going to simply post the list of usernames... usernames of the people who laughed loudest and longest; those people who did everything they possibly could to drown out the conversation about what was a very simple and transforming idea."
Much more at url:
http://messages.finance.yahoo.com/Stocks_%28A_to_Z%29/Stocks_V/threadview?m=tm&bn=33693&tid=778&mid=779&tof=7&rt=1&frt=1&off=1
Posted by I-Man | May 17, 2008 7:57 PM
I-Mange / Portuno-Potty / Whoever you really are:
According to:
http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=vcsy.ob
you "longs" must be right. The mighty VCSY stock price has leaped astoundingly ahead four one-thousandths of a cent to the breathtaking price of 0.0144 on May 16. At this rate, it will only be about 14.5 trillion years before the worth of VCSY will rocket past that of a worm-infested cow pie. Those who refuse to wait less than 14.5 trillion years will miss out on all of the amazing wealth the VCSY faithful will earn. Those who laugh, give up, or die before 14.5 trillion years have passed will have only themselves to blame when they miss out on the prize.
Be patient! 14.5 trillion years is but the blink of an eye to the faithful!
Posted by Philosopher | May 17, 2008 11:46 PM
In locales where shoes are a luxury, how can Windows be widely useful without computer stores or the Internet for (proprietary) application programs? With Linux, productivity software can be provided as freely as the OS.
How can dirt-poor communities advance or leverage their children's early "Windows education" unless they subsequently purchase overpriced and proprietary Microsoft products for their homes and senior schools and small businesses?
Microsoft dumps its products into underdeveloped markets -- like a drug ring handing out cheap samples -- knowing it'll eventually cash in (full price) on all the "hooked" customers.
:(
Posted by Telic | May 18, 2008 2:24 AM
Quoting Joe;
"Microsoft is licensing Windows XP Home, not Professional, for devices such as XO. So how will schools network the computers? Peer to peer? Unmodified XP Home doesn't connect to a network domain. It's one of the many problems associated with offering something old, or, in the case of Windows Starter Edition, something less."
----------------------------------------------------
Now this is an interesting point. If XP Home cannot do this school networking, then MS will either have to make XP Pro version for the OLPC project. That way, since MS is basically giving away XP Home, they have an "upgrade" to sell and thereby make money. Unless, Windows Seven, will work on these computers, which is possible when it comes out soon.
The sad part of all this is, these computers with XP Home on them, will probably not be set up with limited users accounts, and will be handed out to complete newbies, who will just get them infected right away, if they are on the internet. At least with Sugar/Linux, they would have been safe.
I agree with the poster who said that with this small a drive, that only most open source software for XP could fit on it. MS Office being too bloated.
There's going be a lot more fires for M$ to stamp out with XP Home in the short run. And reducing the price, or giving away XP Home for free, is going start to hurt the stock price at some point. But then, to compete in this market, MS will have to do this, or lose. As far as XP Pro, someone will take the OLPC XP Home install CD, and hack it, slipstream the correct files into a XP Pro install CD at some point. It would be better for M$ to do it before that gets out, if they want any control over that.
Posted by chips | May 18, 2008 11:42 AM
Watching Microsoft chase the UMPC market with Windows is like watching a Grade B horror movie. You can't kill the zombies because they're already dead and just when you think you're safe -- here they come, again!
Posted by Karl | May 19, 2008 2:33 PM
Guys, it's not a question of =individual= sales.
It's a question of selling to the country.
Give me your children until they are five, and they will know Windows forever--or until they find something better on their own (which is less likely in the target OLPC countries).
Intragenerational wealth requires intragenerational planning.
Posted by Ken Houghton | May 20, 2008 9:58 PM
Some of you folks want and try to make it sound like Microsoft is source of all evil.
Microsoft is a corporation. A corporation's only purpose in existing is to make money for its investors.
By putting Windows on OLPC machines, they are opening a whole new market. New market = more market share = more profits to shareholders.
Economics 101
Get over it!
Posted by Shawn | May 21, 2008 12:50 PM
They are evil, get over it.
Making the world safe for MSFT and ADBE.
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
November 14, 2005
(SATAN)
Major computer industry players appear to be taking the venture seriously,....Microsoft could be confronting a laptop that could become a standard in the developing world -- one that, for now, would come without its dominant Windows software.
VS
(LUCIFER)
Steve Jobs, Apple Computer Inc.'s chief executive, offered to provide free copies of the company's operating system, OS X, for the machine, according to Seymour Papert, a professor emeritus at MIT who is one of the initiative's founders. "We declined because it's not open source," says Dr. Papert..He also says Microsoft, which is a financial contributor to MIT and a backer of its Media Lab, has undergone a change in attitude about the $100 laptop. "Their first reaction was to laugh at the idea, then the next reaction was kind of antagonistic," he says. "Recently, they're very friendly."
Satan wins! or does he?
April 21, 2008
Agam Shah, IDG News Service
Drastic internal restructuring at the One Laptop Per Child Project has led to the resignation of one of the nonprofit's top executives from the effort.
Walter Bender, the former president of software and content at OLPC, has left the organization to pursue "new activities,"
Bender, the former executive director of Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Media Lab, played a key role in the development and deployment of open-source software for the organization's low-cost XO laptop, aimed as a learning tool for children in developing countries.
Director of Security Ivan Krstić resigned from OLPC to protest the organization's restructuring and "radical" change in goals.
In an interview with BusinessWeek in early March, OLPC Chairman Negroponte said OLPC was "doing almost impossible things," and that the organization needed to be managed "more like Microsoft."
Maybe its a draw - project DOA
WAR FAMINE PESTILENCE and DEATH to the rescue.
Computerworld dot com
April 23, 2008 (Computerworld) One day after the resignation of the One Laptop Per Child project's president was publicly revealed, the OLPC's founder and chairman said that the group's XO laptop may evolve to use only Windows XP as its operating system
(The DEVIL)
OLPC's documentation notes that Flash sites often take 1GB of free disk space or more — again, more than is available on the XO.
But to accommodate Flash and Windows XP, the OLPC may have to equip the XO with a larger solid-state drive, raising the laptop's price again.
Posted by Truthbomb | June 2, 2008 3:52 AM