Microsoft stirred up controversy last week when it suggested a Linux-based laptop for children in developing nations be redesigned to accommodate Windows. Would that be a good move?
One Laptop Per Child's XO system currently runs on a Red Hat Linux OS. The thinking is that open source software allows OLPC to offer a system for the lowest cost possible. It also prevents 'lock in' to any one commercial vendor's technology.
But Microsoft general manager James Utzschneider argues that making the XO laptop compatible with Windows XP would give students in poor countries access to "tens of thousands of existing educational applications written for Windows."
http://www.informationweek.com/blog/main/archives/2007/12/should_one_lapt.html