[lug] OLPC Will Ship With Windows XP

[Jordan Crouse]

Lori Reed wrote:
> The opinions expressed here are those of Charlie Sorrel, and not my own.
> -L
> 
> The $100 Linux Laptop is now a $200 Windows XP box.

<snip>

Charlie, like nearly the rest of the world, has completely missed a very 
important concept.  Many others from OLPC and other places have written 
many words about the nature of open source. There being nothing more 
productive I can add to that discussion, I'll just quote somebody from 
the OLPC mailing list:

"The golden rule says to do unto others as you would have them do to 
you, not do unto others as they _did_ to you".

The *FAR* more important thing that was widely missed in the 
announcement of last Thursday was that both operating systems are going 
to use the OFW firmware and the source would be open (obviously).

Put plainly this means that there now exists a completely open firmware 
solution that can boot and run Windows XP, something that has never been 
accomplished before. This is nothing short then a immense accomplishment 
and one that the open source community will greatly benefit from.  This 
makes using a free and open firmware (BIOS) solution a viable commercial 
option.  That is a *big* *deal*.

Take a moment from loudly decrying what is left of the OLPC leadership 
and thank them for encouraging and funding a free firmware solution for 
both Linux and Windows (and quite frankly, any other operating system 
that wants to run on the platform).  Even now, as most of the world is 
blinded with rage (like our friend Charlie), the more level headed among 
us should be able to recognize that today, more then ever, this is truly 
the world's most open hardware platform. Even if the platform ends up 
shipping with only Windows from this point on, the open source world 
will benefit far more from this project then it has sacrificed.

Jordan