I disagree about making Windows available. The last thing we need is to strengthen Microsoft's dominance.
As for changes, I'd have put the CPU and RAM on sockets to make it easier to upgrade as technology advances and becomes less expensive. I'd have also tried to make replacing the display as easy as possible for upgrades and/or repairs.
I'm not sure if it's included, but I definitely include a terminal and a compiler.
I completely agree with Pastry Chef in that Windows should NOT be put on this machine. Why pay for Windows when there are other free OS that are just as good, if not better in some ways.
I agree. And Windows isn't important for the "business world" as much as MS Office is. And if you can use Open Office, you can use MS Office, or at least be familiar enough with it to work your way around it. And you sure as hell bet that $3 doesn't include a business-sized install of MS Office.
Not to mention, the notion of "learning Windows" is just silly. If you have any PC, get familiar with email, a browser and the concept of "click to control" and learn typing, you shouldn't have any problem using something even remotely user friendly. The transition to working in a business with a Winbox should seriously take less than a day, if you have any PC familiarity. Likewise, converting over to OS X or something like Ubuntu, for business use, should take less than a day.
he laptop includes a terminal and gives users full access to the system. There's no compiler installed by default because compiling is quite slow and the source code takes a lot of room. One of the motivations for using Python is that at least the code in Python (which is a large amount of the total code) will be accessible. The system is a fairly standard Fedora Linux system, so you can install extra packages if you want (like a compiler or any other RPM).
The OLPC isn't intended to be an "FU" to Microsoft, or erode it's OS dominance, it's supposed to give 3rd world children educational opportunities that they would not otherwise have. A $3 copy of windows will further that goal a lot more than propaganda and ideology.
What's with the $3 install by Microsoft? We are fully behind the idea and really want to help, but that last 3 bucks is going to break us?? To give legitimacy to the government/agencies purchasing/distributing so they can say they "invested" in Microsoft for the children?
Any Linux PC can Remote Desktop to a server hosting Windows for such education. The XO is designed to be online all the time. No need for local MS Windows for corporate type education.
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I disagree about making Windows available. The last thing we need is to strengthen Microsoft's dominance.
As for changes, I'd have put the CPU and RAM on sockets to make it easier to upgrade as technology advances and becomes less expensive. I'd have also tried to make replacing the display as easy as possible for upgrades and/or repairs.
I'm not sure if it's included, but I definitely include a terminal and a compiler.
I completely agree with Pastry Chef in that Windows should NOT be put on this machine. Why pay for Windows when there are other free OS that are just as good, if not better in some ways.
I agree. And Windows isn't important for the "business world" as much as MS Office is. And if you can use Open Office, you can use MS Office, or at least be familiar enough with it to work your way around it. And you sure as hell bet that $3 doesn't include a business-sized install of MS Office.
Not to mention, the notion of "learning Windows" is just silly. If you have any PC, get familiar with email, a browser and the concept of "click to control" and learn typing, you shouldn't have any problem using something even remotely user friendly. The transition to working in a business with a Winbox should seriously take less than a day, if you have any PC familiarity. Likewise, converting over to OS X or something like Ubuntu, for business use, should take less than a day.
he laptop includes a terminal and gives users full access to the
system. There's no compiler installed by default because compiling
is quite slow and the source code takes a lot of room. One of the
motivations for using Python is that at least the code in Python
(which is a large amount of the total code) will be accessible. The
system is a fairly standard Fedora Linux system, so you can install
extra packages if you want (like a compiler or any other RPM).
The OLPC isn't intended to be an "FU" to Microsoft, or erode it's OS dominance, it's supposed to give 3rd world children educational opportunities that they would not otherwise have. A $3 copy of windows will further that goal a lot more than propaganda and ideology.
What's with the $3 install by Microsoft? We are fully behind the idea and really want to help, but that last 3 bucks is going to break us?? To give legitimacy to the government/agencies purchasing/distributing so they can say they "invested" in Microsoft for the children?
Any Linux PC can Remote Desktop to a server hosting Windows for such education.
The XO is designed to be online all the time.
No need for local MS Windows for corporate type education.