I really don't understand OLPC's recent flip flop. The whole idea of Sugar is that it is a kid-friendly surface over the OS for them to use. It is completely irrelevant of what OS is underneath it. Sugar could be running on any OS, but it just happens to be running over Linux.
If they are now extolling the XP, why don't they just junk Sugar entirely and show a regular GNOME desktop on the user? It certainly does not require they switch operating systems in order to change the user interface for something more conventional. It would be cheaper too. Alternatively, maybe something like the Eee PC's tabs would be a better UI - it's still simple but allows real apps to startup and run.
I've also heard criticism that Sugar doesn't work with Flash movies. I do not get this at all. There is a proper x86 Linux Flash player as well as an open source and compatible plugin. Sugar embeds Gecko and Gecko supports either the official or unofficial plugin. I really don't understand why Flash would be missing.
Ultimately they should offer governments a choice - sugar or GNOME and point out the advantages of each. Sugar does look a bit unrefined but it does have one good reason for existing - it would turn off any prospective thieves.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
DrXym @ Apr 25th 2008 10:22AM
I really don't understand OLPC's recent flip flop. The whole idea of Sugar is that it is a kid-friendly surface over the OS for them to use. It is completely irrelevant of what OS is underneath it. Sugar could be running on any OS, but it just happens to be running over Linux.
If they are now extolling the XP, why don't they just junk Sugar entirely and show a regular GNOME desktop on the user? It certainly does not require they switch operating systems in order to change the user interface for something more conventional. It would be cheaper too. Alternatively, maybe something like the Eee PC's tabs would be a better UI - it's still simple but allows real apps to startup and run.
I've also heard criticism that Sugar doesn't work with Flash movies. I do not get this at all. There is a proper x86 Linux Flash player as well as an open source and compatible plugin. Sugar embeds Gecko and Gecko supports either the official or unofficial plugin. I really don't understand why Flash would be missing.
Ultimately they should offer governments a choice - sugar or GNOME and point out the advantages of each. Sugar does look a bit unrefined but it does have one good reason for existing - it would turn off any prospective thieves.