Peru receives first Windows based OLPC XO laptops

The long wait is up, and Peru is first in line to receive the new Windows flavored XO through the OLPC program. Though not as cute as the bubbly Sugar interface, it will pack more of a real world punch where apps are concerned -- each XO is fitted out with an assortment of MS goodies, including Office 2003 and Learning Essentials 1.0 for Office, served on a bed of XP Pro. Now before you get all teary eyed, keep in mind that Sugar lives on, and there's an emulator out there with your name on it.

[Thanks, Patrick]

[phroz @ Sep 17th 2008 11:41PM]

I wonder how long before WGA kills those OLPCs

[Flashpoint @ Sep 17th 2008 11:58PM]

I reject the entire idea of OLPC.
How can we bring these kids into the international community and the educational resource of the internet if we give them computers that can't run Crysis?

[ the low rank button is up and to the right - come on and hit me !]

[YOO. @ Sep 18th 2008 2:29AM]

Flaspoint.
have you even played Crysis at least.

[Flashpoint @ Sep 18th 2008 6:39AM]

YOO

Why YES I HAVE !

The Demo !!!!

[phroz @ Sep 17th 2008 11:43PM]

where did my comment go?

[thatrotierkid @ Sep 17th 2008 11:47PM]

youre new here arent you?

[Artie Lange @ Sep 18th 2008 1:19AM]

Its playing in traffic. It sounds like fun! It asked me to invite you to meet it there. I'd come with, but I've got to do some laundry to do...

[Victor @ Sep 17th 2008 11:45PM]

Why not linux? :)

[BigD145 @ Sep 18th 2008 12:20AM]

That might make children intelligent. MS only wants mindless drones buying their products blindly in the future. It's simply viral advertising.

[maveric101 @ Sep 18th 2008 12:25AM]

the Sugar OS is technically linux...

besides, now these peruvean kids can get their game on! it won't be long now till they get game consoles and i'm getting cursed at in spanish on XBL.

[Ian @ Sep 17th 2008 11:48PM]

Right above you.


Maybe it's time to just go the netbook route. I mean, the simple fact that you can still get netbooks (EeePC ones with 7" screens and a 4 GB of SSD) for around $200 or $250 in our consumer world means that the developing world could get the same thing for around $150 each.

These OLPC XO laptops just look really poor, and there's not much on offer.

[Serial 8-Ball Mouse @ Sep 17th 2008 11:51PM]

They look like absolute garbage. And prepare to be baffled when some self righteous lunatic replies to your comment with "THEY LOOK FINE THEY'RE SUPPOSED TO BE USEFUL NOT BEAUTIFUL I LIKE IT."

Yeah. Right.

[konshuss @ Sep 18th 2008 12:19AM]

nah... not this time. those are awful.


look how they're holding them, like they're not even computers... great handshake and diplomacy and all, but how about you hold the suckers up and let people know they actually power on?

[jhracer3 @ Sep 18th 2008 1:06AM]

while netbooks are definitley cheap and available, and in some cases more useful (certainly more than the sugar OLs anyway), I don't think they would take the abuse. The OLPCs look to be built like tanks so they can stand up to children and such.

by the way, props to Microsoft on this; those cost what, like $300? Xp Pro and MS office cost a hell of a lot more than that, so they really are doing their part to get the OLs out their with useful software.

[B.C. @ Sep 18th 2008 2:12AM]

Give this a watch & listen before condemning the project.

http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/nicholas_negroponte_on_one_laptop_per_child.html

[ishism @ Sep 18th 2008 2:18AM]

just give them the everex cloudbook. It cheap now, and I'm sure Everex could use the buyers.

[Ogo @ Sep 18th 2008 7:22AM]

I too think they look like ahhh.... sh*t.

@ B.C.
Thank you for posting the video.

The computer is suppose to look bad. The guy in the video makes the comparison to a US postal truck. There are thousands of postal trucks in the US and they don't get stolen because nobody wants them. Hence, these computers look "bad" so there is no after mark (he called it a grey market), therefore nobody will steal them because they cannot be resold.

I have just been enlightened.

[leppr.cali @ Sep 18th 2008 12:13PM]

"Maybe it's time to just go the netbook route. I mean, the simple fact that you can still get netbooks (EeePC ones with 7" screens and a 4 GB of SSD) for around $200 or $250 in our consumer world means that the developing world could get the same thing for around $150 each."

You're so stupid, in Peru these would cost around 1000 USD...

[JDS @ Oct 10th 2008 1:17PM]

Looks are definitely in the eye of the beholder. I think they look pretty cool, and they look even more amazing to kids. Any grownup is not really allowed to make an assessment of this things looks, frankly.

I am holding, in my hands, right this second, an OLPC XO laptop. Frankly the thing is amazing. My four year old thinks it is the best thing he has ever seen. It has features that would be cool on a consumer laptop.

Mine has Sugar on it. Also, mine is "last year's" -- meaning it is a mid-development model, not quite fully developed. But pretty darn close.

I don't see any way that putting Windows XP on this could really improve the thing. The sugar interface is targeted towards learning. Windows XP is targeted towards businesses and consumers. Really, WinXP is antithetical to the purpose and goals of the OLPC project. ANY commercial software company's interests are, really. But I digress.

[Stewart @ Sep 17th 2008 11:49PM]

If I had an 8-year-old who needed a computer, this is the one I would get. Too bad I don't have one, and I don't live in Peru.

[Serial 8-Ball Mouse @ Sep 17th 2008 11:55PM]

I pity your first 8 year old.

[maveric101 @ Sep 17th 2008 11:57PM]

now i can play little peruvean kids in Starcraft!

[Someone is here @ Sep 18th 2008 12:10AM]

and have them invade engadget and realize how crappy these things(not even computers) are!

[iEye @ Sep 18th 2008 12:05AM]

Hi, I'm an XO...


and I'm a MAC....

[The Dude @ Sep 18th 2008 1:29AM]

I HAVE A MAC ADDRESS TOO, BRAH'.

[Major4Play @ Sep 18th 2008 8:39AM]

I think you'll find that's actually spelled iAye

[Ian @ Sep 18th 2008 12:13AM]

Make fun of their framerates, and give them an educmacation on l33t speak, why don't you.

[Stephen @ Sep 18th 2008 12:16AM]

Great, now Peruvian kids can get a massive dose of what a few executives think the "real world" is like. Lucky them..

[Artie Lange @ Sep 18th 2008 12:33AM]

That guy is SOOOOO happy he finally has a 'puter to surf the Redtube on. "Ahhhhhhh yezzzzzzz...Ramirez, today is your lucky dayhhhhh. I will neeeeeever leave my house agaaaaaaaain".

[webon @ Sep 18th 2008 12:59AM]

Ramirez? I thought his name was Peru??!!

[Artie Lange @ Sep 18th 2008 1:13AM]

In my mind, that guy sounds like Nacho Libre. But he could just as easily sound like Ricardo Montalban. Maybe Speedy Gonzales. Or Pablo Neruda.

[Artie Lange @ Sep 18th 2008 1:16AM]

And for your information, "Peru" is his last name. Ramirez, or "Rez-Dog" to his friends, is his first name.

[b_rolin @ Sep 18th 2008 12:37AM]

"Flashpoint @ Sep 17th 2008 11:58PM
I reject the entire idea of OLPC.
How can we bring these kids into the international community and the educational resource of the internet if we give them computers that can't run Crysis?"

Only reson why flashpoint was funny is because it was first ...but on a more serious note..ARE these computers being given to or bought for these kids?.. And if so who is fitting the bill? And how come OUR lower income (or poor people if you must ) do not recieve these FIRST..and then the rest of the world later,,,,,? just asking ..figured at least 1 of you brainiacs would knoe..

[youngstunna @ Sep 18th 2008 1:55AM]

wow that thing is ugly.

[contreras @ Sep 18th 2008 3:04AM]

The idea of this PC's is to deliver them to rural areas. In Peru, rural areas are places where there is no electricity in the middle of the mountains or jungles. This is part of a gobernment program that is bringing internet to these areas (mainly based on satellite links) and the use of this PC's is to complement their education. They don't even have TV coverage in many cases. OLPC might not be pretty or very functional, but the value for these kids, without having even electricity is huge.

Of course this will open a Pandora box. Let's be sincere, not everything internet has is good for kids, but in any case they will have much more sources than before to develop and shape their ideas.

and, I AM PERUVIAN!!! :o)

[JKT @ Sep 18th 2008 5:25AM]

Just to remind everyone, Peruvian oficials (the ones pictured) rejected the original OLPC software that was specifically designed to be power- and resource-efficient (not to mention OS-neutral) and insisted on Windows. ::insert sound of Lewis Black here::
This is so unreal it makes my head hurt. I want to caption that picture with "I'm stupid." "No, I'm stupid." "Well, I'm stupider than you." "No, I'M stupider!!"

[JRM @ Sep 18th 2008 7:57AM]

This will open Peruvian kids (and rural ones at that!) to the wide world of hacking/modding. If there's one thing you can say about third world youths, is that they're really good at making the most of what little they have. I hope they use these OLPC's to stick it to the man.

Arriba Peru!

[Ken Laninga @ Sep 18th 2008 9:54AM]

If you like LOW-COST machines, how about the FREE Ausus Eee PC 2Gb Surf? The Royal Bank here in Canada, as announced earlier this year in Engadget was GIVING them away. I got mine and it is a SUPER little netbook. I wonder how little the bank got them for. Must have been under $100. each.

[Tynen @ Sep 19th 2008 2:25AM]

what a cheesey photograph . lol

[gtsaigt @ Sep 20th 2008 10:12AM]

so OLPC spend so much time to develop their community concept interface system and then decide to use Microsoft's system that has bunch of crape people don' need?

[Bob @ Sep 22nd 2008 5:04PM]

nice

[Pedro @ Oct 6th 2008 12:23AM]

I am a Peruvian entrepreneur and a computer engineer, these xo's are such a very stupid poison of technology guided by ignorant government members (president and ministers). These xo's isolate our poor childs from a competitive world, and only prepares new customers for dirty MS products. As of 2008 the government organizations still rules using MS formats (.doc now .xdoc, .xls...) and olny works for big local and foreign PC and IT companies. We need to develop open sources, is the only way to defeat the global market. Better give each child an iPod or Wii.