Microsoft Attacks!
In a move reminiscent of France’s opposition to the Iraqi invasion, and then their subsequent request to help with the rebuilding once all the hard work was pretty much over, Microsoft has attacked the OLPC (One Laptop Per Child) Organization and demanded that they upgrade their hardware in order to better fit their bloated, memory sucking and overly proprietary operating system XP onto the benevolent laptops.Think about that for just a second, Ladies and Gentlemen… This is the same Microsoft who recently backed Intel’s Classmate which some see as a direct competitor with the OLPC, but seems to be failing horribly, snubbing the fine folks at OLPC who had no intention of making a profit in the first place.
The way I see it? Microsoft backed the wrong horse out of the gate and is trying to switch bets mid-race. Not only that, but they will probably get away with it, considering that the OLPC desperately needs more cash to keep going. Of course the OLPC chose the Linux Kernel as their OS early on after being turned down by Microsoft to provide a smaller, cheaper version of their OS. This is just another typical MS move against the growing Linux movement, along with the threatening lawsuits and strong arming large Linux distributors into “mutual” non-aggression treaties. Sound familiar? Maybe like Hitler’s non-agression treaties that often precluded a full invasion… I don’t know about you, but I hesitate to smile upon such tactics.
Perhaps the OLPC Project will indeed agree to Microsoft’s Gestapo tactics and upgrade their hardware yet again, which will lead to more price increases, making things even harder than ever to get these laptops out to the needy children of the world. Or perhaps it’s time to take a stand and let MS know that we can learn from history and switching bets just simply won’t work this time…
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