Response from Microsoft

There has been some back and forth today about Microsoft's involvement with Nicholas Negroponte's One Laptop Per Childproject. We heard first that there were plans for the XO computer to work with Windows, and then we heard that Microsoft was experimenting with XO and that was all.

Will Poole, senior vice president of the Market Expansion Group at Microsoft, had this to say about it:

"We have been engaged in dialog with Nicholas Negroponte and his team regarding the plans for OLPC for some time. As part of our ongoing discussions,
OLPC has provided us with a number of beta XOs. With those in hand, we currently are
in the process of evaluating the feasibility of running Windows on the
XO device. While we are pleased with the progress to date, we still have significant work ahead to finalize our analysis and testing processes. Overall, we share the goal of OLPC and the IT industry of leveraging technology in delivering enhanced education to children in under-served communities of the world."

And now we are back to the beginning. According to Poole, Microsoft is on their way to making Windows available for the XO. Although OLPC claims there is no formal partnership between the two, it is clear that there has been some sort of negotiation. There is one question that still remains; why did OLPC give the beta XOs to Microsoft in the first place if their commitment to open source is as unwavering as they claim?