[Its.an.education.project] Microsoft

[Walter Bender]

The price often quoted has been $7 for the SD card. Not sure where
that number comes from. I recall that a $19 high-speed card was used
in the original testing; at the time it was asserted that a
standard-speed card was necessary.

I don't know that this is still the case.

-walter

On Mon, May 19, 2008 at 4:20 AM, John Gilmore <gnu at toad.com> wrote:
>> So... all the new 200,000 XOs that will come to Peru will come with this
>> new V2 Bios.  and the first 45,000 will be updated?  Or we have to
>> deal with a mixed enviroment? (no problem... just asking...)
>
> Since the V2 firmware is only recently demo-able, not yet product
> quality, it's too early to tell when it will roll into the Quanta
> production line.
>
> Here's what I expect (which may be total fantasy).  When each child's
> XO gets a new software update (probably the scheduled August update,
> suitably augmented by the in-country team), then along with the OS and
> Activities, they'll also get the latest OpenFirmware update.  That
> firmware will include the capability to boot Windows, and have various
> other improvements.
>
> "The capability to boot Windows" does not include a copy of Windows
> itself.  To find out about how and when that will be available, you'd
> have to talk to Microsoft.  I hear each copy is $3 in some countries,
> and requires an SD card for more storage, that'll cost a few dollars
> also.  So if Peru wanted it on every laptop, figure it'll cost US$1.4
> million or so (200K x ($3 + $4)).
>
> Most of that cost is unavoidable hardware cost, unless MS slims down
> Windows to not need >1GB.  It'd cost US$800K even if MS let everyone
> in the country "pirate" the OS.  Doing so might well suit their
> purposes even better than charging $3 per copy, since they wouldn't be
> expected to provide any support for a stolen product, yet they would
> still be weaning kids away from Linux.
>
>        John Gilmore (not an OLPC employee!)
>
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