Three very interesting news clips cropped up this week about the $100 ‘One Laptop Per Child’ laptop which is well on track to become the world’s most ambitious open source project.
The first is that OLPC will have a Windows version (opens in new tab), although I strongly suspect that it will be a slimmed down Windows Thin Client (opens in new tab) which Microsoft will have to sell at a very low cost or even give away. Whether they like it or not, Microsoft just cannot let a potential market of 10 million users slip away without a fight.
The second worthy news is that Mr Negroponte expects that the price of the laptop will fall to $50 (opens in new tab) within three years of its introduction; which is very cheap and you can bet that Negroponte - who is working for a non profit organisation - will be keen to use his leverage to bring prices as low as possible.
The third related news is Mr. Negroponte's appeal for a slimmed down fat-free Linux calling bloated software (opens in new tab) a growing menace, using a fat person analogy. The OLPC will need a no-frill, back-to-basics Linux distribution to be able to work properly and at a reasonable speed on the $100 laptop.
