“Late last week the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) project had a
media event in Cambridge, and while I couldn’t make the event, I
did tape a video interview for the BBC on the project. During my
preparation I kept coming across these claims that Microsoft and
OLPC had partnered to put Windows XP Starter Edition on the OLPC,
and according to one report, this was being done to get the XO
laptop into US schools. None of this jibed with what I had been
hearing from sources, so I decided to look into it further. As it
turns out, a number of new outlets, including the AP and Reuters,
mischaracterized the situation.“According to Walter Bender, president of Software and Content
at OLPC, there is no agreement in place between OLPC and Microsoft
to offer XO laptops with any version of Windows…”