Colombia signs up for OLPC laptops with Windows

11.11.2008
Colombia will become the second country to use the One Laptop Per Child Project's (OLPC) XO laptops running Microsoft Windows XP in schools after signing an agreement for pilot programs in two towns, Microsoft said late Monday.

Schools in the towns of Quetame and Chia will be outfitted with the small green XO laptops developed by the OLPC. The pilot programs are expected to expand over time.

Microsoft and OLPC will donate the XO laptops and work with teachers on how to use them in schools. The groups did not say how many laptops would be handed out as part of the trial nor when it would start.

With the agreement, Colombia became second behind only Peru to adopt XO laptops with Windows XP in schools. Microsoft and OLPC worked together to tweak the OS and OLPC laptops to use the Microsoft software. Prior to their work, which was announced in May, the hardware on the XO could not handle the OS.

The Colombia pilot programs are an effort to introduce more technology into schools and prepare kids for high tech jobs in the future. OLPC started as an effort to develop a low-cost US$100 laptop to distribute in developing nations to help maker sure kids and other people aren't left out of the computing revolution.

Installing Microsoft software in OLPC's laptops has been controversial. OLPC started out offering Linux on the devices because the OS costs nothing and organizers believed it made the device run more efficiently. Some open-source software advocates hoped the XO would spread the use of Linux and the open source philosophy to the 5 billion people living without computers in the developing world.