Negroponte Not Seeking Replacement, OLPC XO to Run Windows in 60 Days or Less
Mar 10, 2008 11:54 AM EDT by Joanna Stern 
Last week BusinessWeek reported that Nicholas Negroponte, founder of One Laptop Per Child (OLPC), was searching for a new CEO of the non-profit organization. Negroponte was quoted in the article saying that OLPC has been run “almost like a terrorist group, doing almost impossible things.” Contrary to what has been swarming around the blogs, Negroponte’s role at OLPC will not be changing drastically when a new CEO is selected and put in place. Negroponte told us in an e-mail interview that “‘Replacement’ is not the right word. We have no CEO. I have never held that title nor used it. I will continue to do what I do, no real change.” He also added that he will go under the title of Chairman and Foreign Minister. He was quoted in the BusinessWeek article saying OLPC needs to be run “more like Microsoft.” The laptop or the company? is the question. Negroponte says that a Windows operating system is in the process of being fine-tuned on the XO as we speak. “Microsoft and OLPC are in discussion on how to release it, as well as how to announce,” he said. Negroponte added that the Windows operating system should be available on the XO in less than 60 days.
March 10th, 2008 at 8:24 pm
No matter what Nicholas Negroponte says, his search for a CEO marks the start of his departure and the addition of Windows marks the end of OLPC as a education project.
March 11th, 2008 at 2:57 am
Well, well, well.
Turns out Theo and Stallman were right all along about Negroponte and the OLPC project.
It’s the thin wedge.
Proprietary software is the enemy of education.
March 11th, 2008 at 2:24 pm
I do wish that Mr. Negroponte would reconsider *his* decision here.
A few dirty Microsoft dollars are insufficient consolation for the loss of your reputation and good name. And advocating to help Microsoft *hook* children on software which removes their rights and freedoms puts your reputation right down the drain.
So much for your original plan to help the children of the world.
March 15th, 2008 at 9:20 am
I was doing to Get one give one, but not any longer.
As Microsoft is involved, they can use some of their billions to fund this program, and I don’t need to.
March 17th, 2008 at 7:23 am
@ Jeff
Ditto. If you need a cheap x86 machine, there are tons out there. If you wanted a teaching platform with learning features all the way from editable source code to ad-hoc global chat networks, the XO *was* the only option. Now there are none. Great.
March 20th, 2008 at 5:58 am
I do wish that Mr. Negroponte would reconsider it how to compare Asus Eee PC.
Although i not developing OLPC, but we are the users! Right?
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March 20th, 2008 at 5:59 am
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