OLPC

This week our site has been abuzz with comments about OLPC’s next generation laptop, the XO-2. No prototype of the XO-2 has been built yet, and the machines aren’t scheduled to ship until 2010, but that hasn’t stopped readers from expressing strong opinions about the XO-2’s keyboard, or lack thereof.

Replacing a physical keyboard with a touchscreen virtual keypad (à la the iPhone) is a bold move on OLPC’s part, but is it good for everyday use?

RoMania commented:

The fact that the keyboard is missing it’s a big problem. Trust me I prefer to type on a real keyboard rather than on a touch screen. [sic]

Flatus said:

Touchscreens that you press may work for an ATM machine, where you’re only doing a few presses while looking at the screen.

A user named Jason was blunt in comparing the XO-2’s keyboard to one from the late 70s/early 80s:

The future is typing on an Atari 400?

For those not well-versed in disco-era technology, we should say that the Atari 400 (pictured at right) was an early home PC that featured a membrane keyboard. Membrane keyboards were used in a few other early home computers but were quickly relegated to microwave-oven keypads, because typing on a flat surface is so uncomfortable. Or is it?

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As Nicholas Negroponte told us a few months back, One Laptop Per Child’s (OLPC) XO laptop will be getting a Microsoft Windows XP operating system. It will not, however, completely replace the Sugar Linux OS that has been on the systems to date.

A joint press release from Microsoft and One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) revealed that trials of the XO running Windows are planned to begin as soon as in June in select emerging markets. The release also mentioned that the intent is to create a version of the XO laptop that provides the ability to host both Windows and Linux operating systems. Finally, a Sugar/Windows XP Boot Camp?!

Then again, what’s the use of having the Sugar interface if XP will be able to support the laptop’s e-book reading mode, standard Wi-Fi networking, camera, writing pad, and custom keys as well as power-saving and other features of the XO hardware? Will people see the use in using Sugar if they can just get all the applications that were built for the original system in a Microsoft OS? Perhaps a dual boot is the only solution for those that were resistant to the open-Sugar OS. Maybe Sugar is like those force-fed vegetables sitting on your plate; you don’t think you like them, but you don’t know until you try them.

Next week we’re heading up to Cambridge to get some hands-on time with the new system. Stay tuned for our initial impressions.

Update: Those readers that are interested in upgrading their XO, purchased in Give 1, Get 1, to XP will have to be patient. According to OLPC Founder Nicholas Negroponte, ” we are working on the dual boot and until such a time it will not be possible for users to upgrade their XO’s. This is a combination of of the flexibility of changing the firmware and business decisions to be made by Microsoft.”

Back with more news on the low-cost laptop war. We didn’t have the Classmate PC on our original chart of Eee PC killers because it wasn’t available to mature market customers. Until now.

Today, Intel announced plans to make its Classmate PC widely available to the public. The company said that U.S. and European consumers will soon be able to buy the sub-$300 laptop originally intended for children in developing markets. An Intel spokesperson also confirmed that the Classmate is designed by Intel, but PC manufacturers will produce it like other personal computers using Intel chips.

The Classmate will be priced between $250 and $350; price is dependent on the OEM’s software and design decisions. Intel also revealed its plans to launch a second generation of the Classmate in the coming weeks. The second generation will provide more choices for manufacturers. The Intel spokesperson declined to comment if we would see OEM announcements around the launch of the Classmate 2. Either way, the second Classmate will not run the Atom line of processors; it will maintain its Celeron chip.

Few would question Intel’s move to widely distribute the Classmate. Bundle the success of the Eee PC and our child reviewer’s love of the machine and you’ve got a recipe for success.

For those that follow the Intel/OLPC rivalry, things aren’t looking good over at OLPC. In response to the  growing number of low-cost laptops, Nicholas Negroponte told us that “Most of these new laptops, much as I love them, are cost-downs of office productivity machines. Nobody else has really looked at it (yet) and a design-up for children and learning.” I’d say the Classmate doesn’t fall into that category Negroponte is talking about.