Re: [Fsfe-uk] Time to boycot OLPC?

[Alex Hudson]

Ian Lynch wrote:
> The devil is in the detail. Why do they care it runs Windows? Two
> possibilities, simple brand strength and/or because they want to run (or
> think they might need to run) software that only runs on Windows.
> Question is how much they are prepared to pay for either of those two
> requirements. Many people will pay a premium for "the brand" but then
> why not just buy a conventional laptop? - Price. 

Yeah that, but also that OLPC is ruggedised. I know it's in the same 
price bracket as eeePC et al, but it's not in the same bracket in terms 
of dropping it on the floor / replacing parts / etc. As a hardware 
platform, it's quite attractive in some ways which could also attract a 
premium,

For OEM Windows sales - I have no doubt MS will sell an OLPC-specific 
(almost) version which can only run three apps at a time (or whatever 
their Basic limitation was) and do it for something like $5. I doubt 
they care about the price too much at this point.

As for your other points - I couldn't agree more. The hardware will get 
more powerful, and Windows will slim to fit. The educational apps aren't 
good enough to shift sales of this thing alone; customers are still 
going to expect 'standard Office apps' on this thing because most 
people's computer lives totally revolve around that. At the end of the 
day, the problem reduces to "selling a free software desktop", and 
nobody has really made a profit from that yet.

The GUI is a nice design, but trying to sell it is a complete nother matter.

Cheers,

Alex.