XP finally offered on XO

 

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By Stuart Turton

Posted on 27 Oct 2008 at 11:23

Microsoft has delivered a lightweight version of Windows XP for the One Laptop per Child's low-powered XO machine.

The Redmond giant has been working on the revised operating system since December 2007, and has managed to slim it down so that it runs off a 2GB flash memory card. Despite this, the company maintains that it's a feature complete version of the OS.

The company has also spent the development time creating drivers allowing XP to support many of the XO's unique features, including its ebook reading mode, custom keys and power-saving modes.

Unfortunately, much of the specially developed educational software that came bundled with the XO is incompatible with XP, though Scratch - the child friendly programming language - has apparently survived the transition.

The XP-loaded version of the XO will be available alongside the Linux variety to Governments and educational organisations, though not normal consumers. Anybody who wants an XO needs to be living in the US, and be willing to buy a Linux machine through the Give 1 get 1 scheme.