Microsoft said on Wednesday that it is working to develop a version of Windows XP that can run on computers without a hard drive, including the XO from One Laptop Per Child (OLPC).
In a statement, Microsoft said that it will start "limited field trials" of XP running on the OLPC computer in January. If all goes well, Microsoft said it could have XP running on the XO by the second half of next year.
However, it cautioned folks in North America, particularly those taking part in the Give One, Get One program, that it has no plans to offer that version of XP to folks in the US or Canada.
"As part of Microsoft's Unlimited Potential effort to bring the benefits of technology to the next 5 billion people by transforming education, fostering local innovation, and enabling jobs and opportunity, Microsoft today announced plans to further expand flash-based Windows XP support for low-cost hardware computing devices," the company said in the statement.
Microsoft said it will "publish formal design guidelines early next year that will assist flash-based device manufacturers in designing machines that enable a high-quality Windows experience."
Microsoft said that governments that are considering buying the XO laptops should give the software maker a call to learn more about when the new version of XP might be ready and how much it will cost.
In an interview, James Utzschneider, the general manager of Microsoft's emerging market unit, said Microsoft has devoted about 40 employees and contractors to work on its effort.
However, there are plenty of technical hurdles, he said. One of the biggest is the fact that the XO has no hard drive and only 1GB of built-in memory. The company concluded it needed at least 2GB of memory just for Windows and Office, so it convinced the OLPC folks to include an SD slot on the laptop's motherboard.
Microsoft's current plan is to get its low-cost Windows and Office bundle to fit on a 2GB SD card that can be added to the laptop. It also has to write new BIOS software to ensure that the operating system can boot directly from an SD card.
Just to get ready for a planned trial in January, Microsoft must write about 10 different hardware drivers to support things like the XO's special screen, its mesh networking, camera, and other unique features.
"To support all of that takes time," he said, noting that Microsoft has been working with OLPC for a year, but until recently, the software maker only had a handful of machines with which to do its development and testing.
Utzschneider said Microsoft normally wouldn't have even talked about its XO effort this early, but was concerned by statements made by Nicholas Negroponte that suggested Windows was ready to go on the XO.
"We wanted to come out and say flat out that's not the case," Utzschneider said. "Despite all of the rhetoric, we don't think we can have a production version until the second half of 2008."
Only after the trial, Utzschneider said, will Microsoft make a decision of whether it will commit to releasing XP for the device, though it certainly has that as its goal.
And even if it does create such a version, it has no plans to allow those taking part in the Give One, Get One program to add Windows to their machine.
"It's clearly our goal to ship a release," Utzschneider said. "But we are not confident that the combination of all of this will work with the quality people would expect with Windows XP running on a laptop.
the FOSS world always talks about giving the world freedom of choice, so more vendors the more choice. This is excellent news and provides a driving force to get this device adopted across the globe. Good Job!