Can I load Microsoft Windows or my own software onto the XO laptop?
At this exact moment in time, no, but possibly in the near future. OLPC maintains a firm and unequivocal commitment to open source software. Having an open system is fundamental to OLPC’s mission, please see: http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Core_principles/lang-en Any software developed by or for OLPC is released under GPL v2. The open source community remains a critical success factor in the one laptop per child mission. Microsoft is developing a version of its XP operating system that will be able to run on the XO laptop. OLPC will continue to develop its Linux-based OS and distribute it on all its XO laptops. Future distributions may include both open and proprietary software; however, the choice of what to use will remain the child’s, and the default will remain open source. For more detail, see here: http://wiki.laptop.
Currently, Microsoft Windows cannot be loaded on the XO laptop. The XO laptop has a GNU/Linux based Operating System and features its own programs that are specifically designed for children. There are thousands of software developers around the world currently developing content for the XO. Activities lists software for the XO. There are efforts to adapt the WINE Windows emulator to run well on the XO, see http://wiki.winehq.org/SugaredWine. Wine is a GNU LGPL licensed implementation of the Windows API on top of X and Unix. It does not use any Microsoft code. Many popular free or proprietary Windows applications run well under it; see the Applications Database at http://appdb.winehq.org/.
