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On 13/03/2009 09:21, Paul Sutton wrote: > -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- > Hash: SHA1 > > Rob Beard wrote: > >> Hi folks, >> >> Looks like OLPC are asking for the impossible (or highly unlikely), they >> want Microsoft to port Windows 7 to ARM! >> >> http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/402/1051402/olpc-urges-microsoft-windows-arm >> >> I can't help but thinking that if they didn't dump Linux for Windows >> then it wouldn't really be much of an issue. I bet the nearest they'll >> get is Microsoft offering them Windows Mobile. >> >> Rob >> >> >> > The argument for windows is the huge catalogue of applications that are > available for it, (granted there are lots for Linux), but its key apps > people seem to want, e.g office, so to port Windows 7 to arm people > will then expect office ported and that will push up the cost, > > Yes the problem is, all these apps are specifically compiled for x86 (and in some cases AMD64 or Itanium), it didn't work out last time Microsoft did it with NT (porting to MIPS, PPC) and I am under the impression that these machines are pretty low speed compared to a normal desktop PC so I'd say even trying to emulate an x86 (like what Apple do with PPC code on x86) would probably be too slow to bve usable. That's before factoring in the fact that Windows is a whole pile of bloatware. > before long OLPC will end up as one laptop per class, due to the huge > cost of windows and related software licensing, not to mention anti > virus etc. > > Why not stick to Linux it works. > Yep, at least going down the Linux route they would have had less of a job building a custom distro (or even taking maybe something like Debian) and putting it on an ARM based machine. Rob -- The Mailing List for the Devon & Cornwall LUG http://mailman.dclug.org.uk/listinfo/list FAQ: http://www.dcglug.org.uk/linux_adm/list-faq.html