[olpc-software] $100 laptop and Microsoft Windows CE operating system

[Mike Hearn]

> what do you think the licensing cost of CE would be for OLPC? My guess 
> is, 'enough to make it a waste of time to port CE'.

Probably zero, Microsoft weren't going to sell any copies to this 
demographic anyway and they stand to gain from platform lockin in future 
if the Windows API is widely adopted there.

And I don't think governments would perceive CE to be a "waste of time". 
  Most educational software today is not available for UNIX but rather 
for Windows and maybe the Mac. Porting software from Win32 to 
PocketPC/CE is significantly easier than porting it to Linux, even with 
Wine taken into consideration (which may or may not be shipped on OLPC 
laptops).

Whether the programs people end up running on these things are written 
from scratch or by already established educational software houses is an 
open question. But application compatibility would probably be a factor 
in Microsofts favor.

thanks -mike