The Linux model comes with an integrated suite of educational games, programming tools, and other software, all built around a kid-friendly OS shell known as Sugar.
The Windows version of the XO doesn't have much of that built-in spunk, although a child-oriented programming tool known as Scratch did survive the Linux-to-Windows switch. At the same time, having Windows allows students to take advantage not only of Microsoft's dominant Office suite, but of all the educational software that has already been written for Windows. I've taken them both to coffee shops and let myself explore each machine. I'll save my thoughts for a later post.
But to really get a sense for each device and its unique appeal, I turned to an expert--an 8-year-old who's far more representative of the target market than a reporter who has to dye her hair. Ella Taggart, the daughter of one of our editors, happily volunteered to put each of the devices through its paces. She spent an afternoon at CNET's offices on Wednesday exploring the built-in software on each, looking up her spelling words on Wikipedia and attempting to visit her favorite Web sites.
In the end, she found each option had its challenges and each its benefits. She had a great time using the built-in speech synthesizer on the Linux version, while the Magic School Bus game that was on the Windows version was also enthralling.
Web browsing was slow on the Linux model and the pointer and menu system somewhat complicated for someone used to Windows. Still, when it came time to borrow one for the night, she opted for the Linux model, in part because it had more built in than she had a chance to explore in her brief time at the office. In the end, she said she liked the XO no matter what software it was running.
It was fun and just the right size for her even if all the adults complained about its small keyboard. In December Microsoft said it would begin running limited tests in January to see if the operating system would be a good fit for the low-cost device. Be respectful, keep it civil and stay on topic. We delete comments that violate our policy , which we encourage you to read. Discussion threads can be closed at any time at our discretion.
Would it support features, like mesh networking , that we found so compelling in the original Sugar OS? Could it really boot in 50 seconds like Bohdan in the Microsoft video promised? We got the answers to all those questions and also learned that using the XO with Windows XP is a completely different experience than using the original Sugar interface.
Sure, that much is obvious, but we are prefacing this mini-review by saying that the following is not a column on which operating system we prefer, it is a look at the performance of XP on the current XO hardware. Gartenberg reports that his system boots in less than a minute.
OLPC and Microsoft have told us that application boot time is much quicker. We are planning to see the final RTM version from Microsoft in the next few weeks. We will then do a second review and update our impressions. Because the onboard storage is too small to accommodate XP, the system boots a slimmed down version of XP off the SD card slot that is hidden under the screen.
The 4GB card was about half full 1. There was about 1. The system took a sluggish 1 minute and 24 seconds to boot; that is about three times the 30 second boot up we have seen on Sugar and 34 seconds longer than the claimed time of 50 seconds.
Children who get the XO might want to go watch a cartoon or two while they're waiting for the system to start. Since we've grown accustomed to using Sugar on the XO, it is a bit surreal to hear the XP chime when you arrive at the desktop.
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