With the announcement of Windows on the XO Laptop and general bad times at the OLPC project, a sort of spin-off company has been formed called Sugar Labs, according to Ars Technica. With some of the OLPC project’s recent decisions and advances in technology, Sugar Labs, not the OLPC project, may soon be the group to watch.

The Sugar Labs spin-off is, as you may have guessed from the name, continuing the development of the Sugar interface, the rather unusual, but supposedly more intuitive to those who have never used a PC before, interface that the Linux XO used in the past. The difference between Sugar Labs and the OLPC project in the past, though, is that they do not intend to create their own hardware. I believe this is a very smart plan, since there are now commercially available laptops at almost the same price point as the XO. Since there is little that is unique about the XO hardware anymore, or at least soon there will not be much unique about it, I think that Sugar Labs made the right decision to drop it. They are, instead, in talks with several hardware makers. (As for the XO2 bringing new innovation to the XO hardware, I am skeptical that the changes are the right changes to make.)

Of course there is still the argument that Windows is really the better platform for these devices. Without even getting in to the arguments about why OSS is better for this sort of stuff (cheaper, source code is available, governmental adoption, school adoption, and so on,) think about it this way: the OLPC project initially had two advantages, hardware and software. The hardware advantage is now basically gone due to technological advances in the area of cheap, small laptops, and they have just thrown out their software advantage in favor of Windows. Now it is easy for other groups and companies to duplicate what the OLPC project is doing. Sugar Labs, however, has kept the software advantage and is, therefor, more likely to succeed.

Although the OLPC project will be almost certainly the more watched of the two projects for some time, it has lost all of its competitive advantages and, unless some major changes happen, the OLPC project’s influence and importance will disappear and Sugar Labs will be the group to watch.

With the OLPC project in troubled times, Negroponte recently announced a new version of the XO laptop, the XO2, which will be shipped in 2010. The concept is cool: two touch-screens put together like the pages of a book, but is the new design feasible or helpful to the children? I am not so sure.

The first reason for my skepticism about the new XO2 is the planned price point, $75. The original XO was supposed to come in at $100. Instead, it ended up costing nearly twice that price and the price has not since been dropped down to my knowledge. Now, Negroponte is proposing to add two touch-screens and Windows, all while dropping the price below the original target, which has not yet been reached even without the touch-screens, in just two years. If you ask me, especially considering the current state of the project and the history of the project, the new price is a goal that will not be met.

The second reason for my skepticism, and perhaps the more important one, is the idea to include two touch-screens. Why? It is being touted for its abilities as an e-book reader. Really? You need two screens to make an e-book reader? The Kindle and Sony Reader each have just one screen.

Plus the touch-screen plan has some significant drawbacks. The students will now have to learn to type on a touch-screen, which cannot make the already difficult process of learning to type any easier. Then if the students get a job involving computers, which is almost every job now, they are going to have to get used to typing on a different type of keyboard. And don’t tell me that in 15 years everyone will use touch-screen keyboards, because no one can predict the future of technology 15 years out.

So is this new version of the XO going to be a failiure? Not nessesarily. There is still a fair amount of time for things to change. Also, just because the price point may not be reached and the design may not be ideal does not mean no one will buy it. Then again, I would not bet on this new design succeeding. If someone can explain why I am wrong, go ahead. I hope someone can.

Instead of buying OLPCs or Classmate PCs, one community in Brazil is looking at their own solution to bring technology into their schools (using Linux of course). Their solution is a touchscreen desktop computer, according to CNet. At around $550 and lacking the mobility of the OLPC, it is not, however, clear if this new solution is really better.

The only real advantage this solution has over the OLPC (or similar inexpensive UMPCs) is the screen, which is both bigger and a touch screen. On the other hand, the OLPC is much cheaper and is very mobile, so children can take it home and use it there, allowing a student to continue to learn, explore, and figure out how the technology works. Given the benefits and disadvantages of each, which one is the best?

First of all, in some situations the touchscreen solution may not be an option at all, due to the price. If you have over a million kids to provide with a computer, spending $350 more per kid is a big deal.

Even if the touchscreen solution is an option, is it really the best option? At first the touchscreen seems like a real advantage, but what can a touchscreen do that a regular mouse and keyboard cannot (other than look cool?) (It appears there is also a keyboard, so typing is not an issue.)

Overall, allowing students to continue their learning and exploration at home at their own pace seems to be more important than providing a touchscreen at school and saving $350 just makes UMPCs like the OLPC even more attractive.

To be fair, the CNet article does make it clear that the people behind the touchscreen idea do not think this would work anywhere and there is also the advantage that most of the money goes into the Brazilian economy. Still, I am a little skeptical of this idea.

After Negroponte commented that Windows could be coming to the Eee PC within 60 days, OLPC News published an article titled “This is The End My Friend: Negroponte Says XP on the XO in 60 days.” I think the article has a good point in that putting XP on the XO would ruin the vision of this educational laptop, but I do not see XP being an option on the XO as “the end.”

Certainly Microsoft will try very hard to make buyers of the XO choose Windows, instead of Linux, but, as demonstrated with Intel’s Classmate PCs going to Nigeria, they may not succeed. In the case of the Classmate PCs going to Nigeria, the computers were originally supposed run Linux, but, for an unknown reason, they were all about to have Windows installed on them. Luckily, however, Nigeria intervened and prevented the installation of Windows. As demonstrated in this incident, whatever Microsoft does, they may not be able to change the minds of countries that choose Linux, and, as pointed out by the article, there are plenty of reasons to choose Linux.

The Aleutia is a small desktop PC that is powered by a roll-up solar panel and uses just 8W. It comes with Puppy Linux, a small Linux distributions that is designed for older hardware. Due to the limited resources (128MB RAM, 200Mhz processor, and just 1GB of storage on a CF card), Puppy Linux, DSL, and Windows 95 are just about the only options for it. The Aleutia costs 499 GBP or about 1000 USD.

The problem with the Aleutia has nothing to do with the product itself. It has to do with the product’s competition. If you compare the Asus Eee PC and the Aleutia PC you get this:

• Eee PC is 2.5x less expensive. ($400 to $1000)
• Eee PC has better specs.
• Eee PC is more portable.

The one thing that the Aleutia has over the Eee PC is that it provides a solar panel. Given the price difference (Eee is $600 less), I decided to check the price of third-party solar panels. The first place I found was selling fold up solar panels. A 26-watt solar panel costs just over $300, and provides sufficient power to run the Eee PC at full load and charge its battery at the same time. If you do the math, the Eee PC with a solar panel comes out $300 cheaper, and the Eee PC has a number of advantages over the Aleutia as noted above.

Linux.com report’s that the One Laptop per Child (Laptop.org) has begun their “give one get one” program where anyone in the US or Canada can buy two XO laptops, one of which will be donated, for $400. The XO is a $200 Linux-based laptop designed to be used by school children in developing countries.

Web Pro News reports on strange operating switches between Linux and Windows and back on Intel Classmate PCs headed for Nigeria. Mandriva originally had the deal, but they later learned that the PCs were going to be wiped and Windows was going to be installed. Shortly after that, the decision to switch to Windows was canceled. The reason has not been explained.

According to Softpedia, Mongolia has announced its goal to give every child in the country a laptop by 2010. They will receive about 20 thousand OLPC laptops in January which will be distributed to the easier to reach areas of Mongolia.