Can we rescue OLPC from Windows?

As someone who bought the buy 2 get 1, I feel betrayed by the Windows fiasco. That is NOT what I was supporting, it is like giving money to a candidate that said they were pro choice and then they support Roberts nomination. I would love to know more details about the deal, Microsoft has to be funding them in some way, even if it was free $ wise, why would they go with Windows over Linux after investing all that time into Sugar?

It is my impression that both Stallman and Negroponte have completely lost the plot on the OLPC. Surely, the whole point of the project was to deliver an educational tool to children - in particular the children of the poor who would otherwise be denied access to good teaching and effective learning experiences.<p>It looks to me that Negroponte just wants to ship boxes and somehow "beat" competitors in the new ultra low cost market that the OLPC has created. Stallman just wants it to use software that meets his definition of "free". All focus on education seems to have been lost.<p>I had strong doubts about the educational value of the project up front but without that component being the most important then the project has lost it's purpose. Simply making "third world" children familiar with XP or a Linux distro does not seem worth the effort - the project needs to re-evaluate itself and focus again on it's original stated goal.

I'm sure I'm in the minority here for thinking this (and by all means, downmod away) but Stallman is clearly a touch insane. His obsession with free software is far beyond the bounds of reason. The Windows on XO issue aside, disabling Wi-Fi just to not run one proprietary piece of code is silly, even if you wouldn't use Wi-Fi anyway.<p>Everyone needs a religion I guess, even people who surf the web by sending mail to demons.