Beyond Binary

Students at the Santa Maria Del Rio primary school in Colombia, one of two schools in the country that will serve as a pilot for the Windows version of One Laptop Per Child's XO laptop.

(Credit: Microsoft)

Microsoft announced a second country is piloting the use of One Laptop Per Child's XO laptop in conjunction with Windows XP.

The deal, announced with the state government of Cundinamarca, will see the laptops put in two schools, including the Santa Maria Del Rio primary school. That school, which just got its first computer lab, will now get additional PCs with the software training and infrastructure donated by Microsoft and the laptops themselves coming from One Laptop Per Child.

Microsoft announced in September that Peru was the first country to sign up for the Windows-on-XO option.

The Santa Maria Del Rio primary school in Cundinamarca, Colombia.

(Credit: Microsoft)

That the Windows version of the OLPC machine is headed to Colombia is not a surprise, given that Microsoft quoted Colombian officials in its initial announcement that it was bringing Windows to the XO laptop.

"Transforming education is a fundamental goal of Microsoft Unlimited Potential, our ambitious effort to bring sustained social and economic opportunity to people who currently do not enjoy the benefits of technology," Microsoft senior VP (and Colombian native) Orlando Ayala said in a statement. "Along with the State of Cundinamarca and OLPC, we are delivering a complete, relevant and affordable educational computing solution to schoolchildren in Colombia that will enhance their learning environment and prepare them for the global workforce."

The One Laptop Per Child effort started as a solidly Linux affair, but the project got a lot of feedback about offering a Windows option from countries that said they believe it's important for students to learn the operating system that dominates in business.

Over time, OLPC hopes to offer a version that can boot in either Linux or Windows, though today countries have to choose one version or the other.

As part of my trip to Colombia and Brazil earlier this year, I had a chance to see what it can mean for a school to get its first computers as well as the power when each student has their own laptop, as was the case at the Bradesco Foundation school in Campinas, Brazil.

I also recently took a look at the Windows version of the XO laptop, and more importantly, had an 8-year-old put it through its paces. Here's a video that includes her thoughts and mine.

On the outside, the Windows version of the XO laptop looks just like the Linux model. But simply booting up the device shows that the Windows version bears little resemblance to the original One Laptop Per Child device.

With the Microsoft version, you get Windows, for all the good and bad that entails. It's full-on Windows--XP Professional, in fact--and can run basically any software that can adjust itself to the mini-laptop's diminutive screen and modest processor.

Microsoft has managed to slim down the OS enough to boot up off a 2GB flash memory card and has written drivers for a number of the XO laptop's unique features, such as its scratch pad, game controller, and built-in camera.

But what's missing in the Windows version is the personality that oozes out of the Linux incarnation. 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.

For the past week, I've had two XO laptops on my desk, one of each OS variety.

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).

From my perspective, her experience shows not that the software doesn't matter. It matters a great deal. But it's all about how a school chooses to use the laptops. Used properly, as part of a well-thought-out curriculum, both models offer tremendous opportunities for students to learn about technology and how to use technology to learn about many other areas.

At the same time, I don't think either model simply dropped in the hands of children will do the trick. That meshes with the experience I had touring through the Bradesco Foundation school in Campinas, Brazil. It wasn't the fact that all the students had Intel Classmate PCs that made the program stand out. It wasn't the use of Windows over Linux.

What made the the experience so dramatic was how well the teachers incorporated the laptops into their teaching. It was the fact that the art teacher used the PCs for research, but had the students put them away and use their hands to make wax sculptures.

It was the fact that while each student had their own laptop, they still worked in groups as often as they worked alone.

Some countries have demanded that their students work on Linux, arguing open-source computers offer a chance for an independent software economy not tied to Microsoft. Many others, such as Peru, have demanded Windows, arguing that that's what their students need to get good jobs. Ultimately, OLPC hopes to offer a dual-boot option, though that is still being developed.

Credit: Ina Fried/CNET News

Ella Taggart tests two versions of the XO laptop.

And while developing nations will now have their choice of operating systems, those in the U.S. won't enjoy the same flexibility.

OLPC plans to reprise its "Give One, Get One" program this holiday season, which lets Americans pay for two machines--one of which they keep and the other of which they donate. However, in all cases, the one they get will be of the Linux variety.

In part, that has to do with the fact that Microsoft offers a cut-rate version of Windows for large educational programs that doesn't apply to the consumers here that buy the machines.

Microsoft general manager James Utzschneider notes that it's also not comfortable with the lack of support that comes with the OLPC for those who take part in Give One, Get One.

"This is Windows," he said. "People want to be able to pick up the phone and call us if they can't get something to work."

SAO PAULO, Brazil--Brazilian journalist Gilberto Dimenstein walks down an alley in the Villa Madelena neighborhood showing how what was once a haven for drug dealers has been transformed into a canvas for artists.

Click here to read all of the blogs in The Borders of Computing series.

Dimenstein's vision, to turn a rough neighborhood into a 24-hour center of learning, has been largely realized. In one building, craftsmen create violins from bare wood, while in another an artist weaves scraps of cloth into a placemat. In the Aprendiz cafe, Dimenstein's centerpiece, seniors learn to use the Internet while people flock in from more affluent parts of the city to enjoy the restaurant's fine foods.

It's not perfect. Shortly before CNET News visited Aprendiz last fall, thieves had broken in and stolen a number of computers. That said, the PCs were quickly replaced. It took Dimenstein just a phone call to find a donor.

Dimenstein is nothing if not creative when it comes to both his project and how he pays the bills. A wealthy school pays for its students to volunteer with the seniors. At the same time, Dimenstein uses some of that money to offer a stipend to students from less well-off schools that volunteer at Aprendiz.

special report
Brazil: Tech powerhouse, but gaps remain

Click here to read CNET News' four-day series exploring computing in Latin America.

Among those working at Aprendiz is Marina Rosenfeld, who started out as a student and now works at the project.

"I was not a good student," she recalls.

"You were a terrible student," Dimenstein interrupts.

Rosenfeld said she got something from Aprendiz she wasn't getting from school.

"When I came here, I think people believed in me," she said. "It was very different from a traditional school (where) they just think you are good if you get good grades."

And, like all the students in the Aprendiz project, she went to college. "Everyone has to go to college," Dimenstein said. "There is no discussion."

While pen and paper is still the most important gear for any reporting effort, I did use a bunch of other technology in making this series possible.

1. Panoramic lens from 0-360.com

This was the piece of gear I was most excited about. Basically, it allows an immersive panoramic movie to be created from a single still photo. (The folks at 0-360.com were kind enough to lend a review unit for CNET to use on this trip.)

The specialized lens and mirror attachment allows immersive panoramas to be created from a single image file

(Credit: 0-360.com)

It's a custom lens that fit on top of my Canon Digital Rebel XT. To achieve the effect, the lens has a mirror on the end. Instead of pointing at a subject, the camera is aimed straight up in the air and takes a picture of what's seen in the mirror.

It takes a little practice to learn how to use the lens and get things in decent focus, but I felt like it really did help give a sense of what it was like to be there.

My biggest issue is that the lens, when placed in its clear cylindrical container doesn't look like the sort of object one wants to take with them through airport security. Only once, though, did security really seem all that interested in it.

2. T-Mobile Dash

I didn't fall in love with Windows Mobile, but my T-Mobile Dash did allow me access to work e-mail and the Internet in many--but not all--places in Colombia and Brazil.

As I did with my Treo, I wrote the occasional short post on the device and also used it to jot down ideas. Microsoft's ActiveSync technology sufficed, but I was still quite happy to be reunited with my Palm OS-based Treo and its GoodLink software upon my return.

3. Flip Video camera

I wanted something to easily take video, knowing that I would be juggling multiple responsibilities. The Flip performed well, although the audio quality at times leaves something to be desired. Also, I had with me the first-generation model, which lacks the tripod mount that would have come in handy.

I used some of the video as it was shot, but also used the Flip footage as b-roll (background matter) in the piece I did with CNET TV's Kara Tsuboi.

4. IBM ThinkPad T42

With the exception of one hiccup in Colombia, my years-old IBM ThinkPad proved trusty and reliable, adapting to whatever form of Internet access that I managed to wrangle.

I did miss the Sprint card that I usually take on domestic reporting trips, but found plentiful if pricey Wi-Fi at the hotels in Brazil and Colombia.

SAN FRANCISCO--Every year around this time, many Jews spend a week eating just one bread product: a bland flatbread called matzah.

The yearly ritual is designed to recall the unleavened bread eaten by our ancestors as they fled Egypt without time to prepare proper food provisions.

For modern Jews, the culinary challenges of Passover are relatively minor. Despite some kvetching over things like how to trying to bring matzah to work in fewer than a million pieces, the Passover ritual is not that difficult. In big cities, Americans have access not just to plain matzah, but also to all kinds of baked goods made from the wafer-like bread.

This year, though, just getting matzah has been a challenge. There's something of a shortage in a number of places, including here in the San Francisco Bay Area. I went to at least eight grocery stores without procuring a single box.

A sign at Good Life Grocery in San Francisco's Bernal Heights neighborhood apologizes for being out of the Passover staple.

(Credit: Ina Fried/CNET News.com)

As someone who's never had to struggle to have enough to eat, there is something fitting about having to scrounge around to get sufficient matzah to last for the week-long festival.

At home, my partner and I have been figuring out how to make do with a box and a half of year-old matzah. The shortage was the prime topic at a large seder (Passover meal and service) this weekend. Several of us were still talking about how we were still short on the needed Matzah, when one friend announced that he had a few extra boxes and gave those less well off some of his spares.

I found the exercise fitting for the holiday. Passover is about remembering the exodus from slavery in Egypt in biblical times, but also about paying mind to the inequities in our own lives.

Matzah isn't the only food in short supply these days. Staples like rice and corn are also in short supply. For many of us in techland that means an extra few pennies when we go out to lunch.

But around the globe and even in places close to home it means more people are going hungry. Food is perhaps the most pressing scarcity, but there are so many areas where our global abundance of resources is not reaching many in the community.

The personal computer, for example, has reached approximately the first 1 billion people, but that leaves several billion that have yet to experience its possibilities. I saw some of this first hand earlier this month as I traveled to Brazil and Colombia to look at efforts to broaden computer access.

In Colombia, I saw how access to computers meant employment possibilities for people that had been maimed by land mines. In a country without many laws promoting jobs for the disabled and where unemployment is high even for those without physical challenges, those who have such injuries face little opportunities for work.

In the rural community of Corinto, an area at the crossroads of the country's civil war, I saw students using decade-old machines that could barely access the Internet. Still, they had found great use for what we consider obsolete computers. They were using the PCs to chart crops, as part of a broader effort that aims to use technology to help those in rural communities find sustainable agricultural work in an effort to stem the defection of people either to cities or to the guerrilla groups.

Neither Passover nor this blog is about coming up with all of the answers immediately, but it is a reflection on the work that remains unfinished. I am reminded of the Jewish teaching, popular at Passover, that "It is not upon us to finish the task, nor are we free not to begin."

Update 4:30 p.m.: This YouTube video, clearly made in anticipation of a more plentiful matzah environment, shows some fun other uses for the stuff. My mom sent me the link, so I had to add it.

SAO PAULO, Brazil--Enter the midrange Extra department store and it is easy to find the PCs--they are right in front, just as customers enter the store.

What's harder to find is the total price of said machines. Sure, there's a price sticker next to each machine. But the featured price is not the total, but rather the monthly payment, when the price of a computer is spaced out over 10 to 20 months.

It's not a trick. It's just that for the folks who shop at places like Extra, Casas Bahia, and other stores, that's how purchasing decisions are made.

PCs from Brazilian maker Positivo at a local retail store. A large sign touts that the computers can be paid for in 10 monthly payments without interest.

(Credit: Positivo)

If one looks closely enough at the fine print, the total price is listed, as well as whether the product is being offered with or without interest. Interest on some models at some stores can be as much as 40 percent a year, with the highest rates often attached to the cheapest models. That said, retailers often give credit to those even without any proof of income.

The move to offer financing has been a boon to the Brazilian PC industry, now the world's fifth largest market. Computer sales here grew 40 percent last year, with 10.5 million computers sold in 2007, according to Gartner.

The PCs themselves are fairly expensive by U.S. standards, particularly for those sold by global brands like HP and Dell. However, the ability to finance PCs has made them affordable enough to be attractive to many of those in Brazil's middle classes.

"Credit has changed dramatically," said Gartner analyst Luis Anavitarte. "Retailers in Brazil, Chile, Argentina, Peru, and Mexico are becoming banks."

Not all stores are set up that way. At the high-end Fast Shop, the store lists total prices, though it too offers customers the option to buy in installments.

It's not just the pricing that varies depending on the type of retailer, but also the kind of computers. At low-midrange store Casas Bahia, all the desktops are from Brazilian maker Positivo, while at Fast Shop, it is the multinational brands like Sony and HP and even Macintoshes that dominate the prime real estate, with a few models from Brazilian brands like Itautec placed in the back.

Click here to read all of the stories in The Borders of Computing series.

As for the machines themselves, the cheapest model I saw was a Positivo for 699 reais ($422). It included a 15-inch monitor, CD burner, 40GB hard drive, and 256MB of memory and used Windows XP Starter Edition. While this model was both underpowered and dated, there were plenty of low-end models with much more standard feature sets.

On the high end, Fast Shop's shelves were stocked with the latest models from HP and Sony as well as brands like Philips and LG that aren't known in the U.S. for their computers. The Mac models there were also the latest, but a 20-inch iMac with a 320GB hard drive sold for $3,620 and a MacBook Pro with 2GB of memory and a 120GB hard drive fetched $3,923.

Positivo also went fairly high-end, including a $1,810 desktop that included a 22-inch wide screen, 2GB of memory, a Core 2 Quad processor, and a 320GB hard drive.

Another striking fact is that there is also a far broader range of operating systems to be found on the machines there than in the U.S. At the middle-class shops, it was common to see a mix of Linux, Windows Vista Starter, and Windows Vista Basic.

And despite the range of operating systems that were offered, it typically wasn't one of the items mentioned prominently in the marketing of the machine. That's probably because most of the machines that aren't running a full version of Windows typically get "upgraded" with a pirated version of the operating system.

Positivo, for example, sells machines with Linux and the Starter edition of Windows, but its chief executive said the choice in operating system is usually to hit a particular price or to satisfy government officials as opposed to actual consumer demand for those products. Brazil's government has a program that provides subsidized financing for low-cost computers, but requires that they use (or at least be sold with) open-source software.

About 70 percent to 75 percent of the people who buy Linux convert to Windows--usually a pirated copy, said Positivo CEO Helio Rotenberg. Of those who buy a machine with the Starter edition of Windows, about two-thirds convert to full Windows, he said.

Others put the figure even higher.

"Ninety percent of them, if not more, are converted to Microsoft in less than a day," Anavitarte said. He noted that one Latin American retailer did a survey and found that a month after their sale, 95 percent of the machines sold with Linux were running Windows.

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SAO PAULO, Brazil--At a high-end computer store in Brazil, you'll find the same kinds of Dell, HP, and Sony models you'd see anywhere in the world.

But in the department stores where Brazil's middle class do their shopping, a homegrown brand, virtually unheard of outside of Latin America, dominates: Positivo.

Positivo has the lion's share of Brazil's retail market, accounting for nearly a third of retail sales and selling more than a million PCs last year. At one key retailer, Casas Bahia, Positivo's desktops are the only ones on the shelves. Overall, Positivo says it sells more computers at retail than the next three players combined.

In large part, the company's growth has paralleled that of the country's middle class.

"Positivo was at the right place at the right time," CEO Helio Rotenberg said in a telephone interview on Monday. "There are a lot of families that have the desire to buy their first computer and now they can."

Part of Positivo's success has been creating products that make sense in the local market. For example, it has a Media Center PC, dubbed PCTV, that combines the functions of a computer and TV.

Unlike U.S. models, which tend to be relatively high-end, Rotenberg said his company aimed for a low-cost machine that can serve dual purposes as a second TV and a first computer in moderate-income households.

"We tropicalized this concept," Rotenberg said.

One of the company's latest pushes is the "family PC" concept, which adds onto the computer a portal with everything from recipes to homework help to personal finance information.

Rotenberg notes that for customers in its target market, the PC is not a personal device, but rather one shared by the whole household. "Each part of the family, they are a part of the computer."

Click here to read all of the stories in The Borders of Computing series.

The cheapest of Positivo's desktops can be had for 50 reais ($30) a month, with financing from the store.

At that price, Rotenberg says it's possible to start reaching some in the next lowest economic segment, those whose monthly income is around $270 a month. Construction workers and those who clean houses are starting to buy computers, he said.

These are "not big numbers in this moment, but they are beginning to buy," he said.

Positivo is also trying to aim a bit higher on the pyramid. It now makes its own laptops, ranging from models that cost about $800 to models costing more than $2,000, including a stylish white model aimed at the upper segments of the market.

The bulk of the company's energy, though, remains on the growing middle class, Rotenberg said. "It's exactly where the growth is," he said. "It's exactly where we put our weapons."

Those weapons are growing. Positivo has started manufacturing its own motherboards and LCD screens, in addition to expanding its plant in Curitiba to up its capacity to 225,000 PCs a month.

"We are very happy with the market," Rotenberg said. "We think we are in a very good phase."

SAO PAULO, Brazil--Microsoft on Monday shifted the leadership of its emerging market unit, placing former unified communications chief Anoop Gupta at the helm.

Orlando Ayala, the Microsoft executive who had been leading the unit (and with whom I had been traveling with in Colombia) is shifting to a new role inside Kevin Turner's sales unit, while Microsoft veteran Will Poole is retiring from Microsoft this fall. Poole, who had been heading the unit with Ayala, is a former top Windows executive, while Ayala had been sales chief and head of the midmarket group at Microsoft, prior to joining the company's Unlimited Potential effort.

Anoop Gupta

(Credit: Microsoft)

Gupta will report to Craig Mundie, Microsoft's chief research and strategy officer.

"The mission of (the Unlimited Potential unit) is one that fits naturally with Craig's charter to develop the long-cycle research, innovation, and business incubations that will impact the future of technology--and the role it can play in addressing societal needs in areas like health care, education, and scientific discovery," Microsoft said in a statement.

Gupta plans to hire two new corporate vice presidents to oversee Microsoft's educational and emerging market products, Microsoft said.

Poole will report to Mundie until he leaves in the fall, while Microsoft called Ayala's job an expanded role but offered only vague indications of what he is doing, saying he will be involved in "external evangelism, field engagement, and direct input on strategy."

BOGOTA, Colombia--In one corner of a massive warehouse, workers pick through bins of computers, keyboards, and mice, painstakingly cleaning each part.

There's a special room where peripherals such as mice go for washing and another where they go for drying. Once the hardware is reassembled, often with a few new parts added to the mix, the first set of testing takes place, to make sure all of the hardware functions as it should.

Click here to read all of the stories in The Borders of Computing series.

In another area, the newly rebuilt systems get their collection of software--Windows 2000 and a several-generations-old version of Office. Then the machines go through another round of testing to make sure they are working properly, before being wrapped and packed in broken-down Styrofoam and being shipped out to destinations throughout the country.

Even printers are refurbished--and not just inkjet, but years-old dot-matrix printers that have long since been pushed out of the commercial market. It's all part of a project known as Computadores para Educar, which refurbishes thousands of computers each year for Colombia's schools.

Although the effort has given more than 9,500 schools their first PCs, some have begun to question whether the approach is the best way to go. Even the nonprofit agency itself has started to supplement the 20,000 or so computers it refurbishes each year with a separate manufacturing line that creates new machines.

One of the greatest strength's of the program is the rigor of its refurbishing process. Microsoft officials who toured the plant this week said the facility was among the best they had seen. Program officials say that a recent study found that the mean time before failure of their machines compares quite well against new machines, even though theirs are far older.

Among the criticisms is the fact that it costs about $160 to refurbish a PC. That figure is lower, say, than in Africa, but higher than in some other countries. It also is no longer so much less than a new PC, which can be had, sans software, for as little as $280.

One factor in the high cost for the program is the fact that the demand for the computers is so high that the program refurbishes nearly every donated PC that meets its minimum specifications--at least a Pentium II processor and 128MB of memory. As a result, the organization often has to supplement old parts with new. The parts that most frequently need replacement are system memory and hard disks, although new speakers and floppy drives (yes, each machine has a floppy) are often needed as well.

Other say the machines are just too slow. Among those with that view is Dario Montoya, who heads the national SENA job training program.

In an interview after graduating a new crop of students from its SENA's IT skills program, Montoya said the refurbished computers won't help the country get the software developers it needs to truly compete.

"At this very table six months ago, I had the minister of communication and the minister of education," Montoya said. "I told them that Computadores para Educar must change."

Although the program has distributed around 100,000 computers, he said that 60 percent are now more than 6 years old. "They are obsolete," he said. "We cannot continue to fool ourselves that was a good model."

Cecilia Maria Velez, Colombia's education minister, said she thinks a mix of technologies is best. "We think that it's very important for quantity to use refurbished computers but we think it is also important to have other kind of machines," she said.

The Internet question
For her the question boils down to whether or not the machines can connect to the Internet. "The point is connectivity and capacity to use connectivity," she said. "That is the line."

Velez pushes back when she gets complaints that the machines are too old." I fight with them," she said. "Before you haven't anything; now at least you have this slow thing."

A teacher from the Funsa school, which has benefitted from the program, brought some students to see the facility here on Tuesday. Asked about the debate of old versus new, he said it all depends on the students. With elementary school students, he said, it's all about getting more time to interact with the machines. In those cases, more machines is better, even if they are older. By high school, though, he said the needs of students are simply outpacing the machines.

Maria del Rosario Guerra, an economist by training and now the country's communications minister, said she wants Computadores Para Educar to hit a critical mass of schools with their first computers in the next couple of years. "After that, Computadores para Educar must move to work toward new strategy."