BEIJING, May 16 (Xinhuanet) -- The One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) Project and Microsoft plan to make both Windows and Linux available on a version of the project's XO laptop, the companies said Thursday.

In this Dec. 12, 2007 file photo, Renzo, 8, reads on his 'XO' laptop in Arahuay, an Andean hilltop village in Peru. Microsoft and the One Laptop Per Child project on Thursday, May 15, 2008 announced that the nonprofit's green-and-white 'XO' computers now can run Windows in addition to their homegrown interface, which is built on the open Linux operating system. That had been anticipated for months, but it amounts to a major shift. (File Photo)
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    The parties expect to deliver a dual-boot XO system in August or September that will have both the traditional Linux-based Sugar operating system of the XO and a low-cost student version of Windows XP, according to Kyle Austin, an OLPC representative.

    OLPC Chairman Nicholas Negroponte has referred in the past to a dual-boot XO model, but this is the first official announcement of such a system. The XO was developed by OLPC for children in developing countries.

    Microsoft said it plans to start trials of Windows on the low-cost laptop in key emerging markets as early as June. Customers will be able to choose to run the computer on either a Windows or a Linux operating system.

    OLPC is working with third-party developers to have the XO's distinctive Sugar user interface placed on top of Windows, but the dual-boot systems coming later this year will use the Windows interface for Student Innovation Suite, Austin said.

    Microsoft and OLPC did not specify the price of the dual-boot system on Thursday.

    The availability of Windows on the system will give customers more choice in operating systems and let them use Windows-based educational software and tools, the parties said. Customers and partners worldwide have asked for Windows on the XO, they said.

    Sugar was designed only to work with a free Linux operating system that engineers from Red Hat Inc. Eventually, the goal will be to develop versions of the laptop to run both Linux and Windows, leaving the user to decide which operating system to run when the machine boots up, Negroponte said.    

    (Agencies)