Can Microsoft Get XP on the OLPC's XO-1?

I actually wrote about this over a month ago, in late October, but now some others are picking up on it. Microsoft is hard at work getting Windows XP on the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) Foundation's XO-1 laptop. It's not a question of if Microsoft wants to do it, but rather, can it do it?

In fact, this is part of Microsoft's "Unlimited Potential" program which, as it says on their site, is "about helping individuals and communities around the globe achieve their goals and dreams with relevant, accessible, and affordable technologies." Sounds OLPC-ish, right?

Problems?

For one, the XO-1 has no hard drive. It's bad enough installing a bloated OS when you have gigs and gigs of hard drive space, but here?

The only way around this: boot from the SD slot that MS managed to get into the XO-1. That requires new code, natch.

They also need to fit all the OS and Office code onto an 2 GB SD card.

Then they need device drivers for the XO-1's hardware.

According to Microsoft, they won't be ready for trials until January, and only after that will they decide if they will be able (as opposed to want) to support the XO-1. If they move forward, Microsoft does not see reaching production until the second half of 2008.

James Utzschneider, the general manager of Microsoft's emerging market unit, is going to make a trip next week to talk to the OLPC Foundation, and he's likely going to be tracking this via his blog, where this and more information is detailed.

Interestingly, because Asus stayed more mainstream with their Eee laptop, Microsoft indicates porting to that will be faster / easier (figures, with a major HW manufacturer doing just "one more device" for them, they will take more things into account).

Stay tuned.