The OLPC team yesterday announced plans to load Windows XP on XO Laptops in a handful of countries in June as part of a limited trial. By September, Windows could be available to any developing nation placing orders for XO Laptops. And today, Walter Bender, the former president of software for the OLPC Foundation says the unique software interface that was designed for the XO Laptop will live on. Maybe.

Here's a little background. The XO Laptop was designed to be a cheap laptop that could be distributed in developing nations to help bridge the digital divide. The original plan for the XO was to use Linux as an operating system because it's cheap, works well on low-powered devices, and because it's open source anyone could write software for it easily. A unique desktop environment called Sugar was built to make Linux more user-friendly. But many governments have been reluctant to place orders for the laptops because they don't run Windows, which is the desktop operating system used by most of the rest of the world. So the OLPC Foundation has been working with Microsoft to bring a low cost version of Windows XP to the XO.

But what does that mean for Sugar? Walter Bender says Sugar Labs, a new non-profit will develop new versions of the software. The goal is to continue developing open source software for the XO so that children in developing nations will be exposed to open source applications and ideals as they learn about computing. The question is, if Windows XP is available for just $3 more than Linux, will anybody buy the Linux/Sugar version? Yes, we know that many Download Squad readers would be more interested in the Linux models, but if the goal is to give school-age children in your country computer literacy, wouldn't you want them to use the same software that most students in countries like the US are using?

Intel has decided to finally call it quits with the One Laptop Per Child non-profit project, due to (in their own words), a "philosophical impasse." It sounds deep and profound, doesn't it? Seems all along Intel was deeply committed to providing children low cost laptops in developing countries even though when OLPC was first launched it mocked the program and forecast its demise.

Since those remarks put a few dings in its public relations image, Intel came to the party (albeit late) with its own low cost laptop version, called Classmate, for children in developing countries. Of course, the Classmate laptop has Intel chips in it, not AMD chips, like the OLPC model. That's one version of a philosophical difference.

In another philosophical reversal, Intel decided to join the OLPC Board of Directors last July, and collaborate with OLPC's mission to provide technology to children in developing countries. However, their new relationship was short lived when OLPC demanded Intel stop undercutting OLPC. Apparently, in its zeal to provide technology to children, Intel's sales force asked Peruvian officials to drop their quarter million unit order of OLPC laptops, and buy Intel's Classmate instead.

And now, its come to this. A philosophical impasse from which there is no return, all in the name of, well the children, of course. ``We have long believed there is no single solution to the needs of children in emerging and underdeveloped markets,'' Intel spokesman Chuck Mulloy said.

So, what's your take on Intel's reversal? Philanthropic or profit driven?

Sure, the computer formerly known as the $100 laptop or the OLPC may not be available at Best Buy anytime soon. But that doesn't mean you can't try out its innovative operating system yourself.

Some folks over at Digg have posted several links to LiveCDs that will let you run the Sugar operating system on a PC. For the uninitiated, a LiveCD is a Linux CD that you insert into your disc drive in order to boot into a working version of the operating system. You don't need to install anything on your computer, and when you reboot your computer and eject the CD you can boot into Windows again, without having lost any data.

There's also a version that lets you run Sugar from within Windows using virtualization.