Windows replaces Linux on low cost laptops

For a while, it seemed like Linux was going to claim as its own the budget PC niche, with its adoption in products like the very successful Asus Eee PC. But newer Eee models are going to be offered with Windows as well. More worryingly, Windows is going to be used on the One Laptop Per Child, the so-called "$100 PC." Windows has apparently been demanded by some countries interested in buying the machine, on the grounds that it will enable students to learn marketable technology skills. I think it is a short-sighted move.

Familiarity with Microsoft Windows is a marketable skill only because of Windows' dominance in the workplace, and on the home PC. That dominance will remain as long as people's only contact with computers is with computers running Windows. Many computer users are completely unaware that there is any other operating system than the one from Microsoft. Educators are shirking their responsibilities by helping to reinforce this belief. 

By equipping educational computers with another operating system, be it Linux, Mac OS X or some special educational interface, students will be able to learn that there are other systems out there, and other ways of using a computer. Surely that is an important part of their education, just as they are taught about different scientific theories or different religious beliefs?

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