The boys in Redmond got sent a few OLPC test models recently and are trying to get Windows up and running on them. Though the article points out that “the OLPC has 512MB of flash memory and Windows XP requires 1.5GB minimum”, Microsoft may not be trying to get Windows XP on the OLPC. Microsoft has multiple OS solutions for all sorts of devices on the market and I doubt they’ll limit themselves to just one particular version of their OS.
If anything, Microsoft would take Vista and strip it down or try a light version of Windows 2000. Perhaps Microsoft is even working on a unique, embedded solution that no one has a clue about. I also doubt that Microsoft would charge for the version of Windows for the OLPC given the considerable involvement Microsoft has in charities.
Either way, we’ll have to wait and see what happens with this one. Right now the OLPC runs on a custom version of Fedora Linux, which seems to be working just fine.
Microsoft Looking to Run Windows on OLPC [Slashdot]