The founder of Sugar Labs, the company who made the
software for the
One Laptop per Child (OLPC)
laptops, has declared the software compatible with any old
PC . The ‘Sugar on a Stick’ software can operate from a
USB drive, providing laptops or
desktop PCs with a new interface, whilst giving the user access to collaborative educational software.
The
free software has been mostly distributed with the OLPC’s XO
laptop, though it is hoped that Walter Bender’s announcement will result in a vast increase in the use of the software. The software has already been shown in use on an
Intel Classmate PC and Mr Bender has said the software will run on
Asus,
Dell,
HP or any manufacturers PCs. More than 1 million children have used the software to date.
Mr Bender found Sugar Labs having left OLPC in April 2008 after it was announced the low cost laptop PCs would be offering
Microsoft Windows . He describes this agreement as ‘a symptom rather than the cause’ of his departure.
The Sugar on a Stick software can be run from a 1GB
USB stick, and includes 40 programs, including a
word processor, drawing applications and games.