Why should Microsoft be on the XO?

I got disturbed when I read the blog entry about the effort that Microsoft is putting into making Windows XP run on the XO laptop. Uh, Microsoft on the XO? What in the world is that all about?! Isn’t that going to defeat the purpose of the XO and the OLPC project?

A computer uniquely fosters learning learning by allowing children to “think about thinking”, in ways that are otherwise impossible. Using the XO as both their window on the world, as well as a highly programmable tool for exploring it, children in emerging nations will be opened to both illimitable knowledge and to their own creative and problem-solving potential. – Vision and Mission of the One Laptop Per Child Project

Would Windows foster that kind of exploration? I don’t think so. Sure, they might learn some scripting here and there and maybe some hacking into open source projects on Windows. But what about the updates of the Windows operating system and the internal workings of that? I don’t know about that. Would the students have a broken operating system? The thing that irks me the most is that it’s quite difficult to reconcile the goal of the project and a commercial product such as Windows. For one it will bring up the cost of the laptop and for another, the most important thing is that the entire experience of learning and empowerment might not be facilitated.