Laptop Program for Kids In Poor Countries Teams Up With Microsoft's Windows

The goal three years ago was to provide by now millions of the world's poorest schoolchildren with a $100 laptop that ran free, open-source software. But amid disappointing sales and cost issues, the nonprofit project called One Laptop Per Child is turning to Microsoft Corp. and its proprietary Windows operating system to try to stage a turnaround.

In an agreement announced Thursday, OLPC will begin testing its laptop running Windows XP and other proprietary Microsoft software in several developing countries next month. The test machines will be Windows-only, with Microsoft selling the operating system to OLPC as part of a ...