May 16, 2008 2:09 PM PDT

Sugar Labs will make OLPC interface available for Eee PC, others

Posted by Erica Ogg

Former One Laptop Per Child President Walter Bender has formed a nonprofit called Sugar Labs, which will advance the Sugar graphical interface he originally created for the low-cost computing project.

Sugar Labs will partner with developers of Sugar-compatible applications and other hardware makers that want to use the user interface on their devices.

"By being independent of any specific hardware platform and by remaining dedicated to the principles of free and open-source software, Sugar Labs ensures that others can develop diverse interfaces and applications from which governments and schools can choose," Bender wrote on the Sugar Labs Web site.

One of the first of the "others" on the list is Asus' popular Eee PC.

Bender moved on from OLPC last month after it was revealed the project's founder was leaning toward abandoning the use of Sugar and Linux in favor of putting Windows XP on his $188 XO laptops.

Microsoft and OLPC made it official yesterday, though there will still be OLPCs offered with Linux. In an interview with CNET News.com, OLPC founder and Chairman Nicholas Negroponte said the company is aiming to port the XO's Sugar interface over to Windows and has been "in discussions" with third parties, which would appear to refer at least in part to Sugar Labs.