XO Laptop Despised by Intel and Microsoft

gregsim writes: "The Wall Street Journal today reports that the new XO laptop, the brainchild of Mr. Nicholas Negroponte, a professor on leave from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, is stimulating an active response from both Intel and Microsoft which evidently feel threatened by the little upstart, intended to help third world children. Microsoft has cut their software to $3 each and Intel has designed their own laptop called the Classmate to sell between $230 and $300, nearly double that of the XO. Rather than defend the relative merits of his creation, professor Negroponte is crying foul and (if the article is to be believed) not even arguing the technical merits. The initial demand for the XO has fallen well below Mr. Negroponte's projections as Intel and Microsoft have successfully argued that their entries are superior. 45,000 have been ordered through the Give One, Get One campaign. I am happy that I ordered mine — it will be a landmark model in any case."