China rejects free Mac software

Posted by tadelste on Nov 15, 2005 5:53 PM EDT
C/Net News; By Alorie Gilbert
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According to a report in the Wall Street Journal yesterday, MIT's Media Lab turned down millions of free copies of Apple's OS X operating system, an offer extended by Apple Chief Steve Jobs himself. The proposal was Apple's attempt to support theuniversity's effort to supply children in developing nations with cheap laptops, the paper reported. The university decided to use free, open-source software instead because designers can freely tinker with it, the paper said.

But in a note to CNET News "clarifying" the Jounral story, Media Labs co-founder Nicholas Negroponte said Jobs' offer applied only to China and that officials in China actually rejected it last year.

"I took (Jobs') offer and mentioned it to the Minister of Education (of China)," Negroponte said in an email relayed by a Media Labs spokeswoman. "He said: 'No thank you,' that they preferred Linux and Open Source."

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