Now that the news on the OPLC XO 2.0 project are out, more news just keep on coming, this time not exactly on OLPC, but on Walter Bender, former president of software and content with the project, whose Sugar Laboratories are reportedly talking business with four low-cost laptop manufacturers.

One week after Bender left OLPC, his organization is in “informal discussions” with Pixel Qi, hopes to get a deal done with Intel, and as they mentioned on their website last week, they might keep in touch with Asus.

Bender confirmed for BetaNews the plan to work with everyone, and even admitted that they are currently involved in informal discussions, as Sugar doesn’t want to bear the trademark of any single vendor’s hardware.

The only thing he did confirm so far was that discussions with four-laptop manufacturers are currently under way, without revealing any of their names though.

Bender left OLPC last week, when he unveiled his plans to form Sugar Laboratories, a non-profit organization to carry on the Linux-based platform.

Last week, Microsoft and OLPC unveiled their agreement to make the XO a dual-boot low-cost laptop, tu support both Linux and Windows operating systems.

Rumors that everything could turn at a later date into an exclusive deal with Microsoft and Windows began circulating prior to the announcement, and some have reasons to believe the agreement with Microsoft is a step in that direction (although they didn’t confirm it).

Earlier this week, OLPC founder and president Nicholas Negroponte said that by 2010, we will have the XO 2.0, smaller, faster, dual-touch, e-book-like next generation of low-cost laptop for just $75 (which is rather hard to believe, considering they failed to meet the $100 promise for the first XO).