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An entire software suite that can still run on a 286 PC with 1mb of memory. Word Processing, Spreadsheet, Publishing, draw and database are the main part of the suite and it all fits in 11-17mb. It was the software ripped off by windows 95 to show "motif" icons. Icons that are associated with the program that created it. If you go back even further it was the first graphical interface used on an Apple machine (Apple IIe) and the first true graphical interface that ran on a PC XT. I first used it on a Commodore 64. The last version produced could run under Dos, Win95, 98, Me and XP...Vista will not run it, but you could create a floppy dos boot disk and keep it on a small Fat partion and still use it on a Vista machine (if the cpu will let you). At one time Geos offered a pretty robust demo program, I think it was called NewPublish that still might be floating around on the net. This link seems to have it but I don't know if it's the english version. http://www.siemens.md.st.schule.de/~rainerb/DOWNPU B.HTM

Einstein didn't write like a hyperactive 5 year old. Actually that's insulting to the 5 year old artists.

Did they change Trillian's name to Trisha?

Trillian's name is Tricia (sic):

See here

"Hadamard und de la Vallée Poussin, denen es gelang das Resultat der sogenannten Riemann Zeta-Funktion zu beweisen"

Found at this german article.

---------- Forwarded Message ----------
Subject: kmLinux-2.1.1 - New version of German Linux distribution for schools released
Date: Sat, 03 Nov 2001 11:23:35 +0100

http://www.lernnetz-sh.de/kmLinux
kmLinux is a complete Linux distribution for schools. It is in development by the Landesbildungsserver Schleswig-Holstein http://www.lernnetz-sh.de (a govermental organization of the Bundesstaat Schleswig-Holstein) in close cooperation with the Verein Freie Software und Bildung e.V. http://fsub.schule.de (Union for Free Software and Education). kmLinux is very simple to install. In a single automatically done installation process not only the operating system will be installed but a lot of useful software and documentation too. The whole system is preconfigured as far as possible.

kmLinux comes with a new installer which is able to automatically resize an existing windows partition (fat16/32). The software collection is very uptodate: kernel-2.4.12, XFree-4.1.0, KDE-2.2.1 (objprelink), kOffice-1.1, StarOffice-6.0beta, gimp-1.2.2 and Mozilla-0.9.5

More (german) information you will find on the new kmLinux-Homepage http://www.lernnetz-sh.de/kmLinux . kmLinux is free! Under ftp://fsub.schule.de/pub/fsub/kmLinux you will find a ready to burn iso-image.
--

_______________________________________
Landesbildungsserver Schleswig-Holstein
Projektleiter OpenSource
Klaus-Dieter Moeller
kdmoeller@lernnetz-sh.de

I did say it was OT, but what the hell - mod me down anyway ;-P

- Derwen

---------- Forwarded Message ----------
Subject: kmLinux-2.1.1 - New version of German Linux distribution for schools released
Date: Sat, 03 Nov 2001 11:23:35 +0100

http://www.lernnetz-sh.de/kmLinux
kmLinux is a complete Linux distribution for schools. It is in development by the Landesbildungsserver Schleswig-Holstein http://www.lernnetz-sh.de (a govermental organization of the Bundesstaat Schleswig-Holstein) in close cooperation with the Verein Freie Software und Bildung e.V. http://fsub.schule.de (Union for Free Software and Education). kmLinux is very simple to install. In a single automatically done installation process not only the operating system will be installed but a lot of useful software and documentation too. The whole system is preconfigured as far as possible.

kmLinux comes with a new installer which is able to automatically resize an existing windows partition (fat16/32). The software collection is very uptodate: kernel-2.4.12, XFree-4.1.0, KDE-2.2.1 (objprelink), kOffice-1.1, StarOffice-6.0beta, gimp-1.2.2 and Mozilla-0.9.5

More (german) information you will find on the new kmLinux-Homepage http://www.lernnetz-sh.de/kmLinux . kmLinux is free! Under ftp://fsub.schule.de/pub/fsub/kmLinux you will find a ready to burn iso-image.
--

_______________________________________
Landesbildungsserver Schleswig-Holstein
Projektleiter OpenSource
Klaus-Dieter Moeller
kdmoeller@lernnetz-sh.de

I did say it was OT, but what the hell - mod me down anyway ;-P

- Derwen

I assume that this is sarcasm in light of the track record of one EU country's leader.
However some European countries are flying the flag for Free Software and open standards :-)

- Derwen

What happens when someone tries to patent, say, the grape?

They are already doing so. A Texas company called RiceTec was granted a patent for Basmati rice. Basmati is a kind of rice that grows only in the foothills of the Himalayas in India and Pakistan. Like how the label ``Champagne'' may be used only for products from a particular place. Read an analysis of the patent and its consequences.

For centuries in India, turmeric has been used as a home-remedy and traditional medicine for wounds. In March 1995, a patent was granted to the University of Mississipi Medical Centre for precisely this use. What made this a particularly disgusting case was that the patent was in the name of two Indian researchers at the university. The US Patent Office did uphold a challenge to this patent and it was revoked. There are many such patents that need to be cancelled.

Cancelling these patents is the first step in stopping biopiracy. The author of this piece reiterates that patents must be granted on the basis of Novelty, Non-obviousness, and Utility.

Novelty implies that the innovation must be new. It cannot be part of 'prior art' or existing knowledge. Non-obviousness implies that someone familiar in the art should not be able to achieve the same step. Most patents based on indigenous knowledge appropriation violate the criteria of novelty combined with non-obviousness because they range from direct piracy to minor tinkering involving steps obvious to anyone trained in the techniques and disciplines involved.

Software patents are not the only area in which patent laws are hopelessly out of sync with reality. The two-fold problem is:

• how to educate lawmakers about issues involved
• how to combat special interests in lobbying Congress to pass sensible laws