Dear Jeremy Cooke,

In "GM food Monster or saviour?" (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/7426054.stm) you write in connection with GM foods "It is something that Americans, generally, do not even think about. Certainly, throughout the four years my family and I spent in New York we must have eaten hundreds of meals containing GM in blissful ignorance."

Note:

This is the second in a series intended to document and share my attempts at finding, installing and maintaining a Linux-based laptop computer. Feel free to post your own experiences. Comments, suggestions, corrections are all welcome!

Freeing the Windows-Bundled laptops

Luckily, while doing the rounds of computer shops in search for a laptop computer running on Linux (or any free/open source operating system), someone at the CompLink shop gave me a full-color catalog-price list.

Of course, most of the laptop and notebook computers have Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium installed in them. I asked the sales person if the customer could ask to have Vista removed. He said, yes. I asked if the customer could then pay for the computer less the price of the operating system, or get a refund. He said, no.

In an article by Catherine Saez on Intellectual Property Watch WTO/WIPO Colloquium Aimed At IP Teachers, teachers of intellectual property from developing countries have been invited to attend a two-week colloquium jointly organised by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and the World Trade Organization (WTO) from 30 June to 10 July.

I wonder if the WTO/WIPO Colloquium will also attempt to dispel the myths of Intellectual Property Rights, or will these myths continue to be taught as doctrinal truths to university professors of law, management and economy from developing countries?

1. "Innovation and technology: Twenty-First Century"

In the journal "Leonardo", Volume 28, Number 4 -published by Pergamon Press in 1990 we read an article with the title directly above, written by Lowell T. Harmison (biophysicist, scientist, administrator) Maxwell Foundation, USA:

In response to Document Freedom Day efforts of promoting, adopting and raising awareness for Free Document Formats and Open Standards, the Philippines-based art initiative Korakora.org is organizing an open on-line dialogue entitled "Surfers or Serfs: Digital Freedom or Digital Feudalism?"

Note:

This series is intended to document and share my attempts at finding, installing and maintaining a notebook computer that runs on fs/oss. Feel free to post your own experiences. Comments, suggestions, corrections are all welcome!

Also, I've updated the text and corrected many errors in the "Finding Linux" article I sent earlier. While I wrote the first draft rather hastily, I think it is important that I check back on it and carefully correct some errors and ambiguities. Laziness only adds to confusion. Some corrections / clarifications that I thought were important include:

Once upon a time, adults used to question things: They would ask themselves and others why some things were good and why some things were bad. This was called "discussion" and some people enjoyed it.

However, one day, a very clever person discovered that if you kept repeating how clever you were and how wonderful your products were, then after a while other people got too tired to argue with you and so they just went out and bought these products however "good" or "bad" they really were. This was called "advertising".