I had a very pleasant journey back to London in the company of Nicholas Wood-Dow who was at the conference to promote open source software. We touched base on a few topics including Brazil and the connection between the Brazilian ambassador’s wife Lucia Flecha da Lima and Princess Diana, open source software of course (the best example in the public sector being its use by the German Government), and even the Cambridge connection (him Cath’s & me Christ’s). I mentioned I had worked briefly for Linux User magazine (which also included contributions from Dr Douglas Carnall), and said I thought an article on how NASA has used GNU/Linux could motivate key policy makers who love shuttles and space stations and all the rest.

Nick also mentioned the fact that another Nick – Nicholas Negroponte – chairman and founder of the MIT Media Labs, has produced a sub-$100 PC  to run on Linux  and as I found out is aimed at children in Brazil, as well as China, Egypt, Thailand, and South Africa. It was launched at the the World Summit on the Information Society earlier in November.