BE DOPE NEWS (BDN) Free software advocates worldwide today celebrated as word leaked out of a "GNU" version of the BeOS.

Under the GNU General Public License, software is distributed, either without cost or for a fee, but full source code (or access to it) must be included. Recepients of the software are then free to modify the source code and/or redistribute the software under the same conditions.

"This is certainly a boost for the GNU philosophy," said St. Richard M. Stallman, founder and spiritual leader of the GNU movement. "We welcome the awe-inspiring power of the BeOS to the ranks of GNU software. I expect this might speed the development of the Hurd kernel."

However, the celebration was short-lived as clarification from Be, Inc. revealed the "GNU" version was in fact, literally a version of the BeOS optimized for for gnus, and was not connected with the GNU General Public License in any way.

"We are of course still primarily the Media OS," said Be, Inc. CEO Jean-Louis Gassée. "but our research shows the Gnus are key to gaining a toehold in the critical African grassland market."

Last minute changes in R4 (Hawking) include support for hoof-friendly input methods and mating call enhancement and generation software.

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