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<title>CeBIT Report Issue 16</title>
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&quot;Linux Gazette...<I>making Linux just a little more fun!</I>&quot;
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<H2>CeBit'97, March 13-19</H2>
<H4>By Belinda Frazier, Associate Publisher <I>Linux Journal</I></H4>
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<A HREF="./photo2.html">CeBIT Photo Album</A>
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CeBIT is the world's largest computer fair, bringing together
vendors and attendees from many different countries.
If you picture landscaped fairgrounds with 27 halls for vendors
and even more auxiliary buildings with stores and restaurants
and then add 650,000 people to the picture, all visiting the location
over seven days, you are starting to get an image of CeBIT '97.
CeBIT took place in the Messegelande in Hanover,
Germany, March 13th to 19th, 1997.
<P>
This was my first time attending CeBIT, and my goal was to
look at the Linux vendors and possibly talk about Linux to vendors
whose software already runs under other Unix platforms. I also
wanted to see what such a huge computer fair would be like and
contrast it to the US's largest computer fair, Comdex, in Las Vegas,
which I have attended the past seven years.
<P>
My first stop was Hall 11 to visit Caldera, Inc.
Caldera's booth was easily recognizable as a Linux booth because
of "Tux" the penguin, (well, a stuffed rendition of Tux) sitting on top
of one of the monitors.
Caldera's booth was crowded with people every time I visited it.
<P>
Attendees were interested in Caldera's OpenLinux products and
getting information about Linux and Linux products.
The 1500 <I>Linux Journal Buyer's Guides</I> given away by Caldera and
their affiliated booths during CeBIT also seemed to be a hit with
attendees.
Caldera also provided information about OpenDOS 7.01,
which is free for non-commercial and educational use.
Caldera's booth staff talked about recent announcements such as the
upcoming port of Netscape software to OpenLinux, and the port
of StarOffice 3.1 to OpenLinux.
<P>
A German television station, Bayerischer Rundfunk, filmed
a short TV show about Linux at the Caldera booth.
The "TV host" Jurgend Plate warmed up for a few minutes while the
film crew continued to set up equipment.
Before they started filming, after
I identified myself as the Associate Publisher of Linux Journal,
Jurgend hollered to me that LJ was "das beste Magazin auf der Welt!"
I was told by Sebastian Hetze of LunetIX, that Jurgend Plate had been
excited about Linux for years, and that his exuberance over Linux
was real.
<P>
A second Linux stop for me was at the large Star Office booth
in Hall 2 that demonstrated among its many different ports,
StarOffice on OpenLinux.
<P>
At the third Linux stop, the large Software AG booth,
there was a signpost saying
Datenbanktechnologie and the second sign down said "ADABAS & LINUX".
Tux sat proudly on top of the workstation here by the Caldera
OpenLinux Base. Nathan Guinn gave me a free review copy of the single-user
version of Caldera's ADABAS, an SQL Database, which I passed
along to the Editor of Linux Journal.
<P>
A fourth company with a Linux product was NAG Ltd,
which among its other products, provided information on
their Linux Fortran 90 Compiler.
<P>
Other companies, such as LST Software, GmBH and LunetIX had
representatives at the show, mostly working out of Caldera's booth.
<P>
There was some press coverage about Linux. In the special CeBIT
section of the Newspaper called "COMPUTER &amp; KOMMUNIKATION" there was
a full-page article titled "Linux schultert Microsoft-Anwendungen"
which covered the capability of Microsoft Applications to run
under Linux using Caldera's Wabi software.
<P>
All in all, CeBIT was an informative, busy, intensive show.
Next time I should like to try it without crutches resulting from a sprained ankle.
I should also mention the color shows and performances in some booths,
including a musical story (D2-Musical) with
"Princess Digital, the Queen of the World", the artistic acrobats
at VIAG Interkom and many cabaret-style performances, which added
fun, colorful and entertaining diversions to CeBIT.
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<center><H5>Copyright &copy; 1997, Belinda Frazier <BR>
Published in Issue 16 of the Linux Gazette, April 1997</H5></center>
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