Tulip offers free connection to Dutch netters 18 June
Tulip Computers has announced plans to launch Freenet, a free access Internet system, in the Netherlands later this year. The idea, according to Jonothan Sultan, a spokesperson for the company, is to allow all computer users free access to the Internet, regardless of which computer hardware they are using.

According to Sultan, the Freenet project is a unique opportunity for a major PC vendor to work on a national level with the whole of the community from charities, public sector departments, through to private and corporate users.

One interesting twist to the project is that Tulip is encouraging users to advertise their old computer hardware for sale at low cost, or to be given away, in the Netherlands, to other Freenet users, including schools, colleagues, hospitals, charities, and other voluntary organizations.

The idea is that Tulip will set up a section on the Freenet service to advertise old 286- and 386-based equipment for low-cost sale or donation to suitable good causes. Despite their age, Sultan claims they are still adequate for everyday requirements, such as word processing or basic spreadsheets. Plans call for the service to be administered by Tulip to ensure the anonymity of both the recipients and donors.

According to Sultan, the Freenet project is not just a one-off altruistic project for Tulip. He claims that the company already builds its PC "with the environment in mind," using recycled board for packaging, soldering in a nitrogen atmosphere, and with no CDC cleaning agents used in the manufacturing process.

Because of this approach, he claims that around 85 percent of the company's PCs can be recycled. "Now we are able to help at a local level by matching the needs of worthy organizations, with the equipment being replaced by news machines," he said.

(Sylvia Dennis/19960617/Press Contact Worldview Marketing, tel +44-1342-323525, fax +44-1342-323613; Reader Contact: Tulip Computers, tel +44-1293-420200, fax +44-1293-420252)


From the NEWSBYTES news service, 18 June