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Software: Sun to back Linux alternative
Sun Microsystems Inc intends to promote the free Linux operating system as an alternative to Microsoft Corp's office software, the New York Times said, citing a Sun executive. Sun planned to say at a customer conference yesterday that it will support the Linux system along with Sun's StarOffice applications programs, the paper said, citing the California company's executive vice president for software, Jonathan Schwartz. Industry analysts said Sun's backing of Linux alternatives to Microsoft's Windows and Office programs could threaten Microsoft's corporate market, the paper said. International Business Machines Corp and others in the computer industry have been supporting Linux's "open source" system, which is distributed free by programmers, the New York Times said.

Food: Hershey auction melts down
Hershey Foods Corp's controlling charitable trust canceled the sale of the biggest US chocolate-candy maker because of opposition from Pennsylvania lawmakers and the local community. The directors of the trust voted to terminate the auction at a meeting where they were considering bids from suitors including Wm. Wrigley Jr. Co, trust spokesman Rick Kelly said. He declined to name the other bidders. Analysts had included Nestle SA and Cadbury Schweppes Plc among possible buyers. "The board received bids that were evaluated and studied and after much analysis the bids were rejected," Kelly said.

Trade pact: US to talk about free trade
The US and Central America expect to launch negotiations on a free trade deal in January if not before, a Salvadoran official said Tuesday. The US "is already set to start formally the steps they have to take domestically in the Congress," Deputy Economy Minister Eduardo Ayala said from Washington in an interview by telephone with local media. Ayala said Robert Zoellick, the US Trade Representative, will meet next Thursday with a Congressional committee to inform it of the US administration's intention to negotiate a free-trade deal with all of Central America. Thirty-four leaders from North, South, Central America and the Caribbean -- excluding Cuba -- already have agreed to negotiate the Free Trade Area of the Americas by January 2005 and put the pact into effect by the end of that year. An arrangement between the US and Central America would speed up the trade liberalization plans between the two sides.

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