April first, 2001, A persistent rumor says that DASH, PowderSolve, Endeavour, EVA, Diamond, Cristallographica, Topas, and some other commercial software could become freeware. Moreover, some distance learning courses (SDPD Internet Course, etc) would also be concerned by this unprecedented discount, sponsored by ICDD, whose war treasure will be used to compensate the companies involved. Also the JCPDS-ICDD, the ICSD, the Crystmet and the CSD databases would be made available at no cost. However, please double-check. ALB Fisher
