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Los Angeles Sparks

The Los Angeles Sparks are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles. The Sparks compete in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) as a member club of the league's Western Conference. The team was founded before the league's inaugural 1997 season began. Like some other WNBA teams, the Sparks have the distinction of not being affiliated with an NBA counterpart, even though the market is shared with the Los Angeles Lakers and the Los Angeles Clippers.

Lakers owner Jerry Buss owned the Sparks as a sister team to the Los Angeles Lakers from 1997 to 2006. Since 2014, the Sparks have been owned by Sparks LA Sports, a group consisting of Mark Walter, Magic Johnson, Stan Kasten, Todd Boehly, Bobby Patton, and Eric Holoman.

The Sparks have qualified for the WNBA Playoffs in twenty of their twenty-four years in Los Angeles, more than any other team in the league. The franchise has been home to many high-quality players such as 6 ft center and Tennessee standout Candace Parker, flashy point guard Nikki Teasley, and nearby USC alums Lisa Leslie and Tina Thompson. In 2001, 2002, 2003, 2016 and 2017, the Sparks went to the WNBA Finals. They won the title in 2001, 2002, and 2016, beating Charlotte, New York, and Minnesota respectively, but fell short to Detroit in 2003 and Minnesota in 2017.

1997–2000: Beginnings and bright future
The 1997 WNBA season, the league's first, opened with a game between the Sparks and the New York Liberty at the Sparks home (The Forum) in Inglewood. The Sparks lost the game 57–67. Sparks player Penny Toler scored the league's first two points with a lay-up 59 seconds into the game. The Sparks finished with a record of 14–14. The team did compete for a playoff spot, but because of a loss to the Phoenix Mercury in the final game of the season, the Sparks missed the playoffs. In the 1998 WNBA season, the Sparks finished 12–18, missing the playoffs once more.

The 1999 season featured the development of Lisa Leslie and the Sparks' first playoff berth, as the Sparks posted a 20–12 record. The Sparks won their first playoff game and series with a win over the Sacramento Monarchs. They played in the Western Conference Finals but fell to the defending champion Houston Comets, 2 games to 1, in the three-game series.

The 2000 season was a record one, as the Sparks had a 28–4 record, the best in league history, and second only to the 1998 Houston Comets for best all-time. In the playoffs, the Sparks swept the Phoenix Mercury in the first round but lost in the Western Conference Finals again, when they were swept by the Comets. Ultimately, the Sparks were playing in the shadow of the Comets, who won the first four WNBA championships.

2001–2002: Back-to-back championships
The 2000–01 off-season saw a move to the Crypto.com Arena (formerly Staples Center) and a coaching change, when the Sparks hired former Los Angeles Lakers player Michael Cooper as head coach. During the ensuing regular season, the Sparks again posted a 28–4 record. In the 2001 playoffs, the Sparks finally eliminated the Comets, sweeping them in the first round. The Sparks took all three games to eliminate the Monarchs to earn their first berth in the WNBA Finals, in which they swept the Charlotte Sting, 2–0, for their first league championship.

In 2002, Leslie became the first woman in the league to dunk the ball during a game, and once again the Sparks dominated the regular season, posting a 25–7 record. The Sparks then flew through the playoffs, sweeping both the Seattle Storm and the Utah Starzz. In the finals, the Sparks were matched against the Liberty, who were still looking for their first championship. A late three-pointer in game 2 by Nikki Teasley gave the Sparks their second consecutive championship.

2003: Chasing a three-peat
In 2003, the Sparks posted a 24–10 record and went into the playoffs looking for a "three-peat". Both the first and the second rounds were forced to deciding third games, as they beat the Minnesota Lynx and Sacramento Monarchs. The Sparks then faced the upstart Detroit Shock in the Finals. The Shock were on a roll after having been the worst team in the WNBA in 2002. The Finals were a battle fueled by the relationship between head coaches Michael Cooper (Sparks) and Bill Laimbeer (Shock) which stemmed from their days in the NBA. The rough road to the finals and the tough play of the Shock wore down the Sparks, who lost the series two games to one and failed to three-peat.

2004–2006: Further championship contention
During the 2003-04 off-season, the Sparks signed two players, Tamika Whitmore and Teresa Weatherspoon, who had played for the New York Liberty. When the season began, the Sparks got off to a great start, but coach Cooper left at mid-season to seek a coaching job in the NBA. The loss of their coach was a factor in the team's so-so finish to the season, which ended with a record of 25–9. During the playoffs, the team lost in three games to the Sacramento Monarchs.

The Sparks never recovered through the 2005 season and finished with a 17–17 record. They barely made the playoffs as the number-four seed. In the first round, the Sparks were outplayed and swept by the eventual champion Monarchs.

In 2006, the Sparks played much better, posting a 25–9 record. In the playoffs, they defeated the Seattle Storm in three games. However, in the Western Conference finals, the Sparks' season was ended by the Monarchs for the third year in a row.

2007: Rock bottom
After the 2006 season ended, team owner Jerry Buss announced he was selling the Sparks. On December 7, 2006, the Los Angeles Times reported the sale to an investor group led by Kathy Goodman and Carla Christofferson. Goodman is a former executive for Intermedia Films. Christofferson is a litigation attorney for the O’Melveny & Myers law firm and was Miss North Dakota USA in 1989. The day after the sale was announced, team star Lisa Leslie announced that she was pregnant and would not play in the 2007 season. The Sparks posted a league-worst 10–24 record, also the worst in Sparks history. They missed the playoffs for the first time since 1998.

2008–2015: Lisa Leslie's final years, the rise of Candace Parker, falling short and new ownership
Before the start of the 2008 season, the team's prospects improved dramatically. Lisa Leslie returned to the team, and on April 9, 2008, the team used its number-one draft pick to select Candace Parker, the college player of the year, the morning after Parker had led the University of Tennessee Lady Vols to their second-straight NCAA championship.

In 2008, the Sparks posted a 20–14 record and finished third in the Western Conference. Parker had won Rookie of the Year and WNBA MVP, becoming the first player in WNBA history to win both awards in the same season. In the playoffs, the Sparks beat the Seattle Storm 2–1 to reach the Western Conference Finals and compete against the San Antonio Silver Stars. The Sparks were on track to win game 2 of the series, but Silver Star Sophia Young made a turn-around bank-shot with a second left on the clock to force the series to a deciding game three. The Sparks lost game three, and the Silver Stars moved on to the WNBA Finals.

Following the 2008 season, Parker announced that she was pregnant. To compensate for Parker's absence, the Sparks signed native veteran superstar Tina Thompson (who had previously played for the former rival Houston Comets) and former Finals MVP Betty Lennox in free agency. With the addition of Thompson and Lennox, the Sparks added more championship experience and veteran leadership to their roster to them help them compete for another title.

The 2009 season had started poorly for the Sparks. Parker began the season on maternity leave, and Leslie suffered a knee injury early in the season. Both Leslie and Parker returned to the court in July, however, sparking a 10–2 run which turned an 8–14 start into an 18–16 regular-season record and clinching the Sparks' tenth playoff appearance in their 13-year history. In the first round of the playoffs, the Sparks defeated the Seattle Storm for the third time in four years. In the Western Conference Finals, the Sparks' lost to the eventual champion Phoenix Mercury in three games. The end of the 2009 playoff run marked the end of Leslie's career as a player and Cooper's second tenure as Sparks' head coach. In the off-season, former Sparks player Jennifer Gillom became the team's new head coach.

With the acquisition of former All-Star point guard Ticha Penicheiro and Parker establishing herself as the team's next franchise player, the 2010 Sparks believed they had the pieces to contend for a championship. However, Parker had season-ending shoulder surgery after the team started 3–7. Without her, the Sparks struggled, finishing 13–21, which was good enough to qualify them for fourth place in the Western Conference, but they were swept by the eventual champion Seattle Storm in the first round.

The 2011 season was eerily reminiscent of the previous year for the Sparks. The team started 4–3 but again Parker sustained an injury. Following three more losses, the Sparks fired head coach Gillom, promoting previous Sparks coach Joe Bryant. With Parker out until the end of the season, the Sparks headed into the All-Star break 6–8 and in fifth place. The Sparks finished the season three games out of the playoffs with a 15–19 record. Thompson would become a free agent and sign with the Seattle Storm.

In the 2012 season, the Sparks significantly improved, making it back to the playoffs since 2010, finishing second in the Western Conference with a 24–10 record. That same year they drafted Rookie of the Year and future MVP Nneka Ogwumike with the number-one pick. However, the Sparks were eliminated 2–0 in the first round by the Minnesota Lynx.

The team was owned by Williams Group Holdings (Paula Madison, majority owner) and Carla Christofferson, Nicholas J H, and Lisa Leslie (minority owners) until January 2014 when it was abruptly announced that WGH would relinquish all control. Paula Madison said that since becoming an owner in 2007, she and her family had lost $12 million, including $1.4 million in 2013. The team was temporarily absorbed by the league, and was then purchased by Sparks LA Sports, a group that included former NBA player Magic Johnson.

The 2014 and 2015 seasons would be disappointing for the Sparks as they had continued to be an underachieving playoff team, getting eliminated in the first round both years by the Phoenix Mercury and Minnesota Lynx respectively.

2016: Champions once again
After making the playoffs in 2015, losing in the first round, the Sparks made subtle roster changes and improved the following year. Suddenly showing signs of championship contention, they finished with a 26–8 record and made it to the 2016 WNBA Playoffs. By this time, the Sparks had a "Big Three", consisting of Candace Parker, Nneka Ogwumike and Kristi Toliver. They earned the number 2 seed in the league and received a double bye to the semi-finals with the WNBA's new playoff format. The Sparks faced off against the Chicago Sky in the semi-finals and defeated the Sky 3 games to 1 to advance to the Finals for the first time since 2003. They faced the number 1 seeded Minnesota Lynx in the finals. They stole game 1 on the road when veteran forward Alana Beard made a game-winning jumper at the buzzer, lifting the team to a 78–76 victory. They lost game 2 79–60, but back in Los Angeles, put themselves one win away from their first title in over a decade with a dominant 92–75 game 3 victory. Even though they expected to clinch a championship on their home floor, they lost game 4 in a disappointing finish of 85–79. Game 5 was truly historic, against all odds, and swarmed with Minnesota fans, the 2016 WNBA MVP, Nneka Ogwumike grabbed an offensive rebound and made the game-winning shot to put the Sparks ahead 77–76 with 3.1 seconds remaining. The Sparks won their first championship since 2002 and their third championship in franchise history. Candace Parker was named the Finals MVP.

2017–present: Hunting more championships
Coming into the 2017 season, the Sparks had some changes made in their roster. Toliver left the Sparks in free agency to join the Washington Mystics, Chelsea Gray became the starting point guard, the Sparks traded for Odyssey Sims, drafted Sydney Wiese and retooled most of their bench, but kept their core intact. The Sparks once again finished as the second best team in the league with a 26–8 record with a double-bye to the semi-finals. The Sparks swept the Phoenix Mercury 3-0 in the semi-finals, advancing to the Finals for the second season in a row, setting up a rematch with the Lynx. In Game 1, Gray made a game-winning jumper with 2 seconds left to give the Sparks a 1-0 series lead. In Game 3, Parker set the Finals record for most steals in a game with 5 steals as the Sparks were up 2–1 in the Finals. With another opportunity to close out the series at home, the Sparks failed to deliver as they lost Game 4 80–69, extending the series to a deciding Game 5. The Sparks would lose Game 5, failing to win back-to-back championships.

In 2018, the Sparks continued to hold onto their core, but would underperform during the season, this time they would finish as the number 6 seed with a 19–15 record. They would start off their playoff run against the rival championship-defending Minnesota Lynx. They would defeat the Lynx 75–68, advancing to the second round. In the second round elimination game, the Sparks lost 96–64 to the Washington Mystics, ending their run of two consecutive finals appearances.

According to Matthew Shapiro of WNBA.com, the Sparks are the most historic franchise in the WNBA.

After the 2018 season, Brian Agler resigned as the coach of the Sparks. One month later, the Sparks announced that Derek Fisher had been hired as a replacement.

After the 2019 season, Penny Toler was dismissed as general manager.

On June 7, 2022, the Sparks and Fisher parted ways as Head Coach and General Manager after the Sparks started the year off 5-7 after bringing in Liz Cambage. Fisher went 54-46 as head coach during his Sparks tenure.

Current home
The Los Angeles Sparks currently play in the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, California. The capacity for a Sparks game is 13,141 because the upper level is closed off (capacity for a Lakers game is 18,997). The Sparks have played in the Crypto.com Arena since 2001. They previously played at The Forum but stayed there for two years after the Lakers departed for Crypto.com Arena until the venue was purchased by a local church.

Uniforms

 * 2021–present: Nike and the WNBA unveiled new designs for all of its teams, and announced new edition uniforms. The Sparks unveiled a white uniform for the first time; all white uniforms were placed under the "Heroine" series. The purple uniform became part of the "Explorer" series, while a black third uniform was released as part of the "Rebel" series. The "Rebel" uniforms are similar to the NBA's "City" edition in that it evokes city or team culture and pride.
 * 2018–2020: Nike replaced Adidas as uniform provider. EquiTrust remains jersey sponsor, while slight tweaks were made in the fonts and striping. Similar to the NBA, Nike's WNBA uniforms were classified under the "Icon" and "Statement" series, with the Sparks' gold and purple jerseys designated as such.
 * 2015–2017: EquiTrust Life Insurance becomes new jersey sponsor; jersey remains unchanged other than the addition of the name of the sponsor.
 * 2013–2014: Farmers Insurance naming rights expire, and the team name returns on both jerseys. In addition a modified font for the jersey numbers was introduced.
 * 2011–2012: As part of the move to Adidas's Revolution 30 technology, the Sparks unveiled new jerseys. Home uniforms remain gold, but numbers are now rounded and in white with purple trim. Away uniforms are purple with numbers in white with gold trim. The Farmers Insurance name will remain on the jerseys.
 * 2009–2010: On June 5, the Los Angeles Sparks and Farmers Insurance Group of Companies announced a multi-year marketing partnership that includes a branded jersey sponsorship. The Farmers Insurance branded jersey was worn by the players for the first time on June 6, 2009. As part of this alliance, the Farmers Insurance name and logo will appear on the front of the Sparks jerseys. In the 2009 season, the Sparks yellow jersey is used regardless of home or away. In the 2010 season they introduced the purple jersey for away games.
 * 2007–2008: For home games, gold with purple lines and sparks on the side, with the name "Sparks" written across in purple. For away games, purple with golden yellow lines and sparks on the side, with the name "Los Angeles" in yellow. The uniform looks similar to the Los Angeles Lakers' uniform.
 * 1997–2006: For home games, gold with large purple stripe on the side, with the name "Sparks" written across in purple. For away games, purple with large gold stripe on the side, with the name "Los Angeles" in yellow.

Current roster
Current injuries are not updated.

Owners

 * Jerry Buss, owner of the Los Angeles Lakers (1997–2006)
 * Gemini Basketball LLC, composed of Carla Christofferson, Kathy Goodman, and Lynai Jones (2006–2011)
 * Williams Group Holdings (Paula Madison) (2011–2014) and Carla Christofferson, Kathy Goodman, and Lisa Leslie (2011–2013)
 * Sparks LA Sports (Mark Walter, Magic Johnson, Stan Kasten, Todd Boehly, Bobby Patton, Eric Holoman) (2014–present)

General Managers

 * Rhonda Windham (1997–1999)
 * Penny Toler (2000–2019)
 * Derek Fisher (2021–2022)
 * Karen Bryant (2023–Present)

Assistant coaches

 * Julie Rousseau (1997)
 * Orlando Woolridge (1998)
 * Michael Cooper (1999)
 * Marianne Stanley (2000, 2008–2009)
 * Glenn McDonald (2000–2002)
 * Karleen Thompson (2002–2004)
 * Ryan Weisenberg (2003–2004)
 * Bob Webb (2005)
 * Shelley Patterson (2005)
 * Michael Abraham (2006–2007)
 * Margaret Mohr (2006–2007)
 * Laura Beeman (2008–2009)
 * Larry Smith (2008)
 * Steve Smith (1998, 2009–2010, 2014, 2023–present)
 * Sandy Brondello (2011–2013)
 * Joe Bryant (2011)
 * Jim Lewis (2012)
 * Bridget Pettis (2013)
 * Gail Goestenkors (2014)
 * Gary Kloppenburg (2014)
 * Curt Miller (2015)
 * Amber Stocks (2015–2016)
 * Tonya Edwards (2016–2018)
 * Bobbie Kelsey (2017–2018)
 * Latricia Trammell (2019–2022)
 * Fred Williams (2019–2022)
 * Seimone Augustus (2021–2022)
 * Chris Koclanes (2023–present)
 * Danielle Viglione (2023–present)

Media coverage
Currently, some Sparks games are broadcast on Spectrum SportsNet, a local television channel in the Southern California area, after agreeing to a multi-year broadcast deal with Time Warner Cable in March 2012 which was later acquired by Charter Communications in May 2016. Broadcasters for the Sparks games are Larry Burnett and Lisa Leslie. Previously, Sparks games were found on Fox Sports West and Prime Ticket and former analysts have included Derek Fisher and Ann Meyers.

Some Sparks games are broadcast nationally on ESPN, ESPN2, Ion Television, CBS, CBS Sports Network and ABC.

Currently, the team's games are not on radio; however, the team did bounce around several stations from 1999 to 2008. The first two years had no broadcasts. Then in 1999, the team signed with KWKU, a sister station to Spanish-language KWKW, licensed to Pomona, California. According to an article in the Los Angeles Times published in this period, KWKU had no switchboard and no website. In addition, its 500-watt signal reached only a handful of people in the greater L.A. area and was certainly nowhere near the team's home arenas. In 2003, the team left KWKU for KLAC, which had summer time slots available after the Anaheim Angels' radio broadcasts had just left. That lasted until 2006, when KLAC switched the broadcasts to XETRA, which carried the same format KLAC had before. In 2007, the game broadcasts moved again, this time to KTLK, when XETRA switched its language of broadcasts from English to Spanish. The Sparks and Clear Channel Communications (licensee of the last three stations mentioned) chose not to renew their contract after 2008. Sparks radio broadcasts never covered a complete season; most nationally-televised games and many games from the Eastern time zone were not covered. Burnett was the announcer.

Regular season attendance

 * A sellout for a basketball game at The Forum (1997–2000) is 17,505.
 * A sellout for a basketball game at Crypto.com Arena (formerly Staples Center) (2001–present) is 19,079.

Draft picks

 * 1997 Elite Draft: Daedra Charles (8), Haixia Zheng (16)
 * 1997: Jamila Wideman (3), Tamecka Dixon (14), Katrina Colleton (19), Travesa Gant (30)
 * 1998: Allison Feaster (5), Octavia Blue (15), Rehema Stephens (25), Erica Kienast (35)
 * 1999: Delisha Milton (4), Clarisse Machanguana (16), Ukari Figgs (28), La'Keshia Frett (40)
 * 2000: Nicole Kubik (15), Paige Sauer (31), Marte Alexander (47), Nicky McCrimmon (63)
 * 2001: Camille Cooper (16), Nicole Levandusky (32), Kelley Siemon (48), Beth Record (64)
 * 2002: Rosalind Ross (16), Gergana Slavtcheva (30), Jackie Higgins (32), Rashana Barnes (48), Tiffany Thompson (64)
 * 2003 Miami/Portland Dispersal Draft: Jackie Stiles (14)
 * 2003: Schuye LaRue (27), Mary Jo Noon (42)
 * 2004 Cleveland Dispersal Draft: Isabelle Fijalkowski (12)
 * 2004: Christi Thomas (12), Doneeka Hodges (25)
 * 2005: DeeDee Wheeler (26), Heather Schreiber (39)
 * 2006: Lisa Willis (5), Willnett Crockett (22), Tiffany Porter-Talbert (36)
 * 2008 Charlotte Dispersal Draft: Ayana Walker (12)
 * 2007: Sidney Spencer (25), Amanda Brown (38)
 * 2008: Candace Parker (1), Shannon Bobbitt (15), Sharnee’ Zoll (29)
 * 2009 Houston Dispersal Draft: selection waived
 * 2009: Lindsay Wisdom-Hylton (13), Ashley Paris (22), Britney Jordan (35)
 * 2010 Sacramento Dispersal Draft: selection waived
 * 2010: Bianca Thomas (12), Angel Robinson (20), Rashidat Junaid (32)
 * 2011: Jantel Lavender (5), Elina Babkina (29, ineligible)
 * 2012: Nneka Ogwumike (1), Farhiya Abdi (13), Khadijah Rushdan (15), Tyra White (16), April Sykes (28)
 * 2013: A'dia Mathies (10), Brittany Chambers (22)
 * 2014: Jennifer Hamson (23), Antonita Slaughter (35)
 * 2015: Crystal Bradford (7), Cierra Burdick (14), Andrea Hoover (31)
 * 2016: Jonquel Jones (6), Whitney Knight (15), Brianna Butler (23), Talia Walton (29)
 * 2017: Sydney Weise (11), Saicha Grant-Allen (35)
 * 2018: Maria Vadeeva (11), Shakayla Thomas (23), Julia Reisingerová (35)
 * 2019: Kalani Brown (7), Marina Mabrey (19), Ángela Salvadores (31)
 * 2020: Beatrice Mompremier (20), Leonie Fiebich (22), Tynice Martin (34)
 * 2021: Jasmine Walker (7), Stephanie Watts (10), Arella Guirantes (22), Ivana Raca (28), Aina Ayuso (34)
 * 2022: Rae Burrell (9), Kianna Smith (16), Olivia Nelson-Ododa (19), Amy Atwell (27)
 * 2023: Zia Cooke (10), Shaneice Swain (14), Monika Czinano (26)

All-Stars

 * 1997: No All-Star Game
 * 1998: No All-Star Game
 * 1999: Lisa Leslie
 * 2000: Lisa Leslie, Mwadi Mabika, Delisha Milton
 * 2001: Tamecka Dixon, Lisa Leslie
 * 2002: Tamecka Dixon, Lisa Leslie, Mwadi Mabika
 * 2003: Tamecka Dixon, Lisa Leslie, Nikki Teasley
 * 2004: Mwadi Mabika, Nikki Teasley
 * 2005: Chamique Holdsclaw, Lisa Leslie
 * 2006: Lisa Leslie
 * 2007: Taj McWilliams-Franklin
 * 2008: No All-Star Game
 * 2009: Lisa Leslie, Tina Thompson
 * 2010: Candace Parker
 * 2011: Candace Parker
 * 2012: No All-Star Game
 * 2013: Nneka Ogwumike, Candace Parker, Kristi Toliver
 * 2014: Nneka Ogwumike, Candace Parker
 * 2015: Jantel Lavender, Nneka Ogwumike
 * 2016: No All-Star Game
 * 2017: Chelsea Gray, Nneka Ogwumike, Candace Parker
 * 2018: Chelsea Gray, Candace Parker
 * 2019: Chelsea Gray, Nneka Ogwumike
 * 2020: No All-Star Game
 * 2021: None
 * 2022: Nneka Ogwumike
 * 2023: Nneka Ogwumike
 * 2024: Dearica Hamby

Olympians

 * 2000: Lisa Leslie, Delisha Milton
 * 2004: Lisa Leslie
 * 2008: Lisa Leslie, Candace Parker, Delisha Milton-Jones
 * 2012: Candace Parker, Jenna O'Hea (AUS)
 * 2016: Ana Dabovic (SER)
 * 2020: None
 * 2024: Dearica Hamby (USA 3x3), Kia Nurse (CAN), Stephanie Talbot (AUS), Li Yueru (CHN)

Honors and awards

 * 1997 All-WNBA First Team: Lisa Leslie
 * 1997 Sportsmanship Award: Haixia Zheng
 * 1998 All-WNBA Second Team: Lisa Leslie
 * 1999 All-WNBA Second Team: Lisa Leslie
 * 1999 All-Star Game MVP: Lisa Leslie
 * 2000 All-WNBA First Team: Lisa Leslie
 * 2000 Coach of the Year: Michael Cooper
 * 2001 Most Valuable Player: Lisa Leslie
 * 2001 Finals MVP: Lisa Leslie
 * 2001 All-WNBA First Team: Lisa Leslie
 * 2001 All-WNBA Second Team: Tamecka Dixon
 * 2001 All-Star Game MVP: Lisa Leslie
 * 2001 Peak Performer (FG%): Latasha Byears
 * 2002 All-WNBA First Team: Lisa Leslie
 * 2002 All-WNBA First Team: Mwadi Mabika
 * 2002 Finals MVP: Lisa Leslie
 * 2002 All-Star Game MVP: Lisa Leslie
 * 2003 All-WNBA First Team: Lisa Leslie
 * 2003 All-WNBA Second Team: Nikki Teasley
 * 2003 All-Star Game MVP: Nikki Teasley
 * 2004 Most Valuable Player: Lisa Leslie
 * 2004 All-WNBA First Team: Lisa Leslie
 * 2004 All-WNBA Second Team: Nikki Teasley
 * 2004 Defensive Player of the Year: Lisa Leslie
 * 2004 Peak Performer (Rebounds): Lisa Leslie
 * 2005 All-WNBA Second Team: Lisa Leslie
 * 2005 All-Defensive Second Team: Lisa Leslie
 * 2006 Most Valuable Player: Lisa Leslie
 * 2006 All-Decade Team: Lisa Leslie
 * 2006 All-WNBA First Team: Lisa Leslie
 * 2006 All-Defensive First Team: Lisa Leslie
 * 2007 All-Rookie Team: Marta Fernandez
 * 2007 All-Rookie Team: Sidney Spencer
 * 2008 Most Valuable Player: Candace Parker
 * 2008 Rookie of the Year: Candace Parker
 * 2008 All-WNBA First Team: Lisa Leslie
 * 2008 All-WNBA First Team: Candace Parker
 * 2008 Defensive Player of the Year: Lisa Leslie
 * 2008 All-Defensive First Team: Lisa Leslie
 * 2008 All-Rookie Team: Candace Parker
 * 2008 Peak Performer (Rebounds): Candace Parker
 * 2009 All-WNBA Second Team: Lisa Leslie
 * 2009 All-WNBA Second Team: Candace Parker
 * 2009 All-Defensive Second Team: Lisa Leslie
 * 2009 All-Defensive Second Team: Candace Parker
 * 2009 Peak Performer (Rebounds): Candace Parker
 * 2010 Peak Performer (Assists): Ticha Penicheiro
 * 2012 Rookie of the Year: Nneka Ogwumike
 * 2012 Most Improved Player: Kristi Toliver
 * 2012 Coach of the Year: Carol Ross
 * 2012 All-WNBA First Team: Candace Parker
 * 2012 All-Defensive First Team: Alana Beard
 * 2012 All-Defensive Second Team: Candace Parker
 * 2012 All-Rookie Team: Nneka Ogwumike
 * 2013 Most Valuable Player: Candace Parker
 * 2013 All-WNBA First Team: Candace Parker
 * 2014 All-WNBA First Team: Candace Parker
 * 2014 All-WNBA Second Team: Nneka Ogwumike
 * 2014 All-Defensive Second Team: Alana Beard
 * 2015 All-Rookie Team: Ana Dabović
 * 2015 All-Defensive First Team: Nneka Ogwumike
 * 2015 All-WNBA Second Team: Candace Parker
 * 2016 Finals MVP: Candace Parker
 * 2016 Most Valuable Player: Nneka Ogwumike
 * 2016 Sixth Woman of the Year: Jantel Lavender
 * 2016 All-Defensive First Team: Alana Beard
 * 2016 All-Defensive First Team: Nneka Ogwumike
 * 2017 Defensive Player of the Year: Alana Beard
 * 2017 All-WNBA Second Team: Chelsea Gray, Nneka Ogwumike
 * 2018 Defensive Player of the Year: Alana Beard
 * 2018 All-WNBA Second Team: Candace Parker
 * 2019 Kim Perrot Sportsmanship Award: Nneka Ogwumike
 * 2019 All-WNBA First Team: Chelsea Gray
 * 2019 All-WNBA Second Team: Nneka Ogwumike
 * 2019 All-Defensive First Team: Nneka Ogwumike
 * 2020 Defensive Player of the Year: Candace Parker
 * 2020 Peak Performer (Rebounds): Candace Parker
 * 2020 All-Defensive Second Team: Brittney Sykes
 * 2020 All-WNBA First Team: Candace Parker
 * 2021 All-Defensive First Team: Brittney Sykes
 * 2022 All-Defensive Second Team: Brittney Sykes
 * 2022 All-WNBA Second Team: Nneka Ogwumike
 * 2023 All-Defensive First Team: Jordin Canada
 * 2023 All-Defensive Second Team: Nneka Ogwumike
 * 2023 All-WNBA Second Team: Nneka Ogwumike

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Los Angeles Sparks


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Alfred von Schlieffen

 Alfred Graf von Schlieffen (28 February 1833 – 4 January 1913) was a German field marshal and strategist who served as chief of the Imperial German General Staff from 1891 to 1906. His name lived on in the 1905–06 "Schlieffen Plan", then Aufmarsch I, a deployment plan and operational guide for a decisive initial offensive operation/campaign in a two-front war against the French Third Republic.

Biography
Born in Prussia, Germany, on 28 February 1833, the son of a Prussian Army officer, he was part of an old Prussian noble family, the Schlieffen family. He lived with his father, Major Magnus von Schlieffen, on their estate in Silesia, which he left to go to school in 1842. The young Schlieffen had shown no interest in joining the military and so he did not attend the traditional Prussian cadet academies. Instead, he studied at the University of Berlin. While he was studying law, he enlisted in the army in 1853 for his one year of compulsory military service. Then, instead of joining the reserves, he was chosen as an officer candidate. He thus started a long military career, working his way up through the officer ranks, eventually completing 53 years of service.

In 1868, fifteen years into his military career, Schlieffen married his cousin Countess Anna Schlieffen. They had one healthy child (Elisabeth Auguste Marie Ernestine Gräfin von Schlieffen, 13 September 1869 – 23 September 1943), but after the birth of a second (Marie, who became a nun), his wife died. Schlieffen then focused all of his attention on his military work.

Military service
On the recommendation of his commanders, Schlieffen was admitted to the General War School in 1858 at the age of 25, much earlier than others. He graduated in 1861 with high honours, which guaranteed him a role as a General Staff officer. In 1862, he was assigned to the Topographic Bureau of the General Staff, providing him with geographical knowledge and a respect for the tactical and strategic value of terrain and weather that would serve him well throughout his career, particularly in the war games he conducted and in the devising of various war plans including the famous Schlieffen Plan. In 1865 he was transferred to the German General Staff proper, though his role was initially a minor one. He first saw active war service as a staff officer with the Prussian Cavalry Corps at the Battle of Königgrätz of 1866, during the Austro-Prussian War. The tactical "battle of encirclement" conducted there was from that point forward a constant feature of his tactical doctrine, even as his strategic doctrine consistently favoured the counter-offensive due to both his understanding of terrain and his respect for von Clausewitz's assessment of the constantly-diminishing strength of the offensive.

During the Franco-Prussian War, he commanded a small force in the Loire Valley in what was one of the most difficult campaigns fought by the Prussian Army. In France, Frederick I, Grand Duke of Baden, promoted him to Major and head of the military-history division. After years working alongside Helmuth von Moltke and Alfred von Waldersee, on 4 December 1886 he was promoted to Major General, and shortly afterwards, with the retirement of Moltke, became Waldersee's Deputy Chief of Staff. Not long after this he became Quartermeistergeneral, then Lieutenant General on 4 December 1888, and eventually General of the Cavalry on 27 January 1893.

In 1904, on the occasion of the Herero rebellion in German South West Africa (present-day Namibia), Chief of the General Staff Schlieffen was supportive of Lothar von Trotha's genocidal policies against the Herero and Namaqua peoples, saying "The race war, once commenced, can only be ended by annihilation or the complete enslavement of one party". He agreed in principle with Trotha's notorious Vernichtungsbefehl ("extermination order") of 2 October 1904, even justifying the many cases of killing of Herero women by the Germans, writing "If ... women have been shot, then one must remember that women have not only participated in the fighting, they have also been the main originators of the cruel and horrible martyrdom that our wounded have often been subjected to, and that the sight of these victims ... provoked the comrades to forgivable fury." Only after the intervention of Chancellor Bernhard von Bülow and the fear that Germany's international image will be stained did Schlieffen agree, in December 1904, to repeal Trotha's orders to kill on the spot unarmed and surrendering Hereros.

In August 1905, at the age of 72, Schlieffen was kicked by a companion's horse, making him "incapable of battle". After nearly 53 years of service, Schlieffen retired on New Year's Day, 1906. He died on 4 January 1913, just 19 months before the outbreak of the First World War. His last words are said to have been, "Remember: keep the right wing very strong" (in reference to the main strategic manoeuvre of Aufmarsch I West), but the tale is believed to be apocryphal and to have originated decades after his death.

The German Army
For Schlieffen, the smaller rate of conscription into the German army (55 per cent, compared to France's rate of 80 per cent), created a numerical imbalance, which was worsened by the Franco-Russian Alliance of 1896. German tactical and operational abilities could not compensate for this quantitative inferiority. Schlieffen had wanted to institute universal conscription and raise as many combat units from trained reservists as possible. Conscription policy was controlled by the Prussian Ministry of War, which answered to the Reichstag. Schlieffen planned to create masses of new units when war came, when he would assume command of the army. Upon mobilisation, large numbers of reservists would be assigned to replacement battalions (Ersatzbataillone), while waiting to join the field army.

From June 1891, Schlieffen proposed to form Ersatzbataillone into brigades in the field army but the units were not effective forces. Replacement units as field units would also not be able to replace field army casualties. The War Ministry rejected Schlieffen's proposals, and nothing was done until 1911, six years after Schlieffen's retirement, when six Ersatz divisions were formed by General Erich Ludendorff. Schlieffen continued to believe in the mass use of Ersatzbataillone, making them fundamental to the Denkschrift (memorandum or think piece) which became known as the Schlieffen Plan (January 1906). The Denkschrift was not a campaign plan, as Schlieffen had retired on 31 December 1905 and the 96 divisions needed to carry out this one-front war plan did not exist (in 1914 the German army had 79, of which 68 were deployed in the west). Rather, it was a demonstration of what Germany might accomplish if universal conscription was introduced.

Schlieffen thought that even this hypothetical 96-division German army would probably not be able to defeat France,

"These preparations [encircling Paris] can be made any way that you like: it will soon become clear that we will be too weak to continue the operation in this direction. We will have the same experience as that of all previous conquerors, that offensive warfare both requires and uses up very strong forces, that these forces become weaker even as those of the defender become stronger, and this is especially true in a land that bristles with fortresses."

Without twelve Ersatz divisions on the right flank (in 1914 the German army had six which operated in Lorraine), outflanking Paris was impossible. Schlieffen admitted in the Denkschrift that Ersatz units could not catch the right wing by foot-marching, nor would the rail system suffice to move twelve Ersatz divisions to Paris. If they could not be sent to the right wing, they could be deployed practically anywhere else on the German front, either between Verdun and Mézières, at Metz or on the right bank of the Moselle. There is no evidence that Schlieffen conducted an exercise to test a scheme of manoeuvre similar to the one in the Denkschrift, an envelopment of Paris by the right flank, which would be surprising if this represented the pinnacle of Schlieffen's strategic thought. None of Schlieffen's surviving deployment plans (Aufmarsch), General staff rides (Generalstabsreisen) or war games (Kriegsspiele) bear any resemblance to the manoeuvre of the Schlieffen Plan; the plans are consistent with Schlieffen's counter-attack doctrine. On 11 December 1893 Schlieffen wrote a Denkschrift that represented the completion of his idea of mass warfare. When war came, the German government ought to declare full mobilisation in East Prussia, owing to its vulnerability to Russian cavalry raids. The East Prussian militia would use prepared equipment; behind this militia screen the German field army would deploy and then throw back the Russians.

War planning
The cornerstone of Schlieffen's war planning was undoubtedly the strategic counter-offensive. Schlieffen was a great believer in the power of the attack in the context of the defensive operation. Germany's smaller forces relative to the Franco-Russian Entente meant that an offensive posture against one or both was basically suicidal. On the other hand, Schlieffen placed great faith in Germany's ability to use its railways to launch a counter-offensive against a hypothetical French or Russian invasion force, defeat it, then quickly re-group her troops and launch a counter-offensive against the other. To quote Holmes:

"The Generalstabsreise Ost [eastern wargame] of 1901 followed on from a Generalstabsreise West of the same year, in which the French attacked through Belgium and Luxembourg and were decisively beaten by a counter-attack on the left bank of the Rhine near to the Belgian border. It was this defensive victory that Schlieffen was referring to when he spoke of the need to crush one enemy first and then turn against the other. He insisted that the Germans 'must wait for the enemy to emerge from behind his defensive ramparts, which he will do eventually'. That was the approach adopted in this exercise, and the Germans won a decisive victory over the French."

Schlieffen also recognised the need for offensive planning, however, as failing to do so would limit the German Army's capabilities if the situation called for them. In 1897, starting from a plan of 1894, Schlieffen developed a tactical plan that – acknowledging the German army's limited offensive power and capacity for strategic manoeuvres – basically amounted to using brute force to advance beyond the French defences on the Franco-German border. To complement this unsophisticated manoeuvre and improve its chances of success he deemed it necessary to outflank the fortress line to the north and focus on destroying it from north–south starting at Verdun. This was, it must be stated, a tactical plan centred around the destruction of the fortress-line that called for very little movement by the forces involved.

In 1905, however, Schlieffen developed what was truly his first plan for a strategic offensive operation – the Schlieffen plan Denkschrift (Schlieffen plan memorandum). This plan was based on the hypothesis of an isolated Franco-German war which would not involve Russia and called for Germany to attack France. The rough draft of this plan was so crude as not to consider questions of supply at all and be vague on the actual number of troops involved, but theorised that Germany would need to raise at least another 100,000 professional troops and 100,000 "ersatz" militiamen (the latter being within Germany's capabilities even in 1905) in addition to being able to count on Austro-Hungarian and Italian forces being deployed to German Alsace-Lorraine to defend it. The German Army would then move through the Dutch province of Maastricht and northern Belgium, securing southern Belgium and Luxembourg with a flank-guard to protect both Germany and the main force from a French offensive during this critical manoeuvre [this being the point of the 1913 French Plan XVII].

But it is here, in the second and final phase of the operation, that Schlieffen shows his true genius: he notes the immense strength of the French "second defensive area" in which the French can use the fortress-sector of Verdun, "Fortress Paris", and the River Marne as the basis of a very strong defensive line. Appreciating its defensive power, Schlieffen knew that he would have to try to force the French back from the Marne or at least secure a bridgehead over the Marne and/or Seine if he did not want the second German operation/campaign of the war to result in heavy losses. To do this, Schlieffen insisted that they cross the Seine to the west of Paris and, if they managed to cross in strength against sufficiently weak opposition, then they might even be able to force the French back from the westernmost sections of the Marne and surround Paris.

However, the bulk of Schlieffen's planning still followed his personal preferences for the counter-offensive. Aufmarsch II and Aufmarsch Ost (later Aufmarsch II West and Aufmarsch I Ost, respectively) continued to stress that Germany's best hope for survival if faced by a war with the Franco-Russian entente was a defensive strategy. This "defensive strategy", it must be noted, was reconciled with a very offensive tactical posture as Schlieffen held that the destruction of an attacking force required that it be surrounded and attacked from all sides until it surrendered, and not merely repulsed as in a "passive" defense:

"Discussing the proper German response to a French offensive between Metz and Strasbourg, he insists that the invading army must not be driven back to its border position, but annihilated on German territory, and "that is possible only by means of an attack on the enemy’s flank and rear". Whenever we come across that formula we have to take note of the context, which frequently reveals that Schlieffen is talking about a counter-attack in the framework of a defensive strategy [italics ours]."

In August 1905 Schlieffen was kicked by a companion's horse, making him "incapable of battle". During his time off, now at the age of 72, he started planning his retirement. His successor was yet undetermined. Goltz was the primary candidate, but the Emperor was not fond of him. A favourite of the Emperor was Helmuth von Moltke the Younger, who became Chief of Staff after Schlieffen retired.

Moltke went on to devise Aufmarsch II Ost, a variant upon Schlieffen's Aufmarsch Ost designed for an isolated Russo-German war. Schlieffen seems to have tried to impress upon Moltke that an offensive strategy against France could work only for isolated Franco-German war, as German forces would otherwise be too weak to implement it. Thus, Moltke still attempted to apply the offensive strategy of Aufmarsch I West to the two-front war Germany faced in 1914 and Schlieffen's defensive plan Aufmarsch II West. With too few troops to cross west of Paris, let alone attempt a crossing of the Seine, Moltke's campaign failed to breach the French "second defensive sector" and his troops were pushed back in the Battle of the Marne.

Influence

Schlieffen was perhaps the best-known contemporary strategist of his time, but he was criticised for his "narrow-minded military scholasticism."

Schlieffen's operational theories were to have a profound impact on the development of manoeuvre warfare in the 20th century, largely through his seminal treatise, Cannae, which concerned the decidedly un-modern 216 BCE Battle of Cannae in which Hannibal defeated the Romans. His treatise had two main purposes. First, it was to clarify, in writing, Schlieffen's concepts of manoeuvre, particularly the manoeuvre of encirclement, along with other fundamentals of warfare. Second, it was to be an instrument for the Staff, the War Academy, and for the Army all together. His theories were studied exhaustively, especially in the higher army academies of the United States and Europe after the First World War. American military thinkers thought so highly of him that his principal literary legacy, Cannae, was translated at Fort Leavenworth and distributed within the US Army and to the academic community.

Along with the great militarist man that Schlieffen is famous for being, there are also underlying traits about Schlieffen that often go untold. As we know, Schlieffen was a strategist. Unlike the Chief of Staff, Waldersee, Schlieffen avoided political affairs and instead was actively involved in the tasks of the General Staff, including the preparation of war plans and the readiness of the German Army for war. He focused much of his attention on planning. He devoted time to training, military education and the adaptation of modern technology for the use of military purposes and strategic planning.

It was evident that Schlieffen was very much involved in preparing and planning for future combat. He considered one of his primary tasks was to prepare the young officers to act responsibly in planning manoeuvres but also to direct these movements after the planning had taken place.

With regards to Schlieffen's tactics, General Walter Bedell Smith, chief of staff to General Dwight D. Eisenhower, supreme commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force in the Second World War, pointed out that General Dwight Eisenhower and many of his staff officers, products of these academies, "were imbued with the idea of this type of wide, bold maneuver for decisive results."

General Erich Ludendorff, a disciple of Schlieffen who applied his teachings of encirclement in the Battle of Tannenberg, once famously christened Schlieffen as "one of the greatest soldiers ever."

Long after his death, the German General Staff officers of the interwar period and the Second World War, particularly General Hans von Seeckt, recognised an intellectual debt to Schlieffen theories during the development of the Blitzkrieg doctrine. The original plan for the 1940 German invasion of France was based on the Schlieffen Plan. Adolf Hitler, however, is said to have deprecated Schlieffen's memory, going so far as to command that Schlieffen's name never be uttered in his presence and to admonish Walter Scherff, official chronicler of the Wehrmacht, to omit Schlieffen's name from any histories he might write.

Quotations

 * "A man is born, and not made, a strategist."—Schlieffen
 * "To win, we must endeavour to be the stronger of the two at the point of impact. Our only hope of this lies in making our own choice of operations, not in waiting passively for whatever the enemy chooses for us." — Schlieffen

Honours and awards
• Prussia:
 * German decorations

• * Iron Cross (1870), 1st and 2nd Classes

• * Grand Cross of the Red Eagle, with Oak Leaves, Swords on Ring and Crown

• * Knight of the Prussian Crown, 1st Class

• * Grand Commander's Cross of the Royal House Order of Hohenzollern

• * Knight of the Black Eagle, with Collar and Diamonds

• * War Commemorative Medal of 1870/71

• * Kaiser Wilhelm I Centenary Medal

•  Hohenzollern: Cross of Honour of the Princely House Order of Hohenzollern, 1st Class

•  Baden:

• * Grand Cross of the Zähringer Lion, with Oak Leaves, 1893

• * Knight of the House Order of Fidelity, 1899

•  undefined:

• * Grand Cross of Merit of the Bavarian Crown, 1897

• * Knight of St. Hubert, 1903

• * Grand Cross of the Military Merit Order

•  Hesse and by Rhine: Grand Cross of the Ludwig Order, 9 April 1903

•   Lippe: Cross of Honour of the House Order of Lippe, 1st Class

•  Mecklenburg:

• * Grand Cross of the Wendish Crown, with Golden Crown

• * Military Merit Cross, 1st Class (Schwerin)

•  Oldenburg: Grand Commander of Honour of the Order of Duke Peter Friedrich Ludwig

•  undefined:

• * Grand Cross of the Albert Order, with Golden Star, 1891

• * Knight of the Rue Crown

•  Württemberg:

• * Grand Cross of the Württemberg Crown, 1893

• * Grand Cross of the Friedrich Order, 1893

• * Grand Cross of the Military Merit Order, 28 March 1903

• Austria-Hungary:
 * Foreign decorations

• * Knight of the Iron Crown, 1st Class, 1890

• * Grand Cross of the Imperial Order of Leopold, 1891; in Diamonds, 1895

• * Grand Cross of St. Stephen, 1897

•  French Empire: Officer of the Legion of Honour

•  Kingdom of Italy:

• * Grand Cross of Saints Maurice and Lazarus

• * Grand Cross of the Crown of Italy

• 🇳🇱 Netherlands: Grand Cross of the Netherlands Lion

•  Ottoman Empire: Order of Osmanieh, 1st Class in Diamonds

•  Persian Empire:

• * Order of the August Portrait

• * Order of the Lion and the Sun, 3rd Class

•  Russian Empire: Knight of St. Alexander Nevsky, 1897

•  Siam: Grand Cross of the White Elephant

title: Alfred von Schlieffen


text:
Silo of Asturias

Silo (died 783) was the king of Asturias from 774 to 783, succeeding Aurelius. He came to the throne upon his marriage to Adosinda, daughter of Alfonso I ("Alfonso the Catholic"). He moved the capital of the Kingdom of Asturias from Cangas de Onís to Pravia, closer to the center of the kingdom. He was a contemporary of Abd al-Rahman I, Umayyad Emir of Córdoba, and of Charlemagne.

Accession to the throne
In Silo's time, monarchs were apparently elected by the nobility as in the earlier Visigothic Kingdom. Monarchs were chosen from among a small number of dynasties. Preference tended to go to the son of a king or, where that was not possible, to the husband of a king's daughter, as had happened in the case of Alfonso and of Silo himself, or, failing that, to another male of royal lineage thought capable of governing.

Nevertheless, there is academic controversy about the mode of succession: election after the Visigothic style, matrilineal succession according to indigenous practice, and hereditary in royal lineages. Each of these theories leads to a somewhat different account of Silo's accession to the throne.

Reign
According to the Chronicon Albeldense, Silo kept peace with the Muslims ob causam matris, "for his mother's sake". The meaning of this phrase has been debated by scholars. It could mean that his mother was a Muslim with some sort of connection to the Umayyad Emir Abd al-Rahman I, or that she was a hostage of Abd al-Rahman in Córdoba, or it could mean yet something else.

One could explain the inactivity of the Muslims with respect to the Kingdom of Asturias by the fact that Silo's reign coincided with the intervention of Charlemagne in Spain in 778. Charlemagne could not maintain the siege of Zaragoza and had to retire by way of Roncesvalles, suffering a great defeat there, and the subsequent campaign of Abd-al-Rahman I in 781 into the Ebro Valley in revenge against those who had been favorably disposed toward the French invasion.

Conversely, within the Kingdom of Asturias, during Silo's reign Galicia rebelled for the second time, having done so before during the reign of Fruela I. The chronicles do not elucidate the motives for the rebellion. The rebel army faced Silo's troops in the Battle of Montecubeiro in what is now the Province of Lugo, where he defeated them, ending the rebellion.

The oldest known medieval written document in the Iberian peninsula dates from Silo's reign. The Diploma del Rei Don Sílo (Diploma of King Silo) dates from 23 August 775. In this contractual document of donation "pro anima" ("for the sake of the soul"), Silo granted particular properties in the village of Tabulata (now Trabada) in Lucis (Lugo) to a group of monks, with the intention that they would found a monastery.

Moving the court to Pravia
Upon ascending to the throne, Silo moved the capital from Cangas de Onís to Pravia, the region in which he was a local magnate, a landed aristocrat. The new capital had the strategic advantage that Pravia, an ancient Roman settlement, was located in the valley of the Nalón River along the Roman road to Asturica Augusta, now Astorga. Furthermore, once Silo extended the frontiers of the realm to Galicia, Cangas de Onís was now quite far from the center of his kingdom.

Death and succession
Silo died in Pravia in 783. The Estoria de España or Primera Crónica General says of his death:

"Eight years into the reign of King Silo, in year 817 of the Spanish era [783 CE], King Silo died and was interred in the church of Saint John the Apostle and Evangelist, which was built in his lifetime."

After his death, Silo's widow Adosinda engineered the election of her nephew Alfonso, son of Fruela I, as successor. The adolescent was named governor of the Palatium Regis, roughly chancellor. The throne was then seized by Mauregato, son of Alfonso I and of a slave woman of Muslim origin.

Burial
Silo was entombed in the Church of San Juan Apóstol y Evangelista, Santianes de Pravia, which he had ordered built. The tomb believed to be his and Adosinda's remains there to this day. Nonetheless, the Maestro Custodio is said to have stated that Silo's remains were moved to the monastery of San Juan de las Dueñas in the city of Oviedo, and re-interred behind the main altar there.

title: Silo of Asturias


text:
Talk:Islamic fundamentalism

minor change to preserve npov
I have made a very minor change in the Social and Political Goals section to avoid the assertion that "leftist ideologies" and "Arab Nationalism" are in fact discredited (I care not one whit whether anyone believes they are or are not but it's not consistent with neutral point of view to maintain they are while there is rational dispute).

title: Talk:Islamic fundamentalism


text:
Olaf III of Norway

Olaf III or Olaf Haraldsson (Old Norse: Óláfr Haraldsson, Norwegian: Olav Haraldsson; c. 1050 – 22 September 1093), known as Olaf the Peaceful (Old Norse: Óláfr kyrri, Norwegian: Olav Kyrre), was King of Norway from 1067 until his death in 1093.

He was present at the Battle of Stamford Bridge in England in 1066 where his father, King Harald Hardrada, saw defeat and was killed in action, an event that directly preceded his kingship. During his rule, Olaf made peace with regards to earlier royal conflicts with the church, strengthened the power of the monarchy, and is traditionally credited with founding the city of Bergen circa 1070. Around 1225, Snorri Sturluson wrote Olav Kyrres saga about King Olaf in the Heimskringla.

Biography
Olaf was a son of King Harald Hardrada and Tora Torbergsdatter. Olaf joined his father during the invasion of England during 1066. However, he was only 16 years old during the Battle of Stamford Bridge on 25 September 1066. He stayed guarding the ships at Riccall and did not participate in the fighting. After the Norwegian defeat, he sailed with the remains of the Norwegian strike force back to Orkney, where they wintered. The return journey to Norway took place in summer 1067.

After the death of his father, Olaf shared the kingdom with his brother Magnus II (Magnus 2 Haraldsson) who had become king the previous year. When King Magnus died during 1069, Olaf became the sole ruler of Norway.

During his reign, the nation of Norway experienced a rare extended period of peace. He renounced any offensive foreign policy, instead protecting Norway's sovereignty through agreements and marriage connections. Domestically he emphasized the church's organization and the modernization of the kingdom. The latter resulted in, among other things, the reorganization of the body-guard and of measures under which key cities, especially Bergen, could better serve as a royal residence. According to the Heimskringla by Snorri Sturluson, Olaf is said to have founded the city of Bergen (originally called Bjørgvin).

The death of Harald Hardrada and the serious defeat suffered by the Norwegians in 1066 tempted the Danish king, Svend Estridsen, to prepare for an attack on Norway. King Svend no longer felt bound by the ceasefire agreement signed with Harald Hardrada in 1064, since it would only be valid for the two kings during their own lives. However Olaf made peace with King Svend and married the king's daughter Ingerid. Later, Olav's half sister Ingegerd married King Svend's son Olaf. Although there were some attacks on England by Danish forces, peace persisted between Denmark and Norway. Olaf also made peace with William the Conqueror of England.

King Olaf broke with his father's line in his relationship to the church. Harald Hardrada had developed a continuing conflict with the Archbishopric of Bremen due to the archbishop's authority over the Norwegian church. Unlike his father, Olav recognized that authority fully. Political considerations may have been behind this conciliatory attitude, as may have been Olaf's concern with the church organization. Until his time bishops had formed part of the king's court and traveled with him around the country to take care of the ecclesiastical affairs while the king took care of worldly matters. The bishops established fixed residence in Oslo, Nidaros and Bergen. King Olaf also took the initiative for the construction of churches, including Christ Church in Bergen and Nidaros Cathedral in Trondheim.

Olaf strengthened the power of the king and instituted the system of guilds in Norway. There are strong indications that the government of King Olaf began writing secure provincial laws to a greater extent. The Norwegian law Gulatingsloven was probably put in writing for the first time during his reign.

King Olaf died of illness on 22 September 1093 in Haukbø, Rånrike, then part of Norway (now Håkeby, Tanum Municipality, Sweden). He was buried at the Nidaros Cathedral. His marriage to Ingerid did not produce any children. His successor as king, Magnus III nicknamed Magnus Barefoot (Magnus Berrføtt), was acknowledged to be his illegitimate son.

Appearance and character
The Morkinskinna (c. 1220) describes Olaf III as:

 * "[A] tall man, and everyone agrees that there has never been seen a fairer man or a man of nobler appearance."
 * "He had blond hair, a light complexion, and pleasing eyes, and he was well proportioned. He was taciturn for the most part, and not much of a speechmaker, though he was good company after drink."

Another description is found in the Heimskringla of Snorri Sturluson:

 * "Olaf was a stout man, well grown in limbs; and every one said a handsomer man could not be seen, nor of a nobler appearance."
 * "His hair was yellow as silk, and became him well; his skin was white and fine over all his body; his eyes beautiful, and his limbs well proportioned. He was rather silent in general, and did not speak much even at Things; but he was merry in drinking parties. He loved drinking much, and was talkative enough then; but quite peaceful."
 * "He was cheerful in conversation, peacefully inclined during all his reign, and loving gentleness and moderation in all things."

Memorial
A memorial to King Olaf Kyrre was placed in Bergen, Norway in connection with the city's 900-year anniversary. The abstract equestrian statue by noted Norwegian sculptor Knut Steen was unveiled on 21 May 1998.

The "Maine penny"
The Maine penny - a Norwegian silver coin discovered in the US State of Maine in 1957 and suggested as evidence of Pre-Columbian trans-oceanic contact - has been dated to the time of Olaf III. The circumstances of its arrival from Norway to a Native American village in the present US territory remain unclear and highly disputed.

title: Olaf III of Norway


text:
Mauregatus

Mauregatus the Usurper (Mauregato) was the king of Asturias from 783 to 788 or 789. He was an illegitimate son of Alfonso I, supposedly by a Moorish serf. He usurped the throne on the death of Silo, the husband of his half sister Adosinda, earning himself the nickname of the Usurper. The nobility had elected Alfonso II at Adosinda's insistence, but Mauregatus assembled a large army of supporters and forced Alfonso into exile in Álava.

According to folklore, Mauregatus and Moorish rulers agreed to the apocryphal "Tribute of the 100 Maidens," which gifted the Moors 100 Asturian virgins annually as repayment for their assistance in Mauregatus' rise to the throne. This arrangement supposedly ended after Ramiro I's defeat of the Moors at the legendary Battle of Clavijo.

After six years in power, he died of natural causes in 789 and was buried in the Church of San Juan Apóstol y Evangelista in Pravia. Following his death, Bermudo I was chosen as his successor.

title: Mauregatus


text:
United Linux

United Linux was an attempt by a consortium of Linux distributors to create a common base distribution for enterprise use, so as to minimize duplication of engineering effort and form an effective competitor to Red Hat. The founding members of United Linux were SUSE, Turbolinux, Conectiva (now merged with MandrakeSoft to form Mandriva) and Caldera International (later renamed to The SCO Group). The consortium was announced on May 30, 2002. The end of the project was announced on January 22, 2004.

Formation
With the rise of Linux during the 1990s, Linux distributions proliferated. Since the Linux kernel and GNU were both free software, anyone could put together and market a distribution. Many industry observers feared fragmentation and wide-ranging incompatibility, similar to the UNIX wars of the early 1990s.

The first moves towards the United Linux project were made at COMDEX in November 1999. There were a number of false starts, but the participants consistently agreed that a unified Linux platform for business made sense. The key factors for success were identified early in 2000.

Starting in March and April 2002, the United Linux board put together a base technical specification, getting input from the four consortium members and their business partners and vendors.

UnitedLinux, LLC was formed May 29, 2002 and the project was announced to the world on May 30, 2002. Two legal agreements were signed by the founding members at this time, the Master Transaction Agreement (MTA) and the Joint Development Contract (JDC); the JDC was also signed by UnitedLinux, LLC. These contracts provided, in part, that intellectual property related to UnitedLinux Software (with certain exceptions) would be assigned to UnitedLinux, LLC. Further, "[e]ach member shall have a broad, royalty-free license to all intellectual property rights in the UnitedLinux Software, entitling each member to "use, copy, modify, distribute, market, advertise, sell, offer for sale, sublicense ... in any manner the Software, including the rights to make derivative works of the Software, to provide access to the Source Code and/or Object Code to any third party, to incorporate the Software into other products or bundle the Software with other products for its own business purposes and any other unlimited right of exploitation"; existing open source licenses, such as the GNU General Public License, also continued to apply. Disputes were to be settled via International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) arbitration.

A first beta was released to United Linux member partners on August 14, 2002, a public beta was released on September 25, 2002 and United Linux 1.0 was released on November 19, 2002.

For a detailed case study in what led one of the four partners to embrace the ideals of United Linux see Caldera OpenLinux.

Technical overview
The distribution was based on SUSE Linux and the Linux Standard Base, with the plan being for SUSE to do most of the engineering work and SCO, Turbolinux and Conectiva primarily to market the distribution in their territories and markets.

It was planned that version 1.0 would take six to eight months to release, be the current version for one year and be supported for another year after the release of 2.0. Minimum technical requirements were:

 * Linux kernel 2.4.18 or higher
 * GNU C Library 2.2.5
 * Linux Standard Base compliant
 * OpenI18N (formerly LI18NUX) compliant (internationalization and localization)
 * GB 18030 compliant (the standard CJK character encoding used in China)
 * GCC 3.1
 * XFree86 4.2
 * KDE 3.0

Ending
On January 20, 2004, SCO filed a lawsuit, against Novell, the then-current owner of SuSE.

The end of United Linux was announced in a Novell press conference on January 22, 2004 by Richard Seibt, president of the SUSE division. The stated reason was that the SCO v. IBM lawsuit and The SCO Group's public attacks on Linux had made the alliance unworkable.

It emerged that no real work had been done on United Linux since soon after SCO v. IBM had started, and that SUSE had ceased active participation around this time. The last United Linux announcements were of Oracle Corporation support for it on 13 March 2003, and of AMD64 CPU support on 22 April 2003.

While some have reported that UnitedLinux ended, in fact the group did not gain consensus to dissolve the partnership and the legal entity remains in effect.

The SCO v. Novell complaint was amended on February 3, 2006 to add copyright infringement claims, relating to Novell's distribution of SuSE Linux. Novell responded on April 10 by filing a Request for Arbitration with the ICC, and asking that SCO's claims be stayed in the district court. They argued in the Request that through the MTA and JDC, "the UnitedLinux members agreed that each member would have an irrevocable, perpetual, and worldwide license to use and unlimitedly exploit any intellectual property rights of the other members in the UnitedLinux Software, which would be transferred to the LLC for this very purpose." Novell's motion to stay was granted in part, for those of SCO's claims relating to SuSE.

On September 14, 2007, SCO filed for bankruptcy, and on November 13, the court ruled at SCO's request that the arbitration was automatically stayed.

SuSE filed a motion to lift this stay on November 10, 2009. However, SCO objected on December 15, and SUSE's motion was denied on January 15, 2010.

title: United Linux


text: Talk:Niue

title: Talk:Niue


text:
Eastphalian

Eastphalian is:
 * a resident of Eastphalia (Ostfalen), a historic region of Germany;
 * the Eastphalian language (Ostfälisch) of West Low German.

title: Eastphalian


text:
Turbolinux

Turbolinux is a discontinued Japanese Linux distribution targeting Asian users.

Linux distribution
The Turbolinux distribution was created as a rebranded Red Hat distribution by (then) Pacific HiTech employee Scott Stone. Scott was the lead release engineer through version 3.6.

Turbolinux was notable for including licensed copies of CyberLink PowerDVD and Windows Media binary codecs.

TurboLinux Enterprise Server 15 and 16 are based on openEuler.

Pacific HiTech, Inc. era
Cliff Miller and Iris Miller started TurboLinux in 1992 under the name Pacific HiTech, Inc. in the basement of their home in Salt Lake City, Utah.,

In 1993, Pacific HiTech opened office in Tokyo, Japan.

Turbolinux, Inc. era
In 1999-06-08, Pacific HiTech announced its name is changed to Turbolinux, Inc., coinciding its expansion of its North American operations.

In January 2000, Turbolinux received $57 million in investment from Compaq Computer, Dell Computer, Intel, and other companies.

The Millers were "terminated without cause" from Turbolinux in July 2000 after a disagreement with venture capitalists.

In October 2000, the company filed an S-1 with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The S-1 indicates that revenue was $2.932 million for the six months ended June 30, 2000.

After several rounds of layoffs, Turbolinux, Inc. and Software Research Associates, Inc. announced in 2002-08-20 the acquisition of Turbolinux, Inc. by Japan-based Software Research Associates, Inc. (SRA). The transferred company would retain a U.S. office, and became SRA's fully-owned subsidiary. The acquisition was originally set to 100,000 shares (100% stake) for ¥100,000,000, but final cost was ¥150,000,000. In 2002-09-04, Turbolinux, Inc. announced renaming of TurboLinux Japan, K.K. to Turbolinux, Inc. that had taken place 3 days earlier. The US Turbolinux was renamed to Centerlex, and would continue the server provisioning software business based on the PowerCockpit product line, which SRA did not purchase. In 2003-02-25, Mountain View Data, Inc. announced the acquisition of PowerCockpit. The acquisition affected PowerCockpit versions 2.0 of above.

In 2004-03-15, livedoor Co., Ltd. and Software Research Associates, Inc. announced the complete acquisition of Turbolinux, Inc. by livedoor, with transaction set to close in 2004-05-06.

In 2005-08-05, Turbolinux, Inc. announced issuing 10,000 new shares of common stock to be available to apply between 2005-09-08 and 2005-09-12, and livedoor Co., Ltd. selling 9,000 shares of common stock to public in 2005-09-15. In 2005-09-07, Turbolinux, Inc. announced the offered stock price to be ¥100,000 per share.

Turbolinux completed an IPO on the Osaka Stock Exchange in September 2005 underwritten by Nikko Citigroup, Livedoor Securities Co. Ltd., and Mizuho Investors Securities Co., Ltd.

In 2009-05-01, TL HOLDINGS, Inc./TL Holdings Corporation (TLホールディングス株式会社) announced Turbolinux, Inc. would be run under holding company structure, with TurboLinux Inc., Turbo Solutions Co., Ltd., Zend Japan Ltd., and other overseas group enterprises being subsidiaries of TL HOLDINGS, Inc.

In 2009-05-18, TL HOLDINGS, Inc. announced relocation of Turbolinux, Inc., effective 2009-06-01.

In 2013-03-31, TL HOLDINGS, Inc. announced it would be renamed from TL HOLDINGS, Inc. (TLホールディングス株式会社) to TurbolinuxHD Corporation (ターボリナックスHD株式会社) in 2013-04-01.

In 2014-04-01, GEONEXT Corporation announced renaming from TurbolinuxHD Corporation (ターボリナックスHD株式会社) to GEONEXT Corporation (株式会社ジオネクスト) in the same day.

In 2019-04-01, FHT holdings Corp. announced renaming from GEONEXT Corporation to FHT holdings Corp. (株式会社FHTホールディングス) in the same day.

Dissolution
On 2019-10-15, FHT holdings Corp. announced the dissolution of Turbolinux, Inc., with dissolution set at 2019-12-31, and liquidation ending at the end of March 2020. The remaining Turbolinux assets were to be sold to Turbo Systems Co., Ltd.

===Subsidiaries  ===
 * TurboLinux(Hongkong) Limited: TurboLinux's Hong Kong branch, founded in July 2000.
 * TurboLinux Inc., Taiwan Branch: In 2000-09-??, TurboLinux, Inc. announced the opening of the company's Taiwan branch.
 * TurboLinux(Korea)?: TurboLinux's Korean branch.
 * Konekto, Inc. (コネクト株式会社): Established as in 2002-12-13 as Zend Open Source Systems Japan, Ltd. (ゼンド･オープンソースシステムズ株式会社), but the company's web site was established in 2001-11-02 by 10art-ni Corporation (株式会社テンアートニ).  In 2002-12-25, Zend Open Source Systems Japan, Ltd. announced the transfer of Zend web site from 10art-ni Corporation to Zend Open Source Systems Japan, Ltd., followed by the beginning of Zend Open Source Systems Japan, Ltd.'s operation in 2003-01-06. In 2004-09-01, Zend Open Source Systems Japan, Ltd. announced the company was to be renamed to Open Source Japan Ltd. (オー プンソース・ジャパン株式会社) beginning 2004-09-13, with the Zend division split to Zend Japan Ltd. (ゼンド・ジャパン株式会社). In 2006-04-06, Turbolinux Inc. (Japan) announced the acquisition 90% stake (1710 shares) of Zend from Open Source Japan, Ltd. previously signed in 2006-03-30.    In 2012-06-14, TL HOLDINGS, Inc. announced renaming the company to Konekto, Inc. (コネクト株式会社), effective 2012-07-01. In 2012-06-29, Konekto, Inc. announced the name change taking place 2 days later. The zend.co.jp domain used by Zend Japan Ltd. was transferred to iGUAZU Corporation (株式会社イグアス), subsidiary of JBCC Holdings Inc., with the web site set to operationaly in middle of January 2013.
 * Shanghai Turbolinux Software Inc. (上海拓林思軟件有限公司): In 2008-03-12, Turbolinux, Inc. (Japan) announced establishing Shanghai Turbolinux Software Inc., effective in 2008-04-01.
 * Turbo Labo (ターボラボ株式会社): In 2009-10-13, TL HOLDINGS, Inc. announced the establishment of Turbo Labo, with registration of the company set to began in 2009-10-16 and set to end in 2009-10-23, followed by public offer in December 2009. The company would be a joint venture where Turbolinux, Inc. owning 49% and iSOFT Infrastructure Software Co., Ltd. (普華基礎軟件股分有限公司) owning 51%.

Former subsidiaries

 * Turbolinux, Inc. (ターボリナックス株式会社): Originally founded in Yoyogi district, Shibuya, Tokyo in April 1993 as Pacific HiTech, Inc.'s Utah branch. It was incorporated in 1995-07-13 in Tokyo, Japan as Pacific HiTech, KK. (パシフィック・ハイテック株式会社). In 1999-06-28, Pacific HiTech, Inc. announced renaming the subsidiary to TurboLinux Japan, K.K. (ターボリナックス ジャパン株式会社) in 1999-07-01, and relocation of headquarter in 1999-07-19. Following the sales of the Utah-based parent to Software Research Associates, Inc., it was merged into the Japanese branch. In 2002-09-04, Turbolinux, Inc. announced renaming of TurboLinux Japan, K.K. to Turbolinux, Inc. that had taken place 3 days earlier.
 * Turbolinux Inc., China Branch/Turbolinux China Co., Ltd. (北京拓林思软件有限公司): Founded in 1999-04-23 as TurboLinux(Beijing) (北京TurboLinux软件公司). In July 1999, the company announced the name change to Turbolinux Inc., China Branch (TurboLinux（中国）). In 2005-05-08, the company announced its relocation to Xinhua Insurance Building in Beijing. In 2011-03-14, TL HOLDINGS, Inc. announced the sales of Turbolinux China Co., Ltd. shares owned by Turbolinux, Inc. as part of its plan to exit from China market. In 2015-12-08, GEONEXT Corporation announced it has started the sales of Turbolinux China″ Co., Ltd, which includes the 49% stake of the subsidiary, for $135,000 USD, to GreatDB (北京万里开源软件有限公司), the subsidiary's 51% stake holder during the announcement, with transaction set to close in 2016-03-20. In 2016-10-03, GEONEXT Corporation announced it has completed sales of Turbolinux China Co., Ltd. As of 2022, the company survived the former parent company's demise.
 * Turbolinux India Private Limited (Turbolinux印度私营有限公司): In 2006-02-07, Turbolinux Inc. (Japan) announced establishing its India branch in Gurgaon with India Action Plan Company Limited (I.A.P.) (インディアアクションプラン株式会社), where Turbolinux would hold 55% share and IAP got 45%. The new company would be established in middle of March 2006 (2006-03-08 /2006-02-28 ) and begin operation in 2006-04-01. In 2011-03-14, TL HOLDINGS, Inc. announced the sales of Turbolinux India Private Limited shares owned by Turbolinux, Inc. as part of its plan to exit from China market. In 2012-03-30, TL HOLDINGS, Inc. announced it has entered agreement to sell Turbolinux India Private Limited to India Action Plan Company Limited, which includes all 1,496,000 shares (55% stakes) of the subsidiary for 1000 yen per share.
 * InfiniTalk Co., Ltd. (インフィニトーク株式会社): Originally called LASER5, an operating system division of Itsutsubashi Research Co., Ltd. (株式会社五橋研究所). In 1999-08-05, Itsutsubashi Research Co., Ltd. announced the establishment of LASER5 Co., Ltd. (レーザーファイブ株式会社) from Itsutsubashi's operating system division to a fully-owned subsidiary a day before, and would begin operation in late August 1999. In 1999-08-30 (1999-08-31? ), the separation of LASER5 from its parent was completed. In 1999-09-22, the subsidiary's own web site laser5.co.jp became operational. In 2006-06-08, Turbolinux, Inc. announced the complete acquisition of LASER5 Co., Ltd. (レーザーファイブ株式会社) via stock exchange, effective 2006-08-01, and expected to close in middle of 2006-08. In 2008-02-19, Turbolinux, Inc. announced renaming the subsidiary to Turbo Solutions K.K. (ターボ ソリューションズ株式会社), effective 2008-04-01. In 2008-04-01, Turbolinux, Inc. the subsidiary name change happening in the same day. In 2010-08-31, TL HOLDINGS, Inc. announced the sales of Turbo Solutions K.K. to Japan Multimedia Services Corporation/JMS Inc. (日本マルチメディアサービス株式会社（JMS）), effective 2010-09-01. As part of the sales, the former subsidiary was renamed to JMS Solutions (JMSソリューションズ株式会社). In 2011-03-01, JMS announced renaming JMS Solutions to InfiniTalk Co., Ltd. (インフィニトーク株式会社) on the same day, followed by InfiniTalk Co., Ltd.'s announcement 10 days later.
 * CJ-LINX, Inc. (シージェイ・リンクス/CJ-LINX 株式会社): In 2009-03-25, Turbolinux, Inc. announced establishing CJ-LINX, Inc., to be operational in 2009-06. In 2011-03-14, TL HOLDINGS, Inc. announced the sales and liquidation of CJ-LINX, Inc. as part of its plan to exit from China market. In 2011-03-30, TL HOLDINGS, Inc. announced the sales of CJ-LINX, Inc. and CJ-LINX Finance to Mountain Piece? Promotion (株式会社マウンテンピースプロモーション), effective in 2011-03-31.

title: Turbolinux


text:
Xandros

Xandros, Inc. was a software company which sold Xandros Desktop, a Linux distribution. The name Xandros was derived from the X Window System and the Greek island of Andros. Xandros was founded in May 2001 by Linux Global Partners (Will Roseman and Dr. Frederick Berenstein). The company was headquartered in New York City with its development office in Ottawa, Canada.

Xandros Desktop was based on Corel Linux, a Debian-based distribution that was acquired along with the development team behind the product from Corel Corporation in August 2001 after Corel decided to exit the Linux distribution market. Xandros was a founding member of the Desktop Linux Consortium and member of the Interop Vendor Alliance.

In July 2007, Xandros bought Scalix, a Linux-based email and collaboration product, based on HP OpenMail. In July 2008, Xandros acquired Linspire.

In 2013, Xandros, Inc. changed its name to Bridgeways, Inc., and soon after, the Xandros website was taken offline. (The Xandros website was last updated in November 2009.) As a result, DistroWatch listed Xandros as discontinued.

On 1 January 2018, PC/OpenSystems LLC purchased Xandros and Linspire from Bridgeways, Inc., and resurrected the Xandros branding withXandros OpenDesktop (a commercial release) and Xandros OpenServer (a free release), based on Ubuntu 20.04. Xandros OpenDesktop would later be rebranded as Xandros Enterprise Desktop, and Xandros OpenServer would be rebranded as Xandros Enterprise Server, and PC/OpenSystems also introduced free versions named Xandros Community Edition (using GNOME) and Xandros Developer Edition (using dwm).

Products
Xandros made products for both the consumer and business markets. While the distributions included many packages licensed as free software and open-source, Xandros also included proprietary software developed in-house by the Xandros Corporation.

Xandros Desktop Home Edition
This edition came with a 30-day trial of Crossover Office. It also included an "Applications CD" which includes extra programs which can be installed via Xandros Networks. As opposed to Home Edition Premium, the Home Edition did not include the photo manager, music manager, security suite, wireless profiles, or the ability to write to NTFS partitions.

Xandros Desktop Home Edition Premium
This edition came with a full version of Crossover Office Standard Edition, and a second CD (the "Applications CD") which included extra applications which could be installed via Xandros Networks. Despite its name, Xandros Desktop Home Edition Premium did not include a Xandros Networks Premium Membership.

Xandros Corporation offered a 30-day trial version of Xandros Home Edition Premium as a free download for evaluation purposes.

Xandros Desktop Professional
Formerly known as Xandros Desktop Business Edition, this edition was basically the same as Xandros Desktop Home Edition Premium, but it included the ability to authenticate to Windows PDC and Active Directory Domains, used PPTP VPN to connect remotely to the office, and used broadband wireless connectivity with 3G, GSM and UMTS support. Xandros Desktop Professional was officially released on 28 November 2006.

As with Home Edition Premium, Xandros Corporation also offered a 30-day trial version of Xandros Professional.

Presto
Introduced in 2009, Presto was a lightweight "instant-on" operating system which uses the lightweight Xfce 4.6 desktop environment. Similar to Canonical's Wubi installer for Ubuntu, it was installed inside of Microsoft Windows, with Windows XP as the earliest supported version. It also had access to an "application store" based on CNR, which was acquired through Xandros' acquisition of Linspire in mid-2008.

Xandros Moblin
In 2009, Xandros announced that it would develop a new netbook operating system based on Moblin v2.

Server systems
Xandros Desktop Management Server (xDMS) was available. It easily set up repositories as it deploys customized Xandros Desktop configurations across a large organization.

Xandros Server was designed to run on servers. It was officially launched at the 2006 LinuxWorld Conference and Expo in Toronto, on 25 April 2006, and officially released for purchase at the Xandros website on 1 May 2006, at a MSRP of US$450. Xandros Server 2.0 has been released in May 2007.

Previous editions
Xandros Open Circulation Edition (OCE) was a freely redistributable edition for non-commercial use, with a limited set of additional software. Soon after the 4.0 version was released as a DVD shrinkwrapped with Linux magazines, the torrent was pulled from Xandros' servers and all references to OCE removed from the Xandros website without explanation. Previous versions of Xandros OCE were generally released about 4 months after the release of the commercial versions.

Xandros Desktop OS Standard Edition was basically the same as the Open Circulation Edition, but it included full-speed CD/DVD burning. This product was replaced by Home Edition.

Xandros Desktop OS Deluxe Edition included an "applications CD" which included extra programs which could be installed via Xandros Networks. This product was replaced by Home Edition Premium.

Xandros Desktop OS Surfside Edition (branded and sold as Xandros SurfSide Linux) was basically the same as Xandros Desktop OS Standard Edition, however the Surfside Edition also included a Plantronics USB headset and 120 minutes of SkypeOut service.

According to DistroWatch, Xandros Desktop is discontinued. DistroWatch made the decision because no new official version or official updates to Xandros Desktop have been released since November 2006.

When Xandros purchased Linspire, they announced plans to retain Freespire as a Debian-based free community distribution and to base future editions of Xandros Desktop Professional – Home Edition and Home Edition Premium were to be discontinued – on Freespire. (This would be similar to the way Novell bases SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop on their free openSUSE and to the way Red Hat bases Red Hat Enterprise Linux on their free Fedora.) However, according to one website, Xandros has discontinued Freespire. In addition, the DistroWatch website has added Freespire to its list of discontinued distributions.

User interface

The Xandros graphical user interface (GUI) used a modified version of KDE, which included replacing Konqueror with its own proprietary file manager called Xandros File Manager. It also used a package manager known as Xandros Networks, which handles installation of software. Installation of Xandros was done by a wizard that asks questions about partitioning and the administrator (root) password.

It was possible to install and use the GNOME and Xfce desktop environments on Xandros.

BridgeWays for Microsoft Systems Center
In June 2007, a "broad collaboration agreement" between Xandros and Microsoft was announced. The agreement included "patent covenants, similar to the agreement that Microsoft reached with Novell."

In 2009, Xandros BridgeWays released the first of many Management Packs for Systems Center. The BridgeWays Management Pack Suite of products includes:
 * VMware ESX virtualization and HyperV Extensions;
 * JBoss, Apache, IBM WebSphere, Oracle WebLogic application development environments;
 * Oracle, IBM DB2, MySQL database products;
 * Apache web servers and more.

In 2010 BridgeWays is “Extending System Center”, by expanding the scope and market potential for Systems Center, with Windows, Linux, UNIX and VMware application environment monitoring. BridgeWays’ only focus is on building, selling and supporting Management Packs for System Center. See BridgeWays users can now track their alerts through System Center Service Manager 2010

BridgeWays does not compete with Microsoft. This group works closely with the Microsoft System Center R&D, Sales and Marketing teams to maximize value to System Center customers. In addition Xandros Bridgeways System Center resells direct and through its partner network of Distributors, ISVs, and SI MVPs worldwide as a contributing member of the System Center community.

ASUS Eee PC
In a collaboration of ASUS hardware and the Xandros operating system, the first "netbook" came into being. The ASUS Eee PC was available with either Xandros or Windows XP. The installed version of Xandros is tab based, built from scratch using Xlib and the Qt 4.5 toolkit. The full desktop version (or "Advanced Mode") may be installed—but not always easily—through a set of administrative command prompts. The full desktop version features a KDE 3 desktop with a few modifications performed by Xandros. This desktop mode also provides access to the Synaptic Package Manager which can be used to update and manage the Eee PC's software.

In February 2009 it was announced Xandros is porting its Eee PC Linux distribution to 2 ARM processor-based (Freescale i.MX515 & the Qualcomm Snapdragon CPU) platforms for netbooks & other mobile devices.

title: Xandros


text:
Bermudo I of Asturias

Bermudo I (also Vermudo or Veremund), called the Deacon or the Monk (c. 750 – 797), was the King of Asturias from 788 or 789 until his abdication in 791. He was a son of Fruela of Cantabria, a nephew of Alfonso I, and a brother of Aurelius. The nature of the end of his reign ushered in a new period in Asturian-Arab relations.

Bermudo was elected by the palatine officials (the nobility of the royal palace) to replace Mauregatus, who had died of natural causes in 788. Since Mauregatus had ascended the throne in a coup d'état with regional support in 783 and the succession of Bermudo proceeded without incident, it is probable that Mauregatus had procured a change in the ranks of the palatine nobility and that Bermudo was thus put forward as the candidate to, like Mauregatus, prevent the succession of Alfonso II, the son and heir of Fruela I. Though the Chronicle of Alfonso III in both its extant versions makes Bermudo out to be a deacon at his succession, this fact would only reinforce the notion that his election was a determined move to oppose Alfonso.

In any case, he did not reign long. He was forced to defend against an Arab-Berber invasion of Álava and Galicia and was defeated at the Battle of the Burbia River, probably the Bierzo, in 791. Though the closest Christian sources do not name his opponents, the battle can be linked with the first major engagement of a series of aggressive campaigns launched against the Asturian kingdom in the 790s. The Muslim commander at Burbia is named in Ibn al-Athir as Yūsuf ibn Bukht and the battle is likewise recorded in al-Maqqarī. Bermudo abdicated his throne after his defeat, though whether volitionally (as the Chronicle of Alfonso III states, "because he was [or remembered he was] a deacon") or under duress is unknown. Historically in Spain under the Visigoths, a king of proven military inadequacy was often forced to abdicate. Nevertheless, he was considered a generous and illustrious man in his time, "merciful and pious" in the words of the Chronicle of Albelda.

Bermudo was succeeded by Alfonso II and he left behind a son, who later reigned as Ramiro I, by an anonymous wife. He reportedly lived for a long time after his abdication, perhaps as a monk, and on good terms with his successor.

title: Bermudo I of Asturias


text:
Ramiro I of Asturias

Ramiro I (c. 790 – 1 February 850) was king of Asturias (modern-day Spain) from 842 until his death in 850. Son of King Bermudo I, he became king following a succession struggle after his predecessor, Alfonso II, died without children. During his turbulent reign, he fended off attacks from both Vikings and the forces of al-Andalus. Architecturally, his recreational palace Santa María del Naranco and other buildings used the ramirense style that prefigured Romanesque architecture. He was a contemporary of Abd ar-Rahman II, Umayyad Emir of Córdoba.

Gaining the throne
The death of King Alfonso II brought about a succession crisis in the Kingdom of Asturias. According to the Chronicle of Alfonso III, credited to Ramiro's grandson, the childless Alfonso II chose as his successor Ramiro, his distant kinsman and son of Alfonso's predecessor Bermudo I. At the time of King Alfonso's death, Ramiro was outside of Asturias in Castile (or Bardulia according to the Chronicle of Alfonso III), where he was attending his own marriage ceremonies.

Nepocian, comes palatii and the late king's kinsman, challenged Ramiro's succession in his absence, being supported by Astures and Vascones who had been loyal to Alfonso II. Ramiro sought support in Galicia, where he formed an army and advanced toward Oviedo. Nepotian awaited Ramiro's advance at Cornellana, by the river Narcea where Ramiro defeated him in the Battle of the Bridge of Cornellana. Nepotian fled, but was pursued and captured by Counts Scipion and Sonna. After his capture, Nepotian was blinded and interned in a monastery.

Fending off Vikings
By the time of Ramiro's reign, Vikings were frequenting the waters of Europe's coastal regions. In 844, a fleet disembarked at Corunna and began to raid the countryside, burning and pillaging. Ramiro marched against them with an army of considerable strength and managed to rout the invaders. He took some of them as prisoners and burned a large part of their fleet. Ramiro's reception dissuaded the Vikings such that they no longer raided the coastlines of Asturias.

The legend of the Battle of Clavijo

According to legend, in 834, Ramiro defeated the Moors in the Battle of Clavijo. The date was later changed to 844 in order to accommodate the contradictions inherent to the story (Ramiro was not ruling in 834). The account of the battle came to the spotlight on a spurious charter forged in Santiago de Compostela in the early 12th century. Neither Asturian nor Arab chronicles of the period make any mention of such a battle. It is first mentioned in the chronicles of Rodrigo Jiménez de Rada, 13th-century archbishop of Toledo.

The account of the battle appears to be a mythification of the historical 859 Second Battle of Albelda, in which Ramiro's son and successor, Ordoño I along with García Íñiguez of Pamplona crushed the forces of Musa ibn Musa al-Qasawi. According to the legend, during the battle, Saint James the Greater, the Moor-slayer, is said to have appeared riding a white horse and bearing a white standard, and aided Asturian troops to defeat the Moors. This gave rise to the cult of Saint James in Iberia (see Way of St. James).

In thanks for the intervention of the Apostle, Ramiro is said to have instituted a forged grant called Voto de Santiago actually dating from the 12th century, a tax for the benefit of the Church that was only repealed by the Cortes of Cádiz in 1812.

Attempt to repopulate León
Ramiro's most important confrontation with the Muslim kingdoms of Iberia was not a success. Emir Abd ar-Rahman II of Córdoba likewise had to face Viking invaders, as well as internal rebellions led by Musa ibn Musa of the Banu Qasi family. Ramiro took advantage of the temporary respite to repopulate the city of León. This particular attempt at repopulation was short-lived. Abd ar-Rahman II dispatched both the Vikings and the rebels, and in 846 sent an army led by his son (later Muhammad I of Córdoba), forcing the Catholics to again evacuate León, which the Muslims then burned. The city was not reoccupied until 856, under Ordoño I.

Internal conflict and harsh justice
While Asturias under Ramiro was relatively free of foreign confrontations, the latter portion of the reign saw much internal conflict. As mentioned above, his ascent to the throne had been problematic, and he continued to encounter discontented and rebellious nobles. The Chronica Albeldense makes mention of two of these rebels in particular. After defeating the rebel prócer (grandee or high-ranking noble) Piniolo, Ramiro condemned him to death along with his seven sons. The leader of the second rebellion, the comes palatii Aldroito, he condemned to be blinded.

Ramiro acted with severity against latrones (thieves) whose number nonetheless increased the civil discord of his reign, and against magos, presumably the pagans still rooted amongst the more isolated settlements. The Chronica Albeldense praises Ramiro as Uirga iustitiae, that is, "the Rod of Justice".

Marriages, descendants, and succession

All that is known of Ramiro's first marriage is that it must have occurred early enough for his son to have already been an adult at the time of Ramiro's succession. Ramiro's son Ordoño succeeded his father as king of Asturias upon the former's death.

Ramiro contracted his second marriage, to Paterna, around 842, the year of the death of his predecessor Alfonso II. The chronicle of his grandson asserts that when Alfonso II died, Ramiro was in the Castilian lands for his wedding, suggesting that his wife was Castilian. It is presumed that the bride in this marriage was the Paterna who appeared later as his widow.

There is no solid evidence of children other than Ordoño. Traditionally, Count Rodrigo of Castile (died 873) has been named as son of Ramiro and Paterna. The medievalist Justo Pérez de Urbel says that Rodrigo was named count of Castile because of his link to the Asturian royal family, and that it is possible that this link existed through Queen Paterna, but not necessarily through being her son.

Ramiro may have been the father of Gatón, Count of Astorga and of El Bierzo, since the 14th century Al-Bayan al-Mughrib of Ibn Idhari, states that Gatón was the 'brother' of Ordoño I de Asturias.

Death and burial
Ramiro died 1 February 850, in his palace at Santa María del Naranco, located on Mount Naranco, near the city of Oviedo. He was buried in the Pantheon of Asturian Kings in the Cathedral of San Salvador, Oviedo, alongside his second wife, Paterna. His remains were deposited in a stone sepulchre, no longer extant, next to a similar sepulchre for his predecessor, Alfonso II el Casto. His sepulchre was inscribed: "'OBIIT DIVAE MEMORIAE RANIMIRUS REX DIE KAL. FEBRUARII. ERA DCCCLXXXVIII. OBTESTOR VOS OMNES QUI HAEC LECTURI ESTIS. UT PRO REQUIE ILLIUS ORARE NON DESINETIS'."

The Ramirense style in architecture
The art and architecture of Ramiro's reign forms the Pre-Romanesque Ramirense phase of Asturian art. His court was the center of great splendor, of which the palace and church of Santa María del Naranco and San Miguel de Lillo are testimony. On the southern slopes of Mount Naranco, near the city of Oviedo, Ramiro I ordered the construction of the palace of Santa María del Naranco and a church known as San Miguel de Lillo or Liño. The church collapsed in the thirteenth century, and today only about a third of the original survives. Related service buildings did not survive even as ruins. Another example of Ramirense architecture is the church of Santa Cristina de Lena, near the municipality of Lena, some 30 km from Oviedo. The palace and the two churches have been designated World Heritage Sites by UNESCO.

Ramirense architecture introduced barrel vaults made of tufa (a relatively lightweight limestone). These were novel not only with respect to earlier architecture of the region but in terms of the European architecture of the period, including that of Muslim Spain, which used wooden roofs.

title: Ramiro I of Asturias