1. FSFE at Linuxtag in Wiesbaden (Germany)
2. Free Software workshop at Academy of German Army
3. FSFE at several events in Milan (Italy)
4. GPLv3 at SANE and UKUUG evening talks
5. Georg Greve at HGKZ university in Zürich (Switzerland)
6. Karsten Gerloff at eIFL workshop in Kiev (Ukraine)
7. FSFE General Assembly in Manchester
8. Linuxwochen in Vienna (Austria)
1. FSFE at Linuxtag in Wiesbaden (Germany)
As in previous years, Linuxtag was an opportunity for FSFE members and
Fellows to meet people from FSF Latin America and the
Free Software Initiative Japan and share the FSFE booth with them.
Karsten Gerloff gave a speech about the Access to Knowledge movement
(A2K) and its backgrounds. Ciarán O'Riordan, Georg Greve (FSFE), and
Federico Heinz (FSFLA) gave speeches about various aspects of the GPLv3.
As usual, Volker Dormeyer did an excellent job organising the booth and
the accommodation.
2. Free Software workshop at Academy of German Army
Free Software is penetrating an increasing amount of governmental
areas. As part of a meeting to assess the strategic future of Free
Software in the German Army, Georg Greve was invited by the Academy of
German Army to speak on Free Software and the political and strategic
issues that software raises for all sovereign governmental tasks, for
which Free Software provides the strongest answers today.
3. FSFE at several events in Milan (Italy)
The Italian team of the FSFE took part in some Milan-based events this
month. At the "Linux World Summit", Stefano Maffulli and Cristian
Rigamonti ran the Free Software Foundation Europe booth and participated
in a panel discussion dedicated to the Italian Free Software
communities. Cristian Rigamonti then held a talk about Free Software at
the "Gira e Respira" event, and an online talk on oilproject.org about
GPLv3. All the events benefitted from the support of the Italian
Fellows.
4. GPLv3 at SANE and UKUUG evening talks
Twice last month Georg Greve explained the reasons and overall changes
to the GNU General Public License (GPL) version 3, and introduced the
audience to the GPLv3 update process. The first conference was the 5th
System Administration and Network Engineering (SANE) Conference in
Delft, in the Netherlands. The second speech took place as a UKUUG
evening talk at the University Conference Center in Manchester, UK.
5. Georg Greve at HGKZ university in Zürich (Switzerland)
On request of the School of Art and Design at the University of
Applied Sciences and Arts Zurich (HGKZ), FSFE president Georg Greve
spoke to art and design students about the role that software takes in
the digital society, and what Free Software means for society.
6. Karsten Gerloff at eIFL workshop in Kiev (Ukraine)
Libraries are currently struggling with ever-tighter copyright
restrictions that make it harder for them to serve their purpose of
collecting and disseminating knowledge. An important countermeasure is
for librarians to educate themselves about copyright, and about
advocating their interests.
At a workshop in Kiev, Ukraine (May 26-27), Karsten Gerloff gave talks
about Free Software and sharing knowledge, as well as about the WIPO
Development Agenda and a Treaty on Access to Knowledge. The audience
consisted of librarians from the former Soviet Union, Mongolia, the
Middle East and South-East Asia.
7. FSFE General Assembly in Manchester
The FSFE held its General Assembly on 27 May 2006 in Manchester, UK.
The members of the General Assembly spent the weekend reviewing the
past year and engaging in lively and constructive discussions about
future tasks and priorities.
8. Linuxwochen in Vienna (Austria)
FSFE was present at Austria's largest Free Software event, the
Linuxwochen in Vienna. On all three days of the event, members of the
FSFE, Fellows, and volunteers were available at the booth to inform
about the work of the FSFE and about the Fellowship.
On the first day, Karin Kosina gave a speech titled "Free Software for
free people" in which she introduced the Free Software Foundation
Europe. On the last day, David Ayers and Karin Kosina did a presentation
of the GPLv3 which was very well received, and the following panel
discussion turned out to be very constructive.
You can find a list of all FSFE newsletters on
http://www.fsfeurope.org/news/newsletter.en.html
* DavidOcallaghan FrontPageSat, 10 Jun 2006 07:00:02 -0000
MoinMoin is a Python Wiki:WikiClone, based on Wiki:PikiPiki. The name is a common German slang expression explained on the MoinMoin page. If you run a Wiki using MoinMoin, please add it to the MoinMoin:MoinMoinWikis page. Contributed code is on the MoinMoin:MacroMarket, MoinMoin:ActionMarket and MoinMoin:ParserMarket pages. For more details and further topics, see the MoinMoin page.
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... URL: http://www.ifso.ie/cgi-bin/wiki.cgi/FrontPage?action=diff
* DavidOcallaghan SoftwareFreedomDaySat, 10 Jun 2006 07:00:02 -0000
Fixed some links and formatting
== Welcome ==
- To those who we gave IFSO 'business cards' to, you've landed at the right place. The documentation will be appearing on the "Helpdesk page";http://www.ifso.ie/cgi-bin/wiki.cgi/SoftwareFreedomDay/Helpdesk just as soon as I can get it ready. We're talking a couple of days. Be patient!! Thanks to all who came up to us and showed such a great interest in free software. I would encourage you to be clear about the '''difference''' between '''freeware''' and '''free software''', as this will make you more inclined to use it.
+ To those who we gave IFSO 'business cards' to, you've landed at the right place. The documentation will be appearing on the [wiki:/Helpdesk Helpdesk Page] just as soon as I can get it ready. We're talking a couple of days. Be patient!! Thanks to all who came up to us and showed such a great interest in free software. I would encourage you to be clear about the '''difference''' between '''freeware''' and '''free software''', as this will make you more inclined to use it.
- I've started a help page and will be populating it with links to useful documentation in the coming week(s). For help, start "Here";http://www.ifso.ie/cgi-bin/wiki.cgi/SoftwareFreedomDay/Helpdesk Feel free to email any questions to the "The Midlands Linux User Group";http://midlands.linux.ie/portal The address is '''midlands''' _at_ '''linux''' _dot_ '''ie'''
+ I've started a help page and will be populating it with links to useful documentation in the coming week(s). For help, start [wiki:/Helpdesk here].
+ Feel free to email any questions to the [http://midlands.linux.ie/portal The Midlands Linux User Group] The address is '''midlands''' _at_ '''linux''' _dot_ '''ie'''
- Look forward to hearing your experiences. '''''Message for Jim''''': You know who you are! Let us know how you get on with the phone software, and which one you eventually went for! Finally, for those unfamiliar with these things, on the "MiLUG";http://midlands.linux.ie/portal site, we use aliases, not because we're subversive or anything, it's just how things are done.
+ Look forward to hearing your experiences. '''''Message for Jim''''': You know who you are! Let us know how you get on with the phone software, and which one you eventually went for! Finally, for those unfamiliar with these things, on the [http://midlands.linux.ie/portal MiLUG] site, we use aliases, not because we're subversive or anything, it's just how things are done.
So, if you hear from Hashbang ( #! ) just don't run scared (-:=
@@ -19, +20 @@
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Ottavio Caruso wrote:
> > > From: "Alfred M. Szmidt" <ams(a)gnu.org>
>> Freedom and practicality don't go hand in hand.
This statement suggests that freedom and practicality are somehow
mutually exclusive. The existing evidence in our field does not support
this assertion.
The GNU GPL is a practical license. It uses copyright to ensure freedom.
The Free Software Foundation is a practical collective. It uses a
combination of paid staff and volunteers to promote the idea of Free
Software.
FOSS projects are frequently practical. Teams coordinate and deliver
high quality technology to users. This technology include
mission-critical software like the Linux kernel.
There is absolutely no reason freedom and practically cannot go hand in
hand. They already do.
> But some companies or individuals (I, for example)
> would want to be "certified" (cum grano salis) against
> the GBN guidelines.
> Branding is important in business, be it Microsoft
> certified or Cisco certified or GNU certified.
Exactly.
The reason I suggest that the provisions of the GNU Business Network
Definition pertaining to support contracts are potentially unreasonable
is that branding and certification are key when it comes to business
confidence. If the GNU Business Network Definition alienates
established integration and support providers it will not be adopted by
them. The lack of wide-spread adoption will undermine the use of the
certification and thereby reduce it's positive impact on businesses.
IMHO the GNU Business Network Definition should be compatible with as
many existing integration and support vendors are possible to ensure
adoption. Naturally the GNU Business Network Definition should
encourage Free Software excellence, but the base principle should be to
encourage the use and support of Free Software in business environments.
Exclusivity of use and support should perhaps be secondary.
Shane
- --
Shane Martin Coughlan
e: shane(a)opendawn.com
m: +447773180107 (UK) +353862262570 (Ire)
w: www.opendawn.com
- ---
OpenPGP: http://www.opendawn.com/shane/publickey.asc
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The third international GPLv3 conference will take place in Barcelona, Spain
on June 22nd and 23rd.
Richard Stallman and Eben Moglen will be there to present the current status
of the proposed changes for GPLv3, and Georg Greve will open the conference.
The schedule and venue information is here:
http://fsfeurope.org/projects/gplv3/europe-gplv3-conference
This conference will approximately mark the half way point in the year-long
public consultation process. The Day 1 speakers will each answer questions
after their presentations, and Day 2 will be for panel discussions on
specific topics.
It should be a great conference. Any questions, here's as good a place as
any to ask.
--
Ciarán O'Riordan __________________ \ http://fsfeurope.org/projects/gplv3http://ciaran.compsoc.com/ _________ \ GPLv3 and other work supported by
http://fsfe.org/fellows/ciaran/weblog \ Fellowship: http://www.fsfe.org
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I have been reviewing the GNU Business Network Definition and have a
comment to make. My comment is based on version 0.9.10, located at
http://mail.fsfeurope.org/pipermail/gnubiz-disc/2000-December/000014.html.
I'm following up from a post by Jan-Oliver Wagner, and considering some
of the points that Stefano Maffulli made previously.
Maffulli said on his blog: "I think [Free Software Businesses] should be
about ethics first and business model secondarily."
http://www.fsfe.org/en/fellows/maffulli/rants/defining_free_software_busine….
He suggests that a Free Software business should be defined by ethics
rather than business model, and that a "company that daily accepts its
social responsibility towards reaching freedom in the digital age,
respecting the ideals contained in the GNU Manifesto" is therefore a
Free Software Business.
This approach ties Free Software into the company mission statement
rather than the company development model. It's not unreasonable but it
leaves a very important question: what about companies that already have
a mission statement that does not include the concept of explicit
adherence with the GNU Manifesto? Most software and support companies
fall into this particular category.
The existing GNU Business Network Definition appears to assume that
companies will choose to entirely adopt Free Software. In doing so it
potentially excludes a vast number of existing companies that would
benefit rather than hinder our overall cause: the promotion of Free
Software.
I am concerned about the section of the definition relating to "Service,
Installation & Support."
Service, installation and support exclusively for Free Software is
regarded as a good thing. I agree. However, some statements in this
section are worrying: A company that "occasionally provides services
for specific proprietary programs that do obscure jobs, in conjunction
with Free Software" is regarded in a negative fashion. The same applies
to a company that "normally provides services for specific proprietary
programs that do obscure jobs, in conjunction with Free Software." A
company is therefore being regarded in a negative light for providing
support for even an obscure proprietary application. If they offer any
other support for a proprietary program they are excluded from the network.
This area of the GNU Business Network Definition means that very few
existing support or integration providers would qualify for the network.
This is especially true of large companies with established reputations
as effective support providers. Rather than encouraging existing
support providers to change their deployment models it is likely to
encourage them to ignore the existence of the GNU Business Network.
This appears to be shooting ourselves in the foot rather than helping to
unify the field of FOSS support.
The limitation that one cannot support any software one chooses is very
prescriptive. We're placing a very wide exclusion order on the ability
of a support company to make a choice about what services they offer.
GPL code might be protected from being compiled into proprietary code
through the GPL license, but it is another matter to tell companies how
to run themselves. I don't think attempting to dictate mission
statements and business ethics to businesses is going to win us many
friends from existing companies. It is my opinion that we should give
businesses the freedom to support our software *and* the freedom to
support other software if they so choose.
If we have confidence in our model - and if our model is truly better -
than I believe companies will find less reasons to support proprietary
applications with time. Even if they don't, I do not think we should
lock ourselves into a competition with proprietary companies. It is far
more productive to keep pushing our work outward and to keep giving
people access to technology and the means to alter/improve it.
This does not mean that companies who place Free Software at the heart
of their mission should not be rewarded. I believe they should be
recognised and given a great deal of credit. However, I believe more
pragmatism is called for in the basic GNU Business Network Definition
principles. Special recognition for pure Free Software businesses might
belong elsewhere.
Regards
Shane
- --
Shane Martin Coughlan
e: shane(a)shaneland.co.uk
m: +447773180107
w: www.shaneland.co.uk
- ---
Projects:
http://mobility.opendawn.comhttp://gem.opendawn.comhttp://enigmail.mozdev.orghttp://www.winpt.org
- ---
Organisations:
http://www.fsfeurope.orghttp://www.fsf.orghttp://www.labour.org.ukhttp://www.opensourceacademy.gov.uk
- ---
OpenPGP: http://www.shaneland.co.uk/personalpages/shane/files/publickey.asc
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http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/06/05/software_patent_case/
Snippet:
Jacob's permission to appeal raises the possibility of a new
interpretation on one, or indeed both, of those crucial exclusions in
an area untested at this level in recent times. In his decision, Jacobs
wrote that "the arguments have a real prospect of success".
Malcolm.
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