= 172 public institutions removed non-free advertisement =
[permanent URL: www.fsfe.org/news/2010/news-20101217-01.en.html]
Only one month after the letters for the PDFreaders campaign of FSFE
were sent, 172 public institutions have removed advertisements for
proprietary PDF readers from their websites. Particularly outstanding
were the responses from Croatia [1], Russia [2] and Slovenia [3]. In
Croatia almost all reported institutions deleted the advertisement. Half
of those contacted in Russia and Slovenia fulfilled FSFE's
request.
"Several institutions replied stating that they agree with our concerns
[4], and that they will modify their websites", said campaign manager
Matthias Kirschner. Amongst those are a number of ministries,
parliaments, law enforcement agencies, and the Belgian Prime Minister's
chancellery.
Campaigns like this are made possible by a community of volunteers [5],
and financial supporters [6]. FSFE is following-up with the remaining
organisations [7] in order to get the remaining advertisements
removed.
1. http://www.fsfe.org/campaigns/pdfreaders/buglist.html#HR
2. http://www.fsfe.org/campaigns/pdfreaders/buglist.html#RU
3. http://www.fsfe.org/campaigns/pdfreaders/buglist.html#SI
4. http://www.fsfe.org/campaigns/pdfreaders/letter.html
5. http://www.fsfe.org/contribute/index.html
6. http://www.fsfe.org/donate/donate.html
7. http://www.fsfe.or/campaigns/pdfreaders/buglist.html
= About the PDFreaders campaign =
What would you think about a sign on the highway saying “You need a
Volkswagen to drive on this road. Contact your Volkswagen dealer for
a gratis test drive – Your Government”? When it comes to software
that opens PDF files, many public sector organisations do this every
day. With the pdfreaders.org campaign FSFE has turned the spotlight
on government organisations who behave in this way, exposing how
frequent such advertisements for non-free software are. With the help
of activists across Europe, FSFE is contacting these organisations to
explain them how to improve their websites so that they respect our
freedom.
http://fsfe.org/campaigns/pdfreaders/pdfreaders.en.html
== About the Free Software Foundation Europe ==
The Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE) is a non-profit
non-governmental organisation active in many European countries
and involved in many global activities. Access to software
determines participation in a digital society. To secure equal
participation in the information age, as well as freedom of
competition, the Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE) pursues and
is dedicated to the furthering of Free Software, defined by the
freedoms to use, study, modify and copy. Founded in 2001, creating
awareness for these issues, securing Free Software politically and
legally, and giving people Freedom by supporting development of Free
Software are central issues of the FSFE.
http://fsfe.org/
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= FSFE welcomes revised European Interoperability Framework =
[permanent URL: www.fsfe.org/news/2010/news-20101216-01.en.html]
The European Commission today published its long-awaited revision of
the European Interoperability Framework [1]. This document aims at
promoting interoperability in the European public sector. The document
is the result of a prolonged and hard-fought process. Free Software
Foundation Europe accompanied this process and offered input to the
European Commission at various stages [2].
"During the history of the EIF, we had reason to worry that Free
Software would effectively be shut out of the European public sector.
FSFE has worked hard to prevent this, and we have succeeded," says
Karsten Gerloff, FSFE's President. "With this document, the Commission
shows that it is willing to lead. We will support and accompany the EC
in this effort."
We are happy that the effort which FSFE has invested in the EIF revision
process has brought results. The document has improved markedly over
previous versions [4] from a Free Software point of view:
- The document explicitly states that Open Standards [5] (called "open
specifications") must be implementable in Free Software.
- The document states that public administrations should prefer Open
Standards.
- The document calls on public administrations to reuse and share
solutions. Free Software is by far the most practical way to achieve this.
Some points of the document could be improved. There is considerable
wriggle room for public bodies to avoid making changes to inefficient IT
systems and practices.
The document's definition of "open specifications" demands that such
standards must be implementable in Free Software, but allows the patents
in those standards to be licensed under so-called FRAND conditions. Such
FRAND conditions normally make it impossible to implement a standard in
Free Software [6]. FSFE will closely accompany the European Commission
in reconciling this apparent conflict.
"While FSFE would have wished for a more forceful push for Open
Standards and Free Software, we congratulate the EC on producing a
useful document out of a heated debate", says Gerloff.
This document ties in with the Commission's eGovernment Action Plan,
announced yesterday, which makes Open Standards a political priority for
European Member States and defines clear actions and deadlines. As a key
action, national governments are expected to align their national
interoperability frameworks with the EIF by 2013.
FSFE has visualised the changes among the various versions of the
document [4]. This has been a key tool for many people's work on EIFv2.
The table is currently being updated to reflect the final version of the
document.
1.
http://ec.europa.eu/isa/strategy/doc/20101216_iop_communication_annex_eis.p…
2. http://www.fsfe.org/news/2009/news-20091127-01.en.html
3. http://www.fsfe.org/projects/os/bsa-letter-analysis.en.html
4. http://fsfe.org/projects/os/eifv2.en.html
5. http://fsfe.org/projects/os/def.en.html
6. http://www.fsfe.org/projects/os/bsa-letter-analysis.en.html#3
== About the Free Software Foundation Europe ==
The Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE) is a non-profit
non-governmental organisation active in many European countries
and involved in many global activities. Access to software
determines participation in a digital society. To secure equal
participation in the information age, as well as freedom of
competition, the Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE) pursues and
is dedicated to the furthering of Free Software, defined by the
freedoms to use, study, modify and copy. Founded in 2001, creating
awareness for these issues, securing Free Software politically and
legally, and giving people Freedom by supporting development of Free
Software are central issues of the FSFE.
http://fsfe.org/
--
Free Software Foundation Europe <http://www.fsfe.org>
FSFE News <http://fsfe.org/news/news.en.rss>
Upcoming FSFE Events <http://fsfe.org/events/events.en.rss>
Fellowship Blog Aggregation <http://planet.fsfe.org/en/rss20.xml>
Free Software Discussions <http://fsfe.org/contact/community.en.html>
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= European Commission's software contract is a rough deal for Europe =
[permanent URL : http://www.fsfe.org/news/2010/news-20101207-01.en.html]
The European Commission will spend EUR 189 million on proprietary
software over the next six years, in direct contradiction to its own
decisions and guidelines. The Commission last week announced a
six-year framework contract to acquire a wide range of mostly
proprietary software and related services [1].
"This is a rough deal for Europe", says Karsten Gerloff, President of
Free Software Foundation Europe. "Instead of coming up with a strategy
to take advantage of Free Software and become independent from
vendors, the Commission is digging itself deeper into the vendor
lock-in hole."
Last week's contract goes against the stated intentions of several
Commission documents. European procurement rules say that public
sector buying practices should "avoid discrimination and open up
public procurement to competition."
The Digital Agenda, published in May 2010, calls for "ICT products and
services" to be "open and interoperable" [2]. A guideline issued by the
EC's OSOR project cites European procurement rules to say that "calls
for tender [...] should be based on functional requirements, not on
specific products or vendors" [3], while last week's contract comes with
a long list of specific products which the Commission wants to buy.
In the Malmö and Granada declarations of 2009 and 2010, the European
Union's member states called on the EC to "pay particular attention to
the benefits resulting from the use of open specifications in order to
deliver services in the most cost-effective manner", and to "[e]mbed
innovation and cost effectiveness into eGovernment through the
systematic promotion of open standards and interoperable systems" [4].
The procurement process was conducted by the Directorate General for
Informatics (DIGIT). This department is also leading the process to
revise the European Interoperability Framework. FSFE has strongly
criticised [5] previous drafts [6] for falling behind the original
version in their support of Open Standards [7] and Free Software [8].
"European citizens expect the Commission to keep its costs low, to
spend their tax money in ways that promote Europe's development, and
to stick to its own policies," comments Gerloff. "This behaviour by
DIGIT fails Europeans on all three counts. It damages the Commission's
credibility."
== Links ==
[1]
http://www.computerweekly.com/Articles/2010/12/03/244307/European-Commissio…
[2] Digital Agenda for Europe:
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CELEX:52010DC0245%280…
[3] OSOR Procurement Guideline:
http://www.osor.eu/idabc-studies/OSS-procurement-guideline%20-final.pdf
[4] Malmö declaration : http://www.epractice.eu/en/library/299149 and
Granada declaration http://www.epractice.eu/en/news/316468
[5] http://fsfe.org/news/2010/news-20100330-01.en.html
[6] Comparison of different EIF versions:
http://www.fsfe.org/projects/os/eifv2.en.html
[7] Definition of Open Standards: http://www.fsfe.org/projects/os/def.html
[8] What is Free Software?
http://www.fsfe.org/about/basics/freesoftware.en.html
== About the Free Software Foundation Europe ==
The Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE) is a non-profit
non-governmental organisation active in many European countries and
involved in many global activities. Access to software determines
participation in a digital society. To secure equal participation
in the information age, as well as freedom of competition, the Free
Software Foundation Europe (FSFE) pursues and is dedicated to the
furthering of Free Software, defined by the freedoms to use, study,
modify and copy. Founded in 2001, creating awareness for these
issues, securing Free Software politically and legally, and giving
people Freedom by supporting development of Free Software are
central issues of the FSFE.
http://fsfe.org/
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