= FSFE Newsletter - March 2013 =
[Read online: http://fsfe.org/news/nl/nl-201303.en.html ]
== Brussels flooded with Free Software activists ==
>From February 1st to February 3rd thousands of people went to Brussels
to participate in FOSDEM -- the Free and Open Source Software
Developers' European Meeting. At FOSDEM you have the opportunity to meet
developers and contributors from nearly all major Free Software
projects. FSFE is always there to talk with people about ongoing
developments and the needs and contributions in the Free Software
community. So it is a good place to exchange information, talk with very
interesting people, plan future activities, and meet all the people you
would usually just have e-mail contact with.
As in previous years, FSFE was present with a booth, answering questions
about current political topics and activities, distributing information
material and – what every hacker needs – cool t-shirts. Fellow Mirko
Böhm has written a summary about FOSDEM[1], including tips on
communication for Free Software groups and projects, if we should
embrace app stores and how to share a trademark. Isabel Drost has
documented FOSDEM in 9 blog posts[2]: from her arrival with spider
robots[3], about Trademarks and Free Software[4], or the panel
discussion about GNU APL[5].
1. http://creative-destruction.me/2013/02/02/fosdem13-community-legal-devrooms
2. http://blog.isabel-drost.de/index.php/archives/tag/fosdem
3. http://blog.isabel-drost.de/index.php/archives/460/fosdem-2013-01
4. http://blog.isabel-drost.de/index.php/archives/461/trademarks-and-oss
5. http://blog.isabel-drost.de/index.php/archives/463/afero-gpl-panel-discussi…
We were also present with several talks: For example our Finnish team
coordinator Otto Kekäläinen[6]gave a talk about "Fixing public
procurement", our vice-president Henrik Sandklef gave a talk about
Searduino[7], and Erik Albers presented our Free Your Android
campaign[8]( recording available (webm)[9].
6. https://fosdem.org/2013/schedule/speaker/otto_kekalainen/
7. http://sandklef.wordpress.com/2013/01/12/searduino-fosdem-new-gui-simulator…
8. http://fsfe.org/campaigns/android/android.en.html
9. http://video.fosdem.org/2013/lightningtalks/Phone_liberation_parties.webm
As part of the FYA campaign, Several Fellows also participated in a
meeting at the European Parliament on Friday[10]. It was organised by
Alexander Alvaro, Vice-President of the European Parliament (EP),
together with the European Parliament Free Software User Group
(EPFSUG)[11]. He wanted his EP colleagues to learn how to regain control
of their data and how to install a free operating system and Free
Software on their Android devices.
10. http://epfsug.eu/content/free-your-android-fsfe
11. http://epfsug.eu/
Just three weeks later, we were shocked to hear that Mr Alvaro had a car
accident and is still in hospital with serious injuries. FSFE wishes him
a fast and full recovery.
== Why we love Free Software ==
A lot of people followed our call[12]to participate in the I love Free
Software activity. The result – which has been summarised in a
report[13]by FSFE's new interns Lucile Falgueyrac and Stepan Stehlicek
– was a lot of e-mails, blog posts, pictures and a comic strip. E.g.,
Fellow Mirko Böhm explains why he loves Free Software:
12. http://fsfe.org/news/2013/news-20130212-01.en.html
13. http://fsfe.org/news/2013/news-20130221-01.en.html
The benefits of Free Software go beyond the individual contributors and
the communities they form. The four freedoms laid out as the foundations
of Free Software are a fanfare to the ability to exercise one’s free
will, to freely collaborate by helping your neighbors, to achieve
independence from directions other people have thought up for us. The
effects can be seen all around us – when teaching material for schools
is developed collaboratively and freely shared, when government data is
opened up to improve the transparency of the political process, when the
technical foundations of the internet and the operating systems running
modern technology become a common good, and in many other places. People
start to expect similar freedoms they learned to get used to in software
when engaging in society. And more participation is always better.
== Something completely different ==
- Our DFD team published a video tutorial[14], which explains how to
watch Youtube videos using HTML5. Do not miss this month's "get-
active" item below, which is also about Document Freedom Day.
- We have received a report about a successful case of Windows tax
refund in Croatia[15]. One has to apply for the refund within 30 days
of a purchase of an ASUS product and fill out a form in order to
receive €42 refund for Microsoft Windows 8 OEM.
- LWN writes about trademarks and their limits[16], the idea behind
trademarks, about how effective this protection is, and gives examples
of bad behaviour; e.g., offering Free Software with unwanted toolbars
and adware.
- In FSFE we receive a lot of license questions, but we have not yet
evaluated how many we receive through country teams, our legal teams,
or over the phone. Our sister organisation FSF reports[17]that they
have responded to and resolved over 400 reports of suspected license
violations and over 600 general licensing and compliance questions.
- Your editor has written an article for the German news site Heise
titled"Politics and Free Software"[18]. The article covers his
experience from the parliament working group on interoperability,
standards, and Free Software.
- Guido Arnold has published the January update about Free Software in
education[19], covering news from the community and the government as
well as upcoming events.
- Mirko gave a talk at Embedded World 2013 about defensive
publications[20].
- Besides many other positive news from Joinup about Free Software in
the public administration: Member of the European Parliament Amelia
Andersdotter wants public administrations to consider software
freedom[21]as one of the reasons to select new ICT solutions, and the
city of Bolzano has automated testing of e-government services on Free
Software systems[22].
- Fellow Jelle Hermsen asked for blog aggregation for our Dutch Fellows,
and now it is up and running[23].
- From the planet aggregation[24]:
- Anna Morris, who created the DFD video mentioned above, wrote about
Guake: a command-line tool for "dyslexics and beginners"[25].
- You wonder why we published the DFD as ".webm"? Peter Bubestinger
wrote a summary article[26]about different video formats from a Free
Software perspective, explaining that digital video consists of video
codec, audio codec, and container format. He explains the different
codecs, and why some videos do not work out of the box on a Free
Software Distribution.
- Beside this, Peter also wrote about Tears of Steel, a movie made with
Free Software[27].
- From Steel to Stealth: What could the Americans and British do to put
the stealth back into stealth bomber? Daniel Pocock explains why the
US military might need the Free Software lumical[28].
- Mark Lindhout described how to use RSYNC to delete remote
folders[29]and after inspiration from the last Fellowship meeting in
Berlin he also wrote about why and how to play high-fidelity white
noise[30].
- Interested in a distributed solution for one-time-password
authentication on GNU/Linux operating systems? Daniel wrote about
dynalogin[31]which is providing this.
- Thomas Løcke describes how to use the Ada Web Server[32]and,
- Henri Bergius is thinking about the flow-based programming user
interface[33].
14. http://download.fsfe.org/campaigns/dfd/youtube-howto-english-854x480.webm
15. https://wiki.fsfe.org/WindowsTaxRefund/Croatia
16. http://lwn.net/Articles/536126
17. http://www.fsf.org/blogs/licensing/fsf-licensing-team-what-we-did-in-2012-w…
18. http://www.heise.de/open/artikel/Die-Woche-Politik-und-Freie-Software-17942…
19. http://blogs.fsfe.org/guido/2013/02/free-software-in-education-news-january…
20. http://creative-destruction.me/2013/02/26/defensive-publications-at-embedde…
21. http://joinup.ec.europa.eu/news/mep-authorities-should-include-freedoms-whe…
22. http://joinup.ec.europa.eu/news/bolzano-automates-testing-e-government-serv…
23. http://planet.fsfe.org/nl/
24. http://planet.fsfe.org
25. http://blogs.fsfe.org/anna.morris/2013/02/18/guake-a-great-command-line-too…
26. https://blogs.fsfe.org/pb/?page_id=20
27. https://blogs.fsfe.org/pb/?p=41
28. http://danielpocock.com/us-military-may-need-lumicall
29. http://blogs.fsfe.org/marklindhout/2013/02/use-rsync-to-delete-remote-folde…
30. http://blogs.fsfe.org/marklindhout/2013/02/need-to-play-high-fidelity-white…
31. http://danielpocock.com/dynalogin-1.0.0-released
32. http://blogs.fsfe.org/thomaslocke/2013/02/10/using-the-ada-web-server-aws-p…
33. http://bergie.iki.fi/blog/inspiration-for-fbp-ui/
== Get active: Organise an event for Document Freedom Day 2013 ==
Help us to introduce more people to Open Standards – participate in
Document Freedom Day 2013[34]on March 27th! Local teams can now promote
their events[35]on DocumentFreedom.org, and have them marked on the
global campaign map[36].
34. http://documentfreedom.org
35. http://www.documentfreedom.org/registerevent.html
36. http://www.documentfreedom.org/events/events.html
In 2012 groups of volunteers ran 54 events in 23 different countries. If
you want to get some inspiration for your event, take a look at our
activity packages[37]or the DFD report from 2012[38]. Help us to make
this year's DFD the most successful yet!
37. http://www.documentfreedom.org/getinvolved.html
38. http://www.documentfreedom.org/news/2012/news-20120403-01.html
Thanks to all the Fellows and donors who enable our work,
Matthias Kirschner- FSFE
--
Free Software Foundation Europe <http://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>
= FSFE Newsletter - December 2012 =
[Read online: http://fsfe.org/news/nl/nl-201212.en.html ]
== UK: Small and major steps towards more Free Software ==
On 7th November, several political candidates standing in the Manchester
Central By-election participated in the"Manchester Digital Debate"[1],
organised by our UK coordinator Sam Tuke and the Open Rights Group
(ORG). The event is part of FSFE's "Ask Your Candidates" campaign, which
aims to provide an opportunity to engage (local) politicians with
digital concerns that they typically do not address.
1. http://manchester.openrightsgroup.org/2012/10/24/manchester-digital-debate
Besides these important steps at the local level, last month the UK
government has released a new Open Standards policy. In future all UK
Government bodies must comply with the Open Standards Principles or
apply for an exemption. FSFE welcomed this step[2], and particularly its
strong Open Standards definition. It also includes another long-standing
FSFE demand: to take into account the software exit costs. From now on,
when UK government bodies buy a software solution, they have to consider
in the price a calculation of what it will cost them to get out of this
solution, in the future. This means that government bodies could not
simply avoid buying Free Software solutions because they are locked into
one particular vendor's proprietary file formats. FSFE president Karsten
Gerloff analysed the new policy in detail[3].
2. http://fsfe.org/news/2012/news-20121101-02.en.html
3. http://blogs.fsfe.org/gerloff/2012/11/01/the-uks-new-open-standards-policy/
== Secure Boot: FSFE welcomes German Government's White Paper on "Secure
Boot" ==
We want to make sure that you are in control of your computing. This
control is, currently, restricted by "Secure Boot". On 19th November, as
the first government, the German Ministry of the Interior published a
white paper about "Trusted Computing" and "Secure Boot"[4]. The white
paper states that "device owners must be in complete control of (able to
manage and monitor) all the trusted computing security systems of their
devices." This has been one of FSFE's key demands from the beginning of
the debate. The document continues that "delegating this control to
third parties requires conscious and informed consent by the device
owner".
4. http://www.bmi.bund.de/SharedDocs/Downloads/DE/Themen/OED_Verwaltung/Inform…
Another FSFE demand is also addressed by the government's white paper:
Before purchasing a device, buyers must be informed concisely about the
technical measures implemented in this device, as well as the specific
usage restrictions and its consequences for the owner: "Trusted
computing security systems must be deactivated (opt-in principle)" when
devices are delivered. "Based on the necessary transparency with regard
to technical features and content of trusted computing solutions, device
owners must be able to make responsible decisions when it comes to
product selection, start-up, configuration, operation and shut-down."
And "Deactivation must also be possible later (opt- out function) and
must not have any negative impact on the functioning of hard- and
software that does not use trusted computing functions."
Though all of what the German Government stated, should be self-evident,
unfortunately it is not. FSFE will continue talking to other governments
about this issue, to improve their understanding of the political and
economic consequences of this technology.
== German Cities: Two good news and a bad one ==
First the bad news: The city of Freiburg has decided to switch back,
from OpenOffice.org, to Microsoft Office. The study they based their
decision on was published one week before the decision, which we and
other Free Software organisations had criticised before[5]. Unfortunate
news, but as IBM's Rob Weir wrote in his article[6]in the Free Software
community we tend to look at the bad news, and forget about the good
news.
5. http://fsfe.org/news/2012/news-20121116-01.en.html
6. http://www.robweir.com/blog/2012/11/a-tale-of-two-cities.html
So, some good news: on the one hand, the City of Leipzig has just
migrated 4200 working stations to OpenOffice (DE)[7], and on the other
hand, Munich announced they are saving over 10 Million Euro[8]with Free
Software. If you want to be updated with good news from the public
administrations in Europe, the European Commission's Join-up Portal[9]is
a good place to check out.
7. http://www.it-muenchen-blog.de/2012/10/leipzig-auf-kurs-zum-freien-officepa…
8. http://www.h-online.com/open/news/item/Linux-brings-over-EUR10-million-savi…
9. https://joinup.ec.europa.eu/news/news
== Something completely different ==
- LWN has a good summary of Karsten's talk "All watched over by machines
of loving grace"[10], which is about society, power, and control.
Besides, Karsten recommended the German authorities to publish the
code of mobile phone apps[11].
- Our Finnish team coordinator Otto Kekäläinen and the Danish hacker
Ole Tange received the 2012 Nordic Free Software Award[12]. With this
recognition, the Swedish Association for Free Software and Free
Culture ( FFKP, Föreningen Fri Kultur och Programvara[13]) honours
people and projects who have made important contributions to software
freedom. Congratulations Otto!
- "Fuck you, this is my culture!". This statement ended Amelia
Andersdotter's (Swedish Pirate Party) speech at the Internet
Governance Forum[14]wearing a European Parliament Free Software User
Group (EPFSUG)[15]t-shirt.
- Matija Šuklje, Jürgen Kneissl, Peter Bubestinger and Martin
Gollowitzer (all FSFE) were interviewed[16]by Radio Orange about Free
Software, software patents and other connected topics. In 2010 Radio
Orange was awarded with the German Document Freedom Award[17], because
they provide OGG Vorbis for all their radio shows.
- Also on software patents, Richard Stallman wrote an interesting
article on the WIRED[18], suggesting to change the effect of patents:
"We should legislate that developing, distributing, or running a
program on generally used computing hardware does not constitute
patent infringement."
- Former KDE president Aaron Seigo pleads to end the cults of
personality in Free Software[19].
- Mark Lindhout published the default Fellowship blog theme Pome on his
Github account[20], and invites everyone to contribute!
- Do you remember the time of the browser bundling? Or the Samba
antitrust case[21]? You might also enjoy XKCD's comic strip named
"Microsoft"[22].
- From the planet aggregation[23]:
- Looking for a self-made Christmas present for your grandmother? What
about a one button audiobook player? Michael Clemens described how he
build such a device[24]with a Raspberry Pi for his 90 year old
Grandma.
- FSF to begins to accept scanned assignments from Germany[25], and
Werner Koch, author of GnuPG, wrote the article"The tragedy of GNU
copyright assignments"[26], where he asks if the GNU hackers really
have the freedom they demand from others?
- Erik Albers wrote about his experience with Ubuntu running on a Nexus
7[27]while he and Torsten Grote gave a Free Your Android workshop at
SFSCON in Bolzano. Albert Dengg gave talks in Austria, and in our
upcoming events[28]you will find upcoming Free Your Android[29]related
events.
- Otto wrote about the WOW effect[30], and a wishlist for future mobile
devices while Henri Bergius wrote an extensive blog post about Jolla's
Sailfish OS"[31].
- How to open computed tomography (CT) scan pictures (DICOM)? Our
president, Karsten Gerloff, broke his foot[32]just for you to find
out.
- What can you learn out of the Skolelinux pilot in Rhineland
Palatinate? Guido Arnold wrote a summary about Kurt Gramlich's[33]in
English, so more people can learn what happened after the first
euphoria and the reasons why the pilot may be considered a failure.
- There were several reports from events: Erik Albers organised the Free
Your Android workshop during FSCONS[34], where Fellow Bjarni Einarsson
rescued an (almost) bricked phone. Ana wrote about her high
expectations to FSCONS[35]and how a perfect weekend looks like.
- Isabel Drost wrote 11 reports about the ApacheCon Europe[36],
- Mirko Böhm reported (in German) about the summit of Newthinking ( day
1[37], and day 2[38]), and about our workshop at an event from the
Green party about Internet Policy[39].
- And finally, read Leena Simon's blog post[40]to find out why South
Park failed on copyright.
10. lwn.net/Articles/523537/
11. http://joinup.ec.europa.eu/news/advocates-open-source-recommend-german-auth…
12. http://fsfe.org/news/2012/news-20121112-01.en.html
13. https://ffkp.se/
14. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MsoGMT49v_o
15. http://epfsug.eu/
16. http://sendungsarchiv.o94.at/get.php?id=094pr6519
17. http://fsfe.org/news/2010/news-20100324-01.en.html
18. http://www.wired.com/opinion/2012/11/richard-stallman-software-patents
19. http://aseigo.blogspot.com.br/2012/11/ending-cults-of-personality-in-free.h…
20. https://github.com/marklindhout/Pome
21. http://fsfe.org/activities/ms-vs-eu/ms-vs-eu.en.html
22. https://xkcd.com/1118/
23. http://planet.fsfe.org
24. http://blogs.fsfe.org/clemens/2012/10/30/the-one-button-audiobook-player/
25. http://www.fsf.org/blogs/licensing/fsf-to-begin-accepting-scanned-assignmen…
26. http://rem.eifzilla.de.ipv4.sixxs.org/archives/2012/11/27/the-tragedy-of-gn…
27. http://blogs.fsfe.org/eal/2012/11/21/my-experience-with-ubuntu-running-on-a…
28. http://fsfe.org/events/
29. http://freeyourandroid.org
30. http://seravo.fi/2012/11/the-wow-effect
31. http://bergie.iki.fi/blog/jolla-sailfish/
32. http://blogs.fsfe.org/gerloff/2012/11/26/broke-my-foot/
33. http://blogs.fsfe.org/guido/2012/11/skolelinux-pilot-in-rhineland-palatinat…
34. http://blogs.fsfe.org/eal/2012/11/15/free-society-conference-and-nordic-sum…
35. http://blogs.fsfe.org/anaghz/2012/11/22/fscons-elation/
36. http://blog.isabel-drost.de/index.php/archives/category/events-menu/apache-…
37. http://creative-destruction.me/2012/11/16/son12-day-1-2/
38. http://creative-destruction.me/2012/11/16/son12-day-2/
39. https://netzpolitik.org/2012/nk12-produzent-und-konsument-im-netz/
40. http://leena.de/south-parks-genius-website-copyright-fail/
== Get active: New year, new donations ==
It is the end of the year, and like FSFE's financial officer Reinhard
Müller[41]your editor would like to start 2013 with a good money
buffer. So this month, please help us to fill our war chest:
41. http://wiki.fsfe.org/Fellows/reinhard
- If you are not yet a Fellow, please join now[42]and support us with
your donation.
- Check out our support programs[43]to find out if the webshops you
already use for your Christmas shopping are listed there, and install
our plugins. (If you need some suggestions for books, take a look at
your editor's recommended books about Free Software[44].
- And please convince your employer to support us[45], and join our list
of donors[46]. (If you do not want to talk to your employer on your
own, please contact us[47], and suggest whom we should talk to.)
42. https://fellowship.fsfe.org/ams/join.php?ams=join
43. http://wiki.fsfe.org/SupportPrograms
44. http://blogs.fsfe.org/mk/?p=399
45. http://fsfe.org/donate/donate.en.html
46. http://fsfe.org/donate/thankgnus.en.html
47. http://fsfe.org/contact/contact.en.html
Thanks to all the Fellows[48]and donors[49]who enable our work,
48. http://fellowship.fsfe.org/join
49. donate/thankgnus.en.html
Matthias Kirschner- FSFE
--
Free Software Foundation Europe <http://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>
On Sat, Aug 4, 2012 at 3:25 PM, <press(a)fsfeurope.org> wrote:
> = FSFE Newsletter - August 2012 =
>
> [Read online: http://fsfe.org/news/nl/nl-201208.en.html ]
>
> == Helping the European Parliament to release its own Free Software ==
>
> For the first time, the European Parliament (EP) is about to release one
> of its own programs as a Free Software. The program in question is
> called AT4AM, short for "Automatic Tool for Amendments". The Parliament
> is making laws, and AT4AM automates a lot of the formalities associated
> with the legislative process.
>
> Karsten Gerloff and Carlo Piana were invited to give talks at the event
> to discuss the right license under which to publish AT4AM, and to
> explain the political dimension of Free Software.
>
> Do you want to know why the FSFE suggested the EP to license their
> software under GNU AGPL version 3, and what else our president has on
> his wishlist for the EP? Then read his report[1]!
>
> 1.
> http://blogs.fsfe.org/gerloff/2012/07/18/helping-the-european-parliament-to…
>
>
> == Protect Free Software licenses from bankruptcy ==
>
> When the companies or authors that license Free Software enter
> bankruptcy, there is a risk that granted Free Software licenses will
> face legal challenges in some jurisdictions. The FSFE is trying to
> prevent this situation in Germany. We started talking about this during
> a meeting with the German Minister of Justice, who we could have meet
> thanks to receiving the Theodor Heuss Medal[2]. Now the ifrOSS supported
> by the FSFE suggests the German Ministry of Justice to include a
> specific Free Software clause in the German Insolvency Code[3]. The
> clause ensures that Free Software licenses would not be negatively
> affected by a bankruptcy of a licensing rights holder. It makes it clear
> that any offer to grant a Free Software license made before the
> licensor's bankruptcy can be accepted by anyone even after the
> bankruptcy proceedings started.
>
> If Free Software face similar problems in your jurisdiction, please
> contact us[4] or take similar steps.
>
> 2. http://fsfe.org/news/2010/news-20100510-01.en.html
> 3. http://fsfe.org/news/2012/news-20120730-01.en.html
> 4. http://fsfe.org/contact/contact.en.html
>
>
> == The Fellowship: One to rule them all ==
>
> In the Lord of the Rings, Gollum does not want to share the ring. He is
> such an egoist. But Barbara "swimmi" Roth and Martin "gollo"
> Gollowitzer, both Fellows of the FSFE are used to share (as well as use,
> study, and improve).
>
> After signing their public keys with the highest trust level[5], they
> now finally decided to swim into the harbour of marriage. It is the
> first marriage your editor knows about, where both were Fellows
> *before* their marriage. The FSFE wishes them all the best for
> their future and is looking forward to see a lot of "forks"[6], so we
> have more Free Software activists. May many fellow[7] this example[8]!
>
> 5. https://xkcd.com/364/
> 6. http://media.macno.org/u/macno/m/i-am-a-fork/
> 7. http://fellowship.fsfe.org/join
> 8. http://fellowship.fsfe.org/join
>
>
> == Something completely different ==
>
> - From August 21st to 26th Free Software will be one major theme at Campus
> Party in Berlin. Your editor helped to find some interesting speakers
> for the
> event. Well, see yourself[9].
> - La Quadrature Du Net published a video tutorial how to call a Member of
> the
> European Parliament (MEP). You can apply their instructions[10] to our
> Ask
> Your Candidates campaign[11] and talk with politicians about general Free
> Software topics, our campaigns[12], or other issues.
> - How, exactly, can you have a successful project with collaborators? Can
> we
> quantitatively analyse past projects to figure out what works, instead of
> just using our best guesses? David A. Wheeler reviewed a book[13]which
> analyses how to be successful with Free Software.
> - You want to have a small low cost Free Software PC? Take a look at this
> overview[14]and decide what is best for you.
> - Digital Restriction Managmenet: Our sister, the FSF finished an update
> of the
> "Guide to DRM-free Living"[15]with dozens of new places to get ebooks,
> movies, and music without DRM.
> - A selection from the Fellowship blog aggregation[16]:
> - Berlin Fellowship group[17]coordinator Alexander Kahl wrote about why
> git
> kicks ass[18]and how to use GNU Emacs as a terminal emulator[19].
> - What is going on in Norway, and what is the role of Free Software
> competence centres? Paul Boddie takes a look[20]at the Norwegian
> government's recent withdrawal of all financial support for the
> Norwegian
> Free Software Competence Center.
> - Hugo Roy explains how to microblog links quickly with duckduckgo[21].
> - Timo Jyrinki tells a story[22] how sometimes computing brings you to
> the
> closet.
> - Our interns[23] were attending Richard Stallman's talk in Dresden.
> Anatolii Doludenko published some pictures in his blog[24].
> - From the Nokia 770 to the N800 to the N810 to the N900 to the N9.
> What is
> next? Read Henri Bergius' dreams of the MeeGo diaspora[25].
> - Our former president Georg Greve gives an update and overview about the
> Free Software groupware Kolab 3.0[26],
> - and finally our vice president is looking for someone who can write a
> GUI
> front-end to Searduino[27]. Can you? If not, but you want to help Free
> Software, continue reading our this month's get active item.
>
> 9. http://blogs.fsfe.org/mk/?p=961
> 10. https://www.laquadrature.net/node/5880
> 11.
> http://fsfe.org/campaigns/askyourcandidates/askyourcandidates.en.html
> 12. http://fsfe.org/campaigns/campaigns.en.html
> 13. http://www.dwheeler.com/blog/2012/07/08/#internet-success
> 14. http://raymii.org/cms/p_Small_Linux_PCs_overview
> 15. http://www.defectivebydesign.org/node/2241
> 16. http://planet.fsfe.org
> 17. http://wiki.fsfe.org/groups/Berlin
> 18.
> http://paralambda.org/2012/07/06/git-evolution-of-a-topic-branch-and-how-to…
> 19.
> http://paralambda.org/2012/07/02/using-gnu-emacs-as-a-terminal-emulator/
> 20. http://blogs.fsfe.org/pboddie/?p=88
> 21.
> http://blogs.fsfe.org/hugo/2012/07/tweet-bang-how-to-share-a-link-quickly-o…
> 22. http://losca.blogspot.de/2012/07/where-computing-takes-you.html
> 23. http://fsfe.org/contribute/internship.en.html
> 24.
> http://blogs.fsfe.org/tolld/2012/07/12/fsfe-in-dresden-during-rms-talk/
> 25. http://bergie.iki.fi/blog/meego-diaspora/
> 26. http://blogs.fsfe.org/greve/?p=529
> 27. https://sandklef.wordpress.com/2012/07/21/searduino-needs-a-gui/
>
>
>
> == Get Active: Help us with Android installation parties! ==
>
> Torsten Grote, who started our Free Your Android[28]campaign, wrote down
> what he is missing in CyanogenMod 9[29]. In good Free Software fashion
> he created feature requests for a configurable power control widget, an
> ssh daemon, direct in-app shortcuts, or native OpenVPN support in
> CyanogenMod’s issue tracker.
>
> We want to help as many people as possible to regain control of their
> Android devices and their data in general. One important step in this
> process is helping people to install Free Software on their phones and
> tablets. So on Software Freedom Day (15th September) the FSFE wants to
> have public Free Your Android installation parties.
>
> If you can organise such a workshop, please let us know[30]! If you
> still need help on how to do so, we will try to help you having a
> successful event. E.g. on August 26th we will have a workshop in Berlin
> for people who plan to give such workshops in the future, be it at
> Software Freedom Day, at a conference or another occaison.
>
> 28. http://FreeYourAndroid.org
> 29.
> http://blogs.fsfe.org/torsten.grote/2012/07/18/what-i-am-missing-in-cyanoge…
> 30. mailto:android@lists.fsfe.org
>
> Thanks to all the Fellows and donors who enable our work,
> Matthias Kirschner - FSFE
>
> --
> Free Software Foundation Europe <http://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>
> _______________________________________________
> Newsletter-en mailing list
> Newsletter-en(a)fsfeurope.org
> https://mail.fsfeurope.org/mailman/listinfo/newsletter-en
= FSFE Newsletter - August 2012 =
[Read online: http://fsfe.org/news/nl/nl-201208.en.html ]
== Helping the European Parliament to release its own Free Software ==
For the first time, the European Parliament (EP) is about to release one
of its own programs as a Free Software. The program in question is
called AT4AM, short for "Automatic Tool for Amendments". The Parliament
is making laws, and AT4AM automates a lot of the formalities associated
with the legislative process.
Karsten Gerloff and Carlo Piana were invited to give talks at the event
to discuss the right license under which to publish AT4AM, and to
explain the political dimension of Free Software.
Do you want to know why the FSFE suggested the EP to license their
software under GNU AGPL version 3, and what else our president has on
his wishlist for the EP? Then read his report[1]!
1. http://blogs.fsfe.org/gerloff/2012/07/18/helping-the-european-parliament-to…
== Protect Free Software licenses from bankruptcy ==
When the companies or authors that license Free Software enter
bankruptcy, there is a risk that granted Free Software licenses will
face legal challenges in some jurisdictions. The FSFE is trying to
prevent this situation in Germany. We started talking about this during
a meeting with the German Minister of Justice, who we could have meet
thanks to receiving the Theodor Heuss Medal[2]. Now the ifrOSS supported
by the FSFE suggests the German Ministry of Justice to include a
specific Free Software clause in the German Insolvency Code[3]. The
clause ensures that Free Software licenses would not be negatively
affected by a bankruptcy of a licensing rights holder. It makes it clear
that any offer to grant a Free Software license made before the
licensor's bankruptcy can be accepted by anyone even after the
bankruptcy proceedings started.
If Free Software face similar problems in your jurisdiction, please
contact us[4] or take similar steps.
2. http://fsfe.org/news/2010/news-20100510-01.en.html
3. http://fsfe.org/news/2012/news-20120730-01.en.html
4. http://fsfe.org/contact/contact.en.html
== The Fellowship: One to rule them all ==
In the Lord of the Rings, Gollum does not want to share the ring. He is
such an egoist. But Barbara "swimmi" Roth and Martin "gollo"
Gollowitzer, both Fellows of the FSFE are used to share (as well as use,
study, and improve).
After signing their public keys with the highest trust level[5], they
now finally decided to swim into the harbour of marriage. It is the
first marriage your editor knows about, where both were Fellows
*before* their marriage. The FSFE wishes them all the best for
their future and is looking forward to see a lot of "forks"[6], so we
have more Free Software activists. May many fellow[7] this example[8]!
5. https://xkcd.com/364/
6. http://media.macno.org/u/macno/m/i-am-a-fork/
7. http://fellowship.fsfe.org/join
8. http://fellowship.fsfe.org/join
== Something completely different ==
- From August 21st to 26th Free Software will be one major theme at Campus
Party in Berlin. Your editor helped to find some interesting speakers for the
event. Well, see yourself[9].
- La Quadrature Du Net published a video tutorial how to call a Member of the
European Parliament (MEP). You can apply their instructions[10] to our Ask
Your Candidates campaign[11] and talk with politicians about general Free
Software topics, our campaigns[12], or other issues.
- How, exactly, can you have a successful project with collaborators? Can we
quantitatively analyse past projects to figure out what works, instead of
just using our best guesses? David A. Wheeler reviewed a book[13]which
analyses how to be successful with Free Software.
- You want to have a small low cost Free Software PC? Take a look at this
overview[14]and decide what is best for you.
- Digital Restriction Managmenet: Our sister, the FSF finished an update of the
"Guide to DRM-free Living"[15]with dozens of new places to get ebooks,
movies, and music without DRM.
- A selection from the Fellowship blog aggregation[16]:
- Berlin Fellowship group[17]coordinator Alexander Kahl wrote about why git
kicks ass[18]and how to use GNU Emacs as a terminal emulator[19].
- What is going on in Norway, and what is the role of Free Software
competence centres? Paul Boddie takes a look[20]at the Norwegian
government's recent withdrawal of all financial support for the Norwegian
Free Software Competence Center.
- Hugo Roy explains how to microblog links quickly with duckduckgo[21].
- Timo Jyrinki tells a story[22] how sometimes computing brings you to the
closet.
- Our interns[23] were attending Richard Stallman's talk in Dresden.
Anatolii Doludenko published some pictures in his blog[24].
- From the Nokia 770 to the N800 to the N810 to the N900 to the N9. What is
next? Read Henri Bergius' dreams of the MeeGo diaspora[25].
- Our former president Georg Greve gives an update and overview about the
Free Software groupware Kolab 3.0[26],
- and finally our vice president is looking for someone who can write a GUI
front-end to Searduino[27]. Can you? If not, but you want to help Free
Software, continue reading our this month's get active item.
9. http://blogs.fsfe.org/mk/?p=961
10. https://www.laquadrature.net/node/5880
11. http://fsfe.org/campaigns/askyourcandidates/askyourcandidates.en.html
12. http://fsfe.org/campaigns/campaigns.en.html
13. http://www.dwheeler.com/blog/2012/07/08/#internet-success
14. http://raymii.org/cms/p_Small_Linux_PCs_overview
15. http://www.defectivebydesign.org/node/2241
16. http://planet.fsfe.org
17. http://wiki.fsfe.org/groups/Berlin
18. http://paralambda.org/2012/07/06/git-evolution-of-a-topic-branch-and-how-to…
19. http://paralambda.org/2012/07/02/using-gnu-emacs-as-a-terminal-emulator/
20. http://blogs.fsfe.org/pboddie/?p=88
21. http://blogs.fsfe.org/hugo/2012/07/tweet-bang-how-to-share-a-link-quickly-o…
22. http://losca.blogspot.de/2012/07/where-computing-takes-you.html
23. http://fsfe.org/contribute/internship.en.html
24. http://blogs.fsfe.org/tolld/2012/07/12/fsfe-in-dresden-during-rms-talk/
25. http://bergie.iki.fi/blog/meego-diaspora/
26. http://blogs.fsfe.org/greve/?p=529
27. https://sandklef.wordpress.com/2012/07/21/searduino-needs-a-gui/
== Get Active: Help us with Android installation parties! ==
Torsten Grote, who started our Free Your Android[28]campaign, wrote down
what he is missing in CyanogenMod 9[29]. In good Free Software fashion
he created feature requests for a configurable power control widget, an
ssh daemon, direct in-app shortcuts, or native OpenVPN support in
CyanogenMod’s issue tracker.
We want to help as many people as possible to regain control of their
Android devices and their data in general. One important step in this
process is helping people to install Free Software on their phones and
tablets. So on Software Freedom Day (15th September) the FSFE wants to
have public Free Your Android installation parties.
If you can organise such a workshop, please let us know[30]! If you
still need help on how to do so, we will try to help you having a
successful event. E.g. on August 26th we will have a workshop in Berlin
for people who plan to give such workshops in the future, be it at
Software Freedom Day, at a conference or another occaison.
28. http://FreeYourAndroid.org
29. http://blogs.fsfe.org/torsten.grote/2012/07/18/what-i-am-missing-in-cyanoge…
30. mailto:android@lists.fsfe.org
Thanks to all the Fellows and donors who enable our work,
Matthias Kirschner - FSFE
--
Free Software Foundation Europe <http://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>
= FSFE Newsletter - June 2012 =
[Read online: http://fsfe.org/news/nl/nl-201206.en.html ]
== Free Software, Open Source, FOSS, FLOSS – Same same but different
==
There are two major terms connected to software that can be freely used,
studied, shared and improved: Free Software and Open Source. You can
also find different combinations and translations of those terms like
FOSS, Libre Software, FLOSS and so on. Reading articles about Free
Software or listening to people involved in Free Software often raises
the question: Why do they use one term or another and how they differ
from each other?
Long time FSFE volunteer Björn Schiessle wrote a good article[1]about
this topic, how to deal with the different terminology.
1.
http://blog.schiessle.org/2012/05/11/free-software-open-source-foss-floss-s…
== State neglected web standards, company now faces EUR 5600 in fines ==
In Slovakia, the state has mandated electronic means as the only way of
fulfilling certain statutory obligations. However the dedicated web
solution excludes some citizens from participating as it is not
interoperable and runs only on the non-free software from one vendor. In
absence of any non-electronic option, this means that the state mandates
the use of a certain product from a certain vendor. People who did not
own the copy, had to buy one. A Slovak textile importer deemed that the
state should not force him to use a certain software for its business
and fulfilled its legal obligation by paper. Now the company faces EUR
5600 in fines.
Current FSFE intern Martin Husovec decided this is not just and made it
his internship project to change it: he is working on the case, reading
court files, wrote FSFE's press release[2], and an executive summary of
the EURA case[3]. He is motivated to ensure that no one is forced to use
certain non-free software in Slovakia just to fulfil the law, and will
keep you updated[4].
2. http://fsfe.org/news/2012/news-20120509-01.en.html
3. http://fsfe.org/news/2012/news-20120509-02.en.html
4. http://fsfe.org/news/news.en.html
== Will the UK be lobbied into the FRAND trap? ==
Free Software could be blocked from the UK's public sector use if the
new policy allow"FRAND" terms[5]within British standards. As recently
revealed by Freedom of Information Requests[6]: Intensive lobbying
efforts have focused on pressuring the Cabinet Office to back down on a
strong definition of Open Standards over the past few months.
5. http://fsfe.org/projects/os/why-frand-is-bad-for-free-software.en.html
6. http://www.freedomofinformationrequests.co.uk/
FSFE is trying to counter this development. In May the FSFE asked North-
West UK businesses to tell Government that Open Standards matter[7], and
we will continue to work on the case.
7. http://fsfe.org/news/2012/news-20120528-01.en.html
== Democratic elections with non-free software? ==
In France, the FSFE has raised its concerns (French)[8]on the online
voting process implemented for French electors registered abroad. FSFE
strongly criticised the complete lack of precautions, the opacity of the
voting process, and the request to use proprietary software to vote.
8. https://fsfe.org/news/2012/news-20120525-01.html
== Something completely different ==
- "My cooking can't be a copy of your cooking." Richard Stallman wrote a
new article"Network Services Aren't Free or Nonfree; They Raise Other
Issues"[9].
- This month's Fellowship interview[10]is with Giacomo Poderi, member of
FSFE's general assembly, has worked as a translator and editor for
FSFE, as well as completing a masters degree in Philosophy. Currently
he is working on a Ph.D in sociology, which looks at the user
experience in Free Software Projects, focusing on the turn-based
strategy game "The Battle for Wesnoth".
- According to joinup[11], software written by or for public authorities
and public organisations in the Basque Country will by default be made
available to others as Free Software starting this July.
- What happens with licenses when the licensor gets insolvent? IfrOSS
wrote a proposal (German)[12]about insolvency questions with Free
Software Licenses, which FSFE also supports.
- Open Standards: "How did we get to a point where we will pay for the
'privilege' of having a vendor take our data and lock it up such that
we have to pay them, again and again, to access it?" asks Jake Edge
from LWN in his article"Who owns your data?"[13]. Will you "rebel" at
next year's Document Freedom Day[14]?
- In the lawsuit Oracle vs. Google FSFE's Carlo Piana[15]and FSF's John
Sullivan[16]published articles covering the topic.
- A selection from the Fellowship blog aggregation[17]:Fellowship
representative Nikos Roussos gave a speech[18]about Free Software
solutions that can be used for self-hosted web services.
- Georg Greve does "not believe that Windows is the future of the Free
Software desktop." Sounds obvious? Is it? Here is his blog article"A
bridge leading nowhere: Outlook-centric groupware"[19].
- Clean, playful, wide use in Free Software, out-of-the-boxiness. Fellow
Karl Beecher argues why to choose Python for teaching[20].
- FSFE's vice-president is hacking on Searduino[21], a software to make
it easy to program C/C++ for Arduino. It is also a simulator for
source level Arduino API so it is possible to directly test executable
code without the Arduino board present, and it can even do more.
- Or are you looking for a good configuration for your tiling window
manager? Fellows shared their configuration files for Awesome[22], and
xmonad[23].
- Beside that Hannes Hauswedell wrote about improving e-mail
privacy[24]by removing header information when using GnuPG and
Thunderbird, and
- Isabel Drost explains how to ruin software projects fast and rapidly.
E.g. by referring developers as resources, not not investing in
tooling, or by other suggestions[25].
- Finally, if you have the problem that one of your presentations is
still too long, she also has suggestions how to shorten it[26].
9.
https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/network-services-arent-free-or-nonfree.html
10. http://blogs.fsfe.org/fellowship-interviews/?p=590
11.
https://joinup.ec.europa.eu/news/spains-basque-countrys-administration-shar…
12.
http://www.ifross.org/artikel/vorschlag-des-ifross-insolvenzrechtlichen-fra…
13. https://lwn.net/Articles/496418/
14. http://documentfreedom.org
15. http://piana.eu/java-verdict
16.
https://www.fsf.org/news/fsf-statement-on-jurys-partial-verdict-in-oracle-v…
17. http://planet.fsfe.org
18. http://roussos.cc/2012/05/14/liberate-your-cloud-data/
19. http://blogs.fsfe.org/greve/?p=505
20. http://computerfloss.com/2012/05/why-choose-python-for-teaching/
21.
https://sandklef.wordpress.com/2012/04/16/examples-in-manuals-how-to-verify…
22. http://blogs.fsfe.org/h2/2012/05/05/my-awesome-wm-config/
23. http://blogs.fsfe.org/thomaslocke/2012/05/05/my-xmonad-wm-config/
24. http://blogs.fsfe.org/h2/2012/05/12/improving-e-mail-privacy/
25.
http://blog.isabel-drost.de/index.php/archives/389/geecon-failing-software-…
26.
http://blog.isabel-drost.de/index.php/archives/385/presentation-shortening
-
== Get Active: PDFReaders 2.0 – Your help is needed! ==
Our petition[27]is signed by 72 organisations, 57 businesses, and 2327
individuals. The Green party filed an oral request in the European
Parliament[28](5 questions) , and in the German Parliament[29](18
questions with introduction). The German agency for IT security is
recommending pdfreaders.org[30]in their new migration guide and
highlights that you should not advertise for non-free software readers.
And 539 public administrations removed the advertisement for non-free
software, which is a success rate of 25%.
27. http://fsfe.org/campaigns/pdfreaders/petition.en.html
28. http://fsfe.org/campaigns/pdfreaders/parliamentary-questions-eu.en.html
29.
http://gruen-digital.de/2012/03/document-freedom-day-kleine-anfrage-laesst-…
30. http://pdfreaders.org
After long discussions and considerations the PDF readers team is now
preparing a major update to PDFReaders.org, adding: a more appealing and
cleaner front-page, with one recommendation for the auto-detected
platform; free pdf reader recommendations for mobile platforms; and free
pdf browser plugin recommendations.
Please have a look at the current reader overview and the TODOs
there[31], and tell us[32]if you know any other free PDF reader that we
have not listed, and which Android reader you would recommend.
31. https://wiki.fsfe.org/PDFreaders/todo2012/Overview-Page
32. mailto:feedback@pdfreaders.org
Thanks to all the Fellows[33]and donors[34]who enable our work,
33. http://fellowship.fsfe.org/join
34. donate/thankgnus.en.html
Matthias Kirschner- FSFE
--
Free Software Foundation Europe <http://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>