= FSFE Newsletter – January 2014 =
[Read online: http://fsfe.org/news/nl/nl-201401.pt.html]
== From Yuletide to Full-Blown Winter ==
Many hackers (including us, of course!) have been enjoying the various
festivities occurring around the winter solstice. But, alas!, the time
to dwell on Christmas presents and enjoy a family recess is no more –
the Yule has gone, the year has been made anew, and the fight for
freedom and liberty demands our attention once more. Hence, it is only
fitting to begin with a short review of what 2014 has got in store for
us during the next few months.
Those fond of celebrations should already have their eyes set on
February 14, the yearly occasion when our website turns pink and heart-
laden, and the perfect time to hug developers[1] and bring loved ones to
Free Software and the Fellowship[2].
Those favouring a more hands-on approach have to wait until late March
to educate their fellow citizens[3] about Open Standards[4]. However, it
is not necessary to despair: our various ongoing campaigns[5] are always
looking for new hacktivists. Getting in touch is easy[6] !
And while we are on the topic, there will be many opportunities to meet
our staff, volunteers, and Fellows throughout the year. For starters,
FSFE is going to be present with a booth at the Free Software conference
FOSDEM, which takes place on the first weekend of February at Brussels.
Everyone fancying a chat or running low on freedom gear[7] should stop
by. Those who cannot make it to FOSDEM this year should occasionally
check the events section on our website[8] for future opportunities to
meet us.
== Do It Yourself versus Digital Restrictions Management ==
While we are sure that many of our readers were either lucky or vocal
enough to only receive Christmas presents that respect their freedom,
there are probably some who find themselves in possession of items that
were neither made by the giver nor appear in our sister's Holiday Giving
Guide[9].
We have a few recommendations for handling such gifts: some of those can
be liberated (e.g., Android devices[10] ); developers working to create
free replacements to various proprietary systems would most likely
appreciate hardware donations (search the web for various efforts to
liberate various device categories); and you might be able to hack such
a gift to run Free Software.
Whatever you have decided to do with such items, we would love to hear
about your solutions. We have opened a mailing list thread[11] on the
topic and e-mails to discussion[12] fsfeurope.org[13] (please be advised
this is a public mailing list) are most welcome. In addition to
solutions to non-free gifts, we are also looking forward to reading
about freedom-respecting or DIY gifts you are truly enjoying.
== Something Completely Different ==
- This newsletter is regularly available in Romanian since December 2013
. Our associate Fundația Ceata[14] has taken it upon themselves to
provide timely translations for which we are extremely grateful.
- From the planet aggregation[15] :
- Our ex-Vice President Henrik Sandklef has been busy[16] adding LCD
support[17] to Searduino. The latter post (not on the planet) also
serves as a call for contributors.
- Isabel Drost-Fromm's ‘ On geeks growing up[18] ’ contemplates the
meaning of life, or to put it more plainly, family-friendliness of
various technology conferences. The positive role models Isabel
has identified deserve a few words of encouragement, and to Isabel
herself we say naught but Inductive Bias rocks!
- Guido Arnold, Deputy Coordinator of the Education team, has
collected and summarised November news stories about Free Software
in education[19].
- Daniel Pocock has written extensively about WebRTC (‘ Free calling
from browser to mobile with free software[20] ’, ‘ Get WebRTC
going faster[21] ’, ‘ xWiki: 10 years and a WebRTC success
story[22] ’).
- Paul Boddie has done the same about Kolab (‘ Adventures in Kolab
Packaging and pykolab[23] ’, ‘ Integrating setup-kolab with Debian
Packaging[24] ’).
- The last planet item to warrant an honourable mention in the
newsletter under this temporary editorship is Jens Lechtenbörger's
‘ OpenPGP and S/MIME or Trust and “Trust”[25] ’. Jens explains why
OpenPGP should be preferred over S/MIME for e-mail encryption.
Acquainting oneself with the explanation is highly recommended for
anyone making use of, or contemplating the use of, e-mail
encryption.
- Repentinus, one of our two Fellowship Representatives, is keeping his
neck warm this winter by wearing a green-black woollen scarf featuring
the Fellowship Plussy and letters "FSFE". Those among our readers who
can knit can make themselves a similar scarf by following the
instructions provided by his girlfriend[26] (please be advised this
link leads to a blog hosted on Blogspot; taking appropriate
precautions (like using a JavaScript blocker) is recommended). The
rest of our readers can either learn to knit or have someone knit this
scarf for them.
== Giving for Freedom ==
This newsletter started with a short overview of annual events waiting
us in the next few months. Such celebrations, while fun and educational,
require the combined efforts of volunteers and our staff to organise. In
addition to requiring staff time, activities hosted as part of the
celebrations require funds. Furthermore, in addition to the fun
celebrations, we require funds to keep our continuous campaigns running,
lobby for Free Software, advise developers on Free Software licensing,
and educate technology companies on Free Software and licence
compliance. Unfortunately, we have not yet secured our budget for 2014.
Our readers considering supporting our work can either make a one-time
donation[27] or join the Fellowship[28]. We thank all our existing
donors and Fellows!
Free New Year!
Heiki Ojasild[29] - FSFE
--
Free Software Foundation Europe[30]
FSFE News[31]
Upcoming FSFE Events[32]
Fellowship Blog Aggregation[33]
Free Software Discussions[34]
1. http://fsfe.org/campaigns/ilovefs/ilovefs.pt.html
2. http://fsfe.org/fellowship/index.pt.html
3. http://documentfreedom.org/
4. http://fsfe.org/activities/os/os.pt.html
5. http://fsfe.org/campaigns/campaigns.pt.html
6. http://fsfe.org/contact/contact.pt.html
7. http://fsfe.org/order/order.pt.html
8. http://fsfe.org/index.pt.html#id-events
9. https://www.fsf.org/givingguide/
10. http://fsfe.org/campaigns/android/android.pt.html
11. http://mail.fsfeurope.org/pipermail/discussion/2014-January/009897.html
12. http://fsfe.org/mailto:discussion@fsfeurope.org
13. http://fsfe.org/mailto:discussion@fsfeurope.org
14. http://fsfe.org/associates/associates.pt.html#id-funda%C8%9Bia-ceata
15. http://planet.fsfe.org
16. http://sandklef.wordpress.com/2013/12/28/lcd-support-added-in-searduino/
17. http://searduino.wordpress.com/2013/12/28/partial-lcd-support-in-searduino-…
18. http://blog.isabel-drost.de/posts/on-geeks-growing-up.html
19. http://blogs.fsfe.org/guido/2013/12/free-software-in-education-news-novembe…
20. http://danielpocock.com/free-calling-from-browser-to-mobile
21. http://danielpocock.com/get-webrtc-going-faster
22. http://danielpocock.com/xwiki-ten-years-and-webrtc
23. https://blogs.fsfe.org/pboddie/?p=606
24. https://blogs.fsfe.org/pboddie/?p=623
25. http://blogs.fsfe.org/jens.lechtenboerger/2013/12/23/openpgp-and-smime/
26. http://tjadens.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/knitting-pattern-make-your-own-fsfe.h…
27. http://fsfe.org/donate/onetime-donation.pt.html
28. http://fsfe.org/fellowship/join.pt.html
29. http://fsfe.org/about/ojasild/ojasild.pt.html
30. http://fsfe.org/index.pt.html
31. http://fsfe.org/news/news.pt.rss
32. http://fsfe.org/events/events.pt.rss
33. http://planet.fsfe.org/en/rss20.xml
34. http://fsfe.org/contact/community.pt.html