pdfreaders January 2011

pdfreaders@lists.fsfe.org

30 participants
108 discussions

Follow-up on jabber chat - possible action item
by Matthias Kirschner 12 Jul '11

12 Jul '11

Hi Ivan, was good to speak with you again. As promised here a short proposal for an activity you can do in Serbia during those dark days until next year. It is about http://www.fsfe.org/campaigns/pdfreaders/. I would propose to ask people in Serbia to translate the following pages into Serbian: - http://www.fsfe.org/campaigns/pdfreaders/pdfreaders.en.html - http://www.fsfe.org/campaigns/pdfreaders/letter.en.html - http://www.fsfe.org/campaigns/pdfreaders/petition.en.html While doing that others can already look for commercials on Serbian public institution's websites. E.g. by using "site:government.xy acrobat reader" for differnt pages. It will be a problem to open the official bug list <http://www.fsfe.org/campaigns/pdfreaders/buglist.en.html> again, but you can just use the same format. @Nico: Can you sent Ivan an example of how the generated files look like, so he can send you a file with all the institutions and we can provide him the PDFs? Other option is to just send it by e-mail in the beginning and just send those a letter who do not react on e-mails. - Blog and Microblog, about your activity. - Follow-up with the public institutions, often they ask questions about Free Software in general or Open Standards. If I can help you, please let me know. All the best, Matthias -- Matthias Kirschner - Fellowship Coordinator, German Coordinator Free Software Foundation Europe (fsfe.org) Free Software is important to you? Join today! (fsfe.org/join)

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pdfreaders.org =? increase in visits
by Nicolas JEAN 28 Mar '11

28 Mar '11

Dear PDF software developers, Considering the ongoing PDFReaders campaign of the FSFE[1], we were wondering if you have noticed any change (increase?) in your website's visits, or the number of downloads of your software? We would be keen to know, so if you have the possibility, please consider giving us some feedback on this. Sincerely, Nicolas [1] http://www.fsfe.org/campaigns/pdfreaders/pdfreaders -- Nicolas JEAN - Intern Free Software Foundation Europe (http://fsfe.org) Is Free Software important to you? Join us! (http://fsfe.org/join)

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Re: [fsf-community-team] http://www.fda.gov/TobaccoProducts/Labeling/CigaretteProductWarningLabels/ucm2024177.htm
by Matthias Kirschner 03 Mar '11

03 Mar '11

* Ted Smith <teddks(a)gmail.com> [2011-01-04 16:44:17 -0500]: > The FSFE's letter template is here: > <http://fsfe.org/campaigns/pdfreaders/letter.en.html>. With minor > modifications it could easily be sent to any USAmerican government > office (in fact, from my quick glance, all that'd be necessary is > replacing the signature). > > They also have a petition > (<http://fsfe.org/campaigns/pdfreaders/petition.en.html>) that the FSF > might want to distribute in the US. > > IMO, it seems like the FSF taking these measures would help more than an > individual FSFCT "member" emailing the FDA. Though that's obviously not > going to do any harm either. > > I'd be willing to do what I could to help the FSF make this happen -- > would anyone else be as well? I would be very happy if the PDFreaders campaign will be adopted by other organisations, so we get rid of non-free pdreader advertisment on government websites. If you have any further questions about the campaign, I am happy to help you. Just contact me and the pdfreaders team on pdfreaders(a)lists.fsfe.org. Regards, Matthias -- Matthias Kirschner - Fellowship Coordinator, German Coordinator Free Software Foundation Europe (fsfe.org) Free Software is important to you? Join today! (fsfe.org/join)

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Re: PDF forms
by Maelle Costa 26 Feb '11

26 Feb '11

Hi Rikard, Hi all ! [*update on the previous conversation* Rikard has notified us that Swedish authorities tend to use more and more PDF forms created in a way that PDF readers other than Adobe Acrobat Reader (hereafter AA Reader) can open it but display : "To view the full contents of this document, you need a later version of the PDF viewer. You can upgrade to the latest version of Adobe Reader from www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html For further support, go to www.adobe.com/support/products/acrreader.html" an example: http://polisen.se/Vastra_Gotaland/sv/Service/Blanketter/Tillstand/Vanliga-b… A developper from Evince helped us determine the source of the problem : - the PDF is specially crafted so you won't be able to see it unless you are using Adobe reader and a new version... - the institution seems to be using Adobe Live Cycling to create the PDFs. We think it a good idea to contact the institutions to make them aware that this is a problem... Rikard has declared himself ready to contact them, but we might need some help in preparation of the contact] Rikard already contacted the Swedish police who was quite little understanding : On 01/19/2011 01:26 PM, Rikard Fröberg wrote: > I actually contacted the Swedish Police on this matter and described the situation thoroughly to them, explaining each step and the implications of them offering applications in a form that requires particular software, proprietary no less, and got a confused reply where they explained: "Yes, we are aware. That's why we changed to PDF recently." Is there a wiki or so, on which I could create a sub page for this PDF > forms problem? I could start listing Swedish institutions offering this > crippled format and provide example links there. I.e. they didn't understand that the PDFs they create cause a problem similar to when they had *other* file formats before. Sigh. So, first, Rikard, we would need to know exactly what you explained to them, so that we know what arguments are not convincing for them. >From what I see so far, *We need to explain them* : - PDF is an Open Standard [1] - Open Standard are precisely here to make sure several programs from several developpers / companies can open then, i.e. to make sure to ensure *independence from vendor*, *maximal accessibility for the public* and *compatibility*. - In creating / editing PDFs that can only be open by AA Reader deprives the Standard from its advantages, but worse, it forces people into using one program, into buying it from one vendor (being locked with him), and the fact that it is free of charge is no parameter here. - They could improve their accessibility in creating forms that are not crafted, that can be open by any program designed to open the standard. - we can help them to figure out how to do that *we should not say* : - The way they create their form is wrong -> they would probably react not be very listening if we start telling them they are wrong, we should rather tell them they can be better. *What we need to search in preparation*: - Free Software PDF readers are not very performant with forms. They can usually open them, but not save the information entered, and not perform a check-up routine. We need to determine which software are good at *editing* PDFs that can be open by all readers. It would be better here to have Free Software to suggest, in case they aren't, I guess it would already be an improvement to have institutions publish forms that can be open by Free Software even if they are created by a proprietary one... - Rikard suggested there were possibilities to create forms with Open Office or libre Office. Nico here tested Open Office, it worked for what concerns the form functions, but we couldn't figure out how to design the layout we wanted for the PDF... Some research here would be good before recommending these options - other options would be good. - @Rikard : there is the possibility to create a wiki page on FSFE's wiki (wiki.fsfe.org). If you don't have an account there, either one of the Fellows in Sweden could help you create the list of institutions, or you can create a guest account [2]. *Do you have other ideas, comments on how we can procede here*? Thanks for your involvement here, Regards Maëlle [1] http://pdfreaders.org/os.en.html [2] https://wiki.fsfe.org/UserGuide#Guest_accounts -- Maëlle Costa Free Software Foundation Europe - intern im : maelle(a)jabber.fsfe.org

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pdfcontact
by Michael Hust 14 Feb '11

14 Feb '11

Hallo, folgende Seite wirbt für den Acrobat Reader: http://www.kp.dlr.de/profi/easy/formular_ble.html Dies ist eine Seite des Bundes für die Beantragung von Forschungsgeldern. Viele Grüße Michael Hust -- Dr. Michael Hust Technische Universität Braunschweig Institut für Biochemie und Biotechnologie Spielmannstr.7 38106 Braunschweig Tel: +49-531-391-5760 Fax: +49-531-391-5763 Mobil: +49-163-7932327 Email (Uni): m.hust(a)tu-bs.de Email (Mobil): michahust(a)googlemail.com Skype: michael-hust Web: http://www.bbt.tu-bs.de/Biotech/

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[PDFReaders] petition signature
by web＠fsfeurope.org 31 Jan '11

31 Jan '11

A new PDFReaders petition signature has been submitted. Please validate and use the following XML snippet if appropriate: --- <sig name="Alexander" surname="Ross" email="abushcrafter(a)gmail.com" group="" country="United Kingdom" nl=[ ] date="2011-01-31" /> ---

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Re: Messages from website contact form
by Matthias Kirschner 31 Jan '11

31 Jan '11

* Rainer Kersten <rk(a)office.fsfeurope.org> [2011-01-31 11:09:30 +0100]: > We have received a new message from our website contact form. > > Name: Simon > E-mail: simon(a)technocool.net > > --- > I noted that the Competition Commission Website in the UK > extensively promoted Adpbe PDF reader, and dropped them an email. I > assume the list is now closed? I thought this a good candidate since > there are responsible for ensuring market fairness, Maëlle will handle that request on pdfreaders@. Maëlle wrote a blog entry how to help with reports: http://blogs.fsfe.org/maelle/?p=177 Regards, Matthias -- Matthias Kirschner - Fellowship Coordinator, German Coordinator Free Software Foundation Europe (fsfe.org) Free Software is important to you? Join today! (fsfe.org/join)

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[PDFReaders] petition signature
by web＠fsfeurope.org 31 Jan '11

31 Jan '11

A new PDFReaders petition signature has been submitted. Please validate and use the following XML snippet if appropriate: --- <sig name="Andrea" surname="Giudiceandrea" email="andreaerdna(a)libero.it" group="" country="Italy" nl=[ ] date="2011-01-31" /> ---

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[PDFReaders] petition signature
by web＠fsfeurope.org 30 Jan '11

30 Jan '11

A new PDFReaders petition signature has been submitted. Please validate and use the following XML snippet if appropriate: --- <sig name="Claitom" surname="Sega" email="claitomsega(a)via-rs.net" group="" country="Brazil" nl=[X] date="2011-01-30" /> ---

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[PDFReaders] petition signature
by web＠fsfeurope.org 30 Jan '11

30 Jan '11

A new PDFReaders petition signature has been submitted. Please validate and use the following XML snippet if appropriate: --- <sig name="Yordan" surname="Miladinov" email="JordanMiladinov(a)gmail.com" group="" country="Bulgaria" nl=[ ] date="2011-01-30" /> ---

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pdfreaders January 2011