=== Helsinki city officials report high satisfaction with Free Software ===
City officials in Helsinki, Finland, are overwhelmingly satisfied after trying
out the Free Software office suite OpenOffice.org on their laptops. 75% of 600
officials have been using OpenOffice.org exclusively since February, as part of
a pilot project where the city installed the program on 22,500 workstations.
In the spring of 2011, the city installed the Free Software office suite
OpenOffice on 22,500 desktops. On the laptops of 600 officials, it was
deployed as the only office suite. Even though these latter users only received
a written manual and no actual training, still 75 % of the users where
satisfied. The pilot project is based on an initiative by Helsinki city council
member Johanna Sumuvuori.
"This feedback is very encouraging. We congratulate the City of Helsinki on its
successful pilot project, and hope others will follow," comments Otto
Kekäläinen, the Free Software Foundation Europe's coordinator for Finland.
"Free Software means that public bodies no longer depend on a single vendor,
and don't have to pay monopoly prices for their software and services anymore.
This is a crucial difference in these economically straightened times."
The key reason why some users were not satisfied were difficulties in opening
files generated with the proprietary Microsoft Office. Yet according to a
Twitter messages from Helsinki city transport board member Mirva
Haltia-Holmberg, most of these interoperability issues would be solved if all
users learned to save their files in the correct format.
Helsinki is far from the only city in Finland to make use of Free Software. In
a similar initiative in Turku city council, Green Party chairman Ville Niinistö
stated: "Migration into free and open source software and operating systems
would save significant amounts of money on the city level. In office software
the move into open souce could be implemented very quickly. Migration into open
source software would also be good for the general development of an
information society, since this type of software makes possible faster and more
free software development."
During year 2011 a number of projects have been started to increase of use of
Free Software in the public administration in Finland. Besides Helsinki,
similar initiatives have been undertaken in the city councils of Tampere,
Turku, Paimio and Salo, usually started by the council members. In the spring
of 2011 71 % of members of parliament responded "yes" to the claim that the
state should prefer Free Software (such as GNU/Linux and OpenOffice) in its ICT
acquisitions.
(http://www.valo-cd.fi/tutkimukset/pr-finland-2011-04-15-parliament-candidat…
for-foss-(finnish).pdf)
Finland has been a forerunner in the use of Free Software in the private sector
for years. Research published two years ago byt Red Hat and Georgia Tech
(http://www.redhat.com/about/where-is-open-source/activity/)
placed the Finnish industry first in the world in use of open source software.
The Finnish Ministry of Defence has been using GNU/Linux in key system since
2006. The most important argument for the use of GNU/Linux was security. The
Finnish Ministry of Justice has migrated into OpenOffice in 2007. Schools
around Finland have been saving significant amounts of money by moving to the
Linux Terminal Server Project.
= Contact =
Otto Kekäläinen
FSFE Coordinator Finland
E-Mail: otto(a)fsfe.org
Phone: +358 445 668 804
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/
= Verdict in the case of AVM vs. Cybits confirmed the view of FSFE =
[Read Online: http://fsfe.org/news/2011/news-20111201-02.html ]
In the dispute between the companies AVM and Cybits the written
reasoning for the decision of the Regional Court of Berlin is now
available. The court confirmed FSFE's view that users of GNU GPLed
software are allowed to modify and install it even if it is shipped as a
part of an embedded device's firmware.
The court has particularly denied that Cybits has infringed AVM's
copyright by distributing its "Surf-Sitter DSL" software. According to
the judge the AVM DSL router's firmware is a collective work. The GNU
General Public License (GNU GPL) clearly states that the GPL parts
contained in the firmware can be lawfully modified and reproduced. Thus
it is acceptable that these parts are downloaded from AVM and edited
during the installation of the Surf-Sitter software.
The trademark claims were also rejected. The fact that in the router's
interface the trademark "Fritz!Box" is still visible after the
installation of Surf-Sitter does not constitute an infringement.
It also unfolds from the reasoning that a modification of the GNU GPLed
parts of the firmware does not trigger any competition claims. The
Regional Court therefore confirms that it is in general permissible to
modify firmware parts under the GNU GPL and to newly install these
modified versions.
The granting part of the verdict which parallels last year's judgment of
the Superior Court of Justice is mainly based on the idea that the
customers impute wrongly displayed information about the internet
connection and the status of the parental control to AVM. Cybits must
remove this misinformation if they wish to sell their product. In
contrast, modifications of the firmware as such are allowed.
The verdict is not yet final. The parties can still appeal the decision.
- Written reasoning (DE):
http://fsfe.org/projects/ftf/lg-urteil-20111118.pdf
- Detailed background information of the case
http://fsfe.org/projects/ftf/avm-gpl-violation.en.html
- Previous news in this case:
- 2011-06-20 - AVM violating license of the Linux kernel
http://fsfe.org/news/2011/news-20110620-01.en.html
- 2011-06-22 - FSFE on AVM vs Cybits: A small computer is still a
computer http://fsfe.org/news/2011/news-20110622-01.en.html
- LWN Artikel: "ELCE11: Till Jaeger on AVM vs. Cybits" (EN)
https://lwn.net/Articles/465070/
- 2011-11-10 - Court rejects AVM´s claims opposing third party
modifications of GPL software
http://fsfe.org/news/2011/news-20111110-01.en.html
== Press contact ==
Matthias Kirschner <press at fsfeurope.org>, Free Software Foundation Europe
Linienstraße 141, 10115 Berlin
Telefon: +49-30-275 95 290 Mobil: +49-1577-178 000 3
== gpl-violations.org ==
The gpl-violations.org project is taking legal and other means to make
sure commercial users of Free Software are adhering to the GNU General
Public License. gpl-violations.org has enforced the GNU GPL in
hundreds of cases, most of them amicably and out of court. However,
if necessary, legal means such as warning notices, preliminary
injunctions and civil copyright lawsuits are used in order to ensure
companies are following-up with their obligations under the GNU GPL.
gpl-violations.org was started by Free Software developer Harald
Welte, who has received multiple awards in recognition of his legal
efforts on enforcing the GNU GPL.
== About 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/