(Please support us to reach more people in their native language.
Join our translator team http://fsfe.org/contribute/translators/.)
= FSFE Newsletter - August 2010 =
[Permanent URL: http://www.fsfe.org/news/nl/nl-201008.en.html]
The focus of this edition is Free Software in the public sector: on a
national level within the United Kingdom, in the Italian region of
Bozen, and in the Austrian city of Linz. We introduce a new definition
and of mnemonic Open Standards, and invite you to participate in
upcoming local Free Software events.
Additionally in July Maëlle Costa and Sam Tuke started their
internships. Răzvan Sandu transcribed Richard Stallman's speech from
eLiberatica, Maëlle created a structured web edition [1], and our active
translator Stelios Stavroulakis translated it into Greek. Matthias
Kirchner gave the first in a new series of radio interviews [2]
occurringon the 4th Monday of the each month for the public radio
station 'Dradio Wissen'.
Europe is witnessing an ever increasing number of public administrations
considering the migration to Free Software. Public administration
represents the largest purchaser of software in each EU country, and is
a critically important area of Free Software growth. Increased public
sector use of free software means more money invested in the development
and deployment of Free Software, which ultimately results in greater
quality and quantity of Free Software programs.
In June the Government of Malta asked all their agencies to prefer
Free Software in all future purchases [3]. In their statement they
directly referred to FSF's Free Software definition
== Saving money with Free Software in the UK ==
In the UK, her Majesty’s Treasury asked 60,000 people working for the
government how more savings could be made. They got 60,000 ideas out of
it, processed them and put that into 31 proposals. Two of those
proposals [4] relate to Free Software. They include annulling the
government’s contract with Microsoft to furnish government departments,
and replace their products with Free Software, including GNU/Linux and
OpenOffice. Supporting arguments for the switch included lower costs,
improved security, and the opportunity to create a "more diverse
spectrum of the IT industry, instead of [just] one corporation".
== Public tendering: Bozen reconsiders deal with Microsoft ==
Progress in the public sector of Italy was also made this month, when
the regional government of Bolzano accepted FSFE's request to discuss a
rethink of a plan forged earlier this year to renew and extend their
licenses from Microsoft. On the 25th of May Italian politicians agreed
to spend 2.2 million EUR over the next three years on contracts with
Microsoft Ireland, and increase the number of licenses that they had
purchased. This decision was made without a public call for tender,
making it impossible for competing suppliers to make offers of their own.
We asked the local government to rethink their decision [5] and accept
an offer
of dialogue extended to them by local Free Software experts at the
GNU/Linux
User Group Bolzano (LUGBZ). The local government has now accepted
LUGBZ's offer [6],
and the first meeting is planned for the beginning of August. Also in
attendance
shall be representatives from the Free Software Center of TIS and the
Free University
of Bolzano.
== Linz - region for Free Software ==
In the Austrian city of Linz, Free Software is already the norm, and a
new scheme is being devised to crown it a 'Free Software Region'. Linz
City councillors recognise the social importance of Free Software, and
as a result are instigating a much wider programme of Free Software use
and promotion. Government officials have identified 7 key
characteristics [7 that an area should ulfil in order to merit the title
of Free Software Region. Amongst them: general public sector support for
Free Software, regular Free Software events together
with local companies and user groups, usage of Free Software in
universities, schools and other education bodies, as well as the
suggestion that public administration and organisations should
cooperation with Free Software organisations, or become members of them.
== Open Standards on the political agenda in Germany ==
Beside the progress of Free Software in the public sector, Open
Standards continue to be on the political agenda. In June, Thomas de
Maiziere, German Minister of Interior, demanded Open Standards for all
public IT systems [8], therefore supporting FSFE's long standing
demands. The minister's permanent secretary and IT Commissioner of the
German government, Cornelia Rogall-Grothe explained his position further
in an interview [9]: "only by using Open Standards can [the government]
obtain independence from software development
companies". She also recognised that "maximal interoperability can be
reached with open IT-Standards".
== Now available in English: AEIOU mnemonic for Open Standards ==
While publishing our press release Kai Eckert translated our
German AEIOU mnemonic for Open Standards into English [10]. We hope it
helps you to remember a clear and meaningful definition of the term Open
Standard. This definition requires formats and protocols to adhere to
the following rules:
- -Applicable (without restrictions): free from legal or
technical clauses that limit its utilisation by any party or in any
business model,
- Existing (implementations): available in multiple
complete implementations by competing vendors, or as a complete
implementation equally available to all parties.
- Independent (of a single vendor): managed and further
developed independently of any single vendor in a process open to the
equal participation of competitors and third parties
- Open (specification): subject to full public assessment
and use without constraints in a manner equally available to all partie
- Untainted (with dependencies to closed standards):
without any components or extensions that have dependencies on
formats or protocols that do not meet the definition of an Open
Standard themselves
== Get active: Help at local events ==
This month FSFE President Karsten Gerloff participated in local regional
events, including RMLL Bordeaux (France) [11] and
Free Software events in Vitoria, San Sebastian, and Bilbao in Basque
(Spain).
For organising such events we depend local volunteers. Help us to
introduce Free Software to people in your region:
-We have an event calendar where you can add Free Software events
(Thanks to Paul Boddie for implementing this great feature!)
-Add the ical calendar [12] to your own digital calender, and get
in contact with us if you can help at one of the events.
-Contact fellowship(a)fsfeurope.org if you organise an event and you need
more help at the booth or a speaker from FSFE.
- Help us to improve our documentation for organising booths
Regards,
Matthias Kirschner
[1]http://www.fsfe.org/freesoftware/transcripts/rms-2009-05-22-eliberatica.h…
[2] http://blogs.fsfe.org/mk/?p=625
[3]http://ictpolicies.gov.mt/docs/GMICT_D_0097_Open_Source_Software_v1.0.pdf
[4] http://blogs.fsfe.org/mk/?p=614
[5] http://www.fsfe.org/news/2010/news-20100702-01.html
[6]http://www.osor.eu/news/it-bolzano-region-begins-discussion-on-open-source-strategy
[7] http://www.netzpolitik.org/2010/linz-will-open-commons-region-werden/
[8] http://mailman.fsfeurope.org/pipermail/press-release-de/2010q2/000158.
html
[9] http://www.fsfe.org/news/2010/news-20100705-01.de.html
[10] http://blogs.fsfe.org/mk/?p=618
[11] http://blogs.fsfe.org/gerloff/?p=376
[12] http://wiki.fsfe.org/FellowshipEvents
[13] http://wiki.fsfe.org/BoothCountdown
- --
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>
= German ministries flout IT open interoperability requirements =
== Survey finds only 2 of 87 departments are conforming to federal open
document regulations ==
Research published this week suggests that the majority of federal government
departments in Germany are ignoring requirements to implement Open Standards
<http://www.fsfe.org/projects/os/def.en.html>.
A survey was conducted by the Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE) to
investigate the state of government adoption of ODF, and to promote wider
uptake of Open Standards. "Although federal policy has wisely embraced Open
Standards for interoperability, accessibility and security, it is clear that
most government bodies are still using inefficient proprietary formats" said
Karsten Gerloff, President of FSFE. "Ultimately citizens will end up paying the
price for this lack of conformity through higher bills for public IT
contracts,
and slower services due to interoperability problems" he added. "They
will also pay a price in freedom, as they are forced to use
proprietary software and standards to communicate with government
authorities."
Since the beginning of 2010, the German Information Technology Council (Rat
der
IT-Beauftragten) has required state departments to support Open Document
Format
(ODF) in order to communicate with the growing number of individuals and
organisations that use it. The policy, which is based upon the findings of the
Inter-Ministerial Coordination Committee - a panel of experts from the federal
administration, requires that departments have the capacity to read, write and
send ODF files.
When 87 letters were sent to the ministries challenging them to demonstrate
their conformance by replying in the open format, only two of them replied in
ODF as requested. The Chancellor's Office and the Ministry of Food, Agriculture
and Consumer Protection (BMELV) were the sole respondents to use the correct
format. Five other federal bodies responded: all of whom underlined the
importance of Open Standards to them. Despite claiming that they were
ODF capable however, instead used other non-ODF formats for their response.
Usage of ODF continues to grow in public institutions throughout the world,
and
is already officially approved in ten separate national standards organisations,
in addition to being the mandatory standard for communication between NATO's
26
member states. "The Chancellor's Office and BMELV have set an example for Open
Standards in public administration" concluded Matthias Kirschner, German
Coordinator of FSFE, "but overall there is clearly a long way to go before
practice meets policy for ODF in the German public sector".
FSFE shall continue to monitor ODF uptake in order to ensure the
protection of German citizens' right to communicate using Free
Software.
The seven bodies that participated in the survey were:
1. Bundeskanzleramt (The Chancellor's Office)
2. Bundesministerium für Ernährung, Landwirtschaft und Verbraucherschutz
(BMELV)
3. Julius Kühn-Institut (JKI) Bundesforschungsinstitut für Kulturpflanzen
4. Bundesministerium für Verkehr, Bau und Stadtentwicklung
5. Bundesministerium des Innern
6. Bundespräsidialamt
7. Der Bundesbeauftragte für den Datenschutz und die Informationsfreiheit
###
For more information about this topic, or to schedule a meeting with the FSFE
please email pr(a)fsfeurope.org, or call Sam Tuke on (+49) 030 2759 5290.
== 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/
= FSFE Welcomes New 'Software Interactions' Document From The European
Legal Network =
[Permanent URL: http://www.fsfe.org/news/2010/news-20100719-01.en.html]
FSFE is proud to welcome the release of a new educational document
on Free Software licensing. Developed by delegates of the
European Legal Network, the document helps software developers and
lawyers by making it easier to decide under which licenses they
can distribute their work.
'Software Interactions' explains in detail when a program that
contains source code under the GNU General Public License or other
Free Software licenses needs to be distributed under the same
license, and when developers can select another license. It
includes examples of potential legal or community red lines in the
field.
Karsten Gerloff, FSFE's President, says: "While no document can
provide definitive answers for such a complex subject, today's
release is a unique collaborative effort shaped over more than a
year of debate by numerous experts. It represents the first time
that linking has been discussed so broadly."
FSFE is taking the opportunity of this release to establish
a long-term home for network educational documents on the FSFE
Fellowship blog. This page will expand to include all of the
current and future documents released by the network, and is
intended to provide a simple way for people to locate and share
this material. The document is available at:
https://wiki.fsfe.org/EuropeanLegalNetwork
'Software Interactions' is the second collaborative legal
knowledge released by the European Legal Network. The first was
the Risk Grid, published in July 2009 in the 'International Free
and Open Source Software Law Review.'
FSFE has facilitated the European Legal Network since 2007. From
humble beginnings the network has now grown to contain over 240
members from 27 countries and 4 continents, and is the largest
professional legal forum for Free Software in the world. While
FSFE does not have editorial control over network discussions and
educational documents, we believe it provides great value to the
broader Free Software community by ensuring legal experts from
commercial, non-commercial and independent entities can share
experience and insight.
If you are a legal expert and would like to contribute to future
network activities, please contact FSFE at legal(a)fsfeurope.org.
== 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/
Nearly a year ago the FSF held a mini-summit for women in free software
to investigate practical ways to increase the number of women involved
in the free software community. Those that attended the summit formed
the Women's Caucus, and have been working to develop practical policy to
recommend to the FSF and the wider free software community. Today, we
are publishing the Caucus's initial findings and recommendations.
* http://www.fsf.org/news/summit-on-women-in-free-software
1. We identified a number of barriers to women's participation in free
software and strategies for overcoming these obstacles. What we found
were some fairly simple short-term solutions and some more complex
long-term solutions that are already being used successfully. Some
successful strategies we encountered in multiple projects include:
encouraging non-coding contributors, emphasizing cooperation rather than
competition and (where appropriate) implementing a mentoring program.
* http://groups.fsf.org/wiki/Womenscaucus/resources/gettingstarted
2. Women who are not already involved in free software often don't feel
invited to join free software groups or projects. We have identified
strategies for groups who are looking to grow and diversify their
membership. While not always intuitive, many of these procedures are
fairly easy to implement. The resource wiki is still growing, so we
expect more resources to be added in the near future.
* http://groups.fsf.org/wiki/Womenscaucus/resources
3. We noted the relative invisibility of women who are already making
significant contributions to free software. This skews women's
perception of the free software community and impacts retention. We have
created a mailing list to announce free software speaking opportunities
to women. We also worked with the FSF to pilot a successful system to
increase women's attendance at free software events by setting up a
travel fund specifically for women at our conference. By making it easy
for attendees to donate, we were able to provide travel funding for
women who would otherwise not have been able to participate. We
recommend this strategy to other free software event organizers hoping
to increase women's attendance.
* http://lists.nongnu.org/mailman/admin/flossspeakher
4. Not enough young women are being exposed to free software. Middle
school and high school are when girls potentially have the time and
interest to tinker and try new things, but all too often access to
public computers means running proprietary software. The Caucus is
working on a plan to get free software into girls' hands, teach them how
to use it and how to get the most out of free software. We recommend
that the major GNU/Linux distributions start to develop programs and
materials to attract young women to use the free software they distribute.
In collaboration with the FSF, the Caucus will be creating an internship
position to help grow and further these resources and initiatives.
## About the Free Software Foundation
The Free Software Foundation, founded in 1985, is dedicated to promoting
computer users' right to use, study, copy, modify, and redistribute
computer programs. The FSF promotes the development and use of free (as
in freedom) software -- particularly the GNU operating system and its
GNU/Linux variants -- and free documentation for free software. The FSF
also helps to spread awareness of the ethical and political issues of
freedom in the use of software, and its Web sites, located at
http://www.fsf.org and gnu.org, are an important source of information
about GNU/Linux. Donations to support the FSF's work can be made at
http://donate.fsf.org. Its headquarters are in Boston, MA, USA.
_______________________________________________
FSF And GNU Press mailing list <info-press(a)fsf.org>
http://lists.fsf.org/mailman/listinfo/info-press
(Please support us to reach more people in their native language. Join
our translator team http://fsfe.org/contribute/translators/.)
= FSFE Newsletter - July 2010 =
[Permanent URL: http://www.fsfe.org/news/nl/nl-201007.en.html ]
This edition covers Neelie Kroes' statement about Open Standards, the
Free Software discussion in Saxony (Germany), and the relicensing of
WebM to be GPL compatible, and asks you all to keep in touch with your
politicians about Free Software issues.
Beside that, FSFE's strategic decision making body, the General Assembly
[1] (GA) , met in Bozen, Italy. The various outcomes of this meeting
will become apparent in the next months and years. On the operational
side we organised Fellowship meetings [2] in Tampere (Finland), Göteburg
(Sweden), Paris, Lille (France), Berlin, Düsseldorf, Siegen, (Germany),
as well as a Fellowship jabber meeting about ACTA. Stian published a new
Fellowship interview with David Reyes Samblas Martinez [3], in which he
answers questions on hardware manufacturing, e-learning and Free
Software politics.
== "Proprietary technology is a waste of money" ==
No, this is not a quote from someone out of the Free Software community.
As Karsten reported in his article [4] it was Neelie Kroes, European
Commission’s vice president, who comment at the Open Forum Europe (OFE)
meeting in Brussels on 10 June. She also said that:
"Many authorities have found themselves unintentionally locked into
proprietary technology for decades. After a certain point that
original choice becomes so ingrained that alternatives risk being
systematically ignored, no matter what the potential benefits. This is
a waste of public money that most public bodies can no longer afford."
Kroes also backed up our definition of Open Standards [5]. She made
clear that "truly open" standards "do not come with any constraints for
implementers". This is important as it means that programmers can
implement a standard in Free Software; Microsoft and others have been
trying to convince the Commission that a standard is "open" even if it
cannot be implemented in Free Software. These developments are good
news - please share them!
== "Free" State of Saxony argues against Free Software ==
Already in May German politicians had a discussion about Free Software
in the Free State of Saxony's state parliament. I (Matthias) published
an analysis about this discussion [6] (in German). The state government
talks about strategic reasons against Free Software, but does not name
any of them. The CDU and the FDP say they do not want to influence the
market. On the other hand the state government educates all their pupils
with software from a monopolist and advertises Adobe's proprietary
software on their websites. In their tenders they do not ask for Free
Software, but complain that there are too few Free Software service
providers and programs. Beside that they use the term "market standards"
against Free Software.
That such discussions happen in parliament are a very good sign. They
mean that politicians have to think about Free Software, and that we can
all enter discussion with politicians about Free Software, too. That is
why we asked people from Saxony to send their politicians feedback on
the discussion, and to write them what they liked about the discussion
and ask questions like ‘when politicians talk about strategic reasons
against Free Software, what are these reasons?’. The speech by Neelie
Kroes quoted above is also something that you can point politicians to.
== Free Video Formats / Software licenses ==
In May, Google updated the license for their WebM project [7] to make it
GPL-compatible. As explained in the last issue [8] WebM is important so
users do not have to install the non-free flash plugins anymore, but
have a free video format to play and encode videos.
WebM was already Free Software, as the rightsholders stated in the
licence that users have the freedom to use, study, share, and improve
it. The problem was that its license was not compatible with the GNU
General Public License (GPL) [9].
There are a lot of Free Software licenses [10], but the GNU GPL is the
most famous Free Software copyleft license and is used by a large
percentage of Free Software. It ensures the four freedoms and adds the
condition that those freedoms remain intact in further distribution of
the software.
If people use the same licence or at least GPL-compatible licences, then
programmers can exchange code freely, and easily, so programmers do not
have to reinvent the wheel again but can use already existing code. That
is why it is so important that programmers use the GNU AGPL [11], GPL,
LGPL [12], or a compatible Free Software license for their software.
There is also an article by David Wheeler which is worth reading, why
you should make your software GPL compatible [13], like WebM does now.
== Get active: Give your politicians continuous feedback ==
Our mission is to explain the concept of Free Software to as many people
as possible. This month the German team had a booth at the GNU/Linuxtag
in Berlin and explained Free Software to all the different visitors,
gave interviews and speeches about "Freedom in the cloud" and common
misunderstandings about Free Software. Depending on the audience you
should use slightly modified explanations. To support Free Software
supporters, we are providing links to video [14] and audio [15] files,
as well as transcripts of speeches [16].
As Fellow [17] you automatically have an account there, but you can just
register for a guest account [18] and help us to make those pages a good
resource for people who want to learn from others how to best explain
the benefits of software freedom.
Regards,
Matthias Kirschner - FSFE
1. http://www.fsfe.org/about/members.en.html
2. http://wiki.fsfe.org/FellowshipEvents
3. http://blogs.fsfe.org/fellowship-interviews/david-reyes-samblas-martinez/
4. http://blogs.fsfe.org/gerloff/?p=359
5. http://www.fsfe.org/projects/os/def.en.html
6. http://blogs.fsfe.org/mk/?p=589
7. http://www.fsf.org/blogs/licensing/googles-updated-webm-license
8. http://www.fsfe.org/news/nl/nl-201006.en.html
9. http://www.fsf.org/licensing/licenses/gpl.html
10. http://www.fsf.org/licensing/licenses/
11. http://www.gnu.org/licenses/agpl.html
12. http://www.gnu.org/licenses/lgpl.html
13. http://www.dwheeler.com/essays/gpl-compatible.html
14. http://wiki.fsfe.org/Video
15. http://wiki.fsfe.org/Audio
16. http://wiki.fsfe.org/Transcripts
17. http://fellowship.fsfe.org
18. http://wiki.fsfe.org/UserGuide?action=newaccount
--
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>
= Bolzano, please don't waste your money =
== FSFE supports open letter from LUGBZ to Province of South Tyrol ==
[Permanent URL: http://www.fsfe.org/news/2010/news-20100702-01.en.html ]
Dear Minister Roberto Bizzo,
on 25 May 2010 the regional government authority of Bolzano decided to
spend 2.2 million EUR over the next three years to renew software
licenses from Microsoft Ireland, and to buy additional licenses. All
this was done without a public call for tender, making it impossible for
competing suppliers of similar software to make offers of their own.
We ask you to rethink this decision. It will influence your strategic
position over a much longer time frame than the three years for which
the licenses will last.
The European Commission’s vice president Neelie Kroes said on June 13
2010 in Brussels [1]:
"Many authorities have found themselves unintentionally locked into
proprietary technology for decades. After a certain point that
original choice becomes so ingrained that alternatives risk being
systematically ignored, no matter what the potential benefits. This is
a waste of public money that most public bodies can no longer afford."
With your decision to buy Microsoft Sharepoint and Microsoft Office
communication server software without evaluating Free Software
alternatives you will increase your organisation's dependence on
Microsoft. You will take your IT systems further down the one-way street
of proprietary formats and proprietary software, locking in your
organisation's own data along with that of the citizens of Bolzano.
You are also running the risk of accusations about the improper handling
about procurement processes. The protracted lawsuit against the Swiss
Federal Administration [2], which is still ongoing, provides an example
of the possible legal consequences.
The decisions you are making today will have an impact for the years to
come. Breaking out of the lock-in will only become more expensive over
time, as you risk turning more of your valuable data into digital toxic
waste.
Rather than throw good money after bad, we ask you to step back from
your deal with Microsoft, and issue a public call for tender open to all
suppliers. When making a choice about the future solution for your
organisation, we urge you to consider the strategic freedom which Free
Software, Open Standards and open file formats provide, rather than
deepening your dependence on a single vendor.
You might also wish to investigate the opportunities that such a
strategy would provide for local businesses in the province of
Bolzano-Bozen, which has successfully turned itself into a Free Software
hub.
In the interest of the citizens of Bolzano-Bozen, we urge you to accept
the offer of a dialogue extended to you by local Free Software experts
at the GNU/Linux User Group Bolzano (LUGBZ) and the Free Software
Foundation Europe. We stand ready to advise you on your strategic
options in software procurement, and discuss the opportunities afforded
by Free Software and Open Standards.
Sincerely,
Karsten Gerloff
President,
Free Software Foundation Europe
http://fsfe.org
1. http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=SPEECH/10/300&forma…
2. http://www.eweekeurope.co.uk/news/news-solutions-applications/red-hat-sues-…
== 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/
= FSFE: Lack of Open Standards "gaping hole" in EC's Digital Agenda =
[Permanent URL: http://fsfe.org/news/2010/news-20100519-01.en.html ]
19 May 2010, 12:25 CEST, Berlin, Germany
The European Commission has officially published its long-awaited
Digital Agenda, outlining its policy plans for the next five years.
"While it includes some important building blocks for Free Software, the
omission of Open Standards [1] rips a gaping hole in this agenda," says
Karsten Gerloff, President of the Free Software Foundation Europe.
FSFE welcomes the Commision's plans to give standards a greater role
in the public procurement of software, and to get dominant software
vendors to license their interoperability information, opening up
the software market for Free Software vendors.
However, the Digital Agenda falls short of systematically promoting
Free Software and Open Standards, missing the goals that the Member
States have set for the Commission in the Granada and Malmö
declarations [2]. The Digital Agenda itself avoids any reference to
Open Standards. Instead, the Commission points to the European
Interoperability Framework. This is a document which is currently
being systematically hollowed out, as FSFE's analysis shows [3].
"The EC needs to adopt a strict definition of Open Standards, along the
lines of the first European Interoperability Framework," says Gerloff.
He continues: "The Commission needs to put Open Standards at the heart
of its strategy for the public sector's IT systems. Only with the
competition that Open Standards enable will we tap the full potential of
Free Software for European innovation."
[1] http://fsfe.org/projects/os/os.en.html
[2] Malmö Declaration
http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/09/1738&format=H…
Granada Declaration
http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=MEMO/10/137
[3] http://www.fsfe.org/projects/os/eifv2.en.html
== Press contact ==
Karsten Gerloff
President, Free Software Foundation Europ
Tel +49 176 9690 4298
== 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 issue
of the FSFE.
http://fsfe.org
= FSFE founder Georg Greve awarded German Cross of Merit =
[Permanent URL: http://fsfe.org/news/2010/news-20100428-01.en.html ]
28 April 2010, 09:40, Berlin, Germany
Georg Greve, founding president of the Free Software Foundation Europe,
has received the Cross of Merit on ribbon of the Federal Republic of
Germany (Verdienstkreuz am Bande). Georg received this high award from
the German President for his work on Free Software and Open Standards.
"FSFE is very proud to have a 'knight' among its team," says FSFE's
president Karsten Gerloff. "Georg's tremendous dedication to freedom in
technology has been a driving force for Free Software in Europe and
around the world. He has put Free Software on the political agenda, and
has created the structures to harness the community's energy towards our
common goals. His hard work over more than a decade has brought enormous
progress for Free Software."
With FSFE, Georg worked hard to create the understanding of Free
Software as a cultural technique. He gave Free Software a voice at the
United Nations [1], including the "World Intellectual Property
Organization" (WIPO) and the World Summit on the Information Society
(WSIS). With FSFE's Freedom Task Force, he was the architect for a
centre of expertise on legal aspects of Free Software, and drove the
concept of legal maintainability [2] for Free Software projects. He
initiated [3] the community resistance against Microsoft's OOXML format,
and worked on some of the first EU-funded projects for Free Software.
Under Georg's leadership, FSFE was also a key player in averting the
threat of software patents in Europe.
"I'm deeply grateful for the official recognition that Free Software and
Open Standards receive with this award", says Georg Greve. "Around 2000,
I decided to dedicate myself fully to this cause out of a sense of
necessity: I felt that I had glimpsed how software shapes our society.
But I also saw that society had not yet understood how much it is shaped
by software. It is my hope that this award will help to make people
aware of these questions, and bring support for the work of FSFE, which
is more important than ever."
== About Georg Greve ==
Born on 10 March 1973 on the German island of Heligoland, Georg Greve
has a classic scientific background as a physicist. He gained his
interdisciplinary diploma in the field of nanotechnology at the computer
science faculty of the University of Hamburg.
He has been developing software since he was 12 years old. Besides a
first publication of a program in a professional journal in 1991, coding
partly paid for his studies when he managed the software development to
evaluate SQUID-sensor data in the biomagnetometic laboratory in the
University hospital of Eppendorf (UKE) in Hamburg, Germany.
In 1993 he came in contact with Free Software and GNU/Linux. In 1998,
Georg Greve became a European speaker for the GNU Project. At this time,
he also started writing the "Brave GNU World," a monthly column on Free
Software published in the German Linux-Magazin and other magazines
worldwide, as well as online in up to 10 languages.
In early 2001, together with a group of dedicated people he initiated
the Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE), the first Free Software
Foundation outside the United States of America and the largest
transnational Free Software Foundation so far. Building and coordinating
FSFE as a European non-governmental organisation was the focus of his
work for most of the past decade.
Having led FSFE for eight years, Georg Greve is now CEO of Kolab
Systems, a Free Software business providing services around the Kolab
Groupware Solution. He continues to be active amongst FSFE members and
European core team. Happily married, he lives with his wife Ava in
Küsnacht near Zürich.
(See also Georg Greve's profile [4] on FSFE's website, a detailed
interview with him [5], and his personal statement [6] about having been
decorated with the Cross of Merit.)
[1] http://fsfe.org/projects/un/un.html
[2] http://fsfe.org/projects/ftf/fla.html
[3] http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20061208135621706
[4] http://fsfe.org/about/greve/
[5] http://blogs.fsfe.org/fellowship-interviews/?p=27
[6] http://blogs.fsfe.org/greve/?p=403
== Contacts ==
Free Software Foundation Europe
E-Mail: press at fsfeurope.orghttp://www.fsfe.org/contact/
== 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 issue
of the FSFE.
http://fsfe.org
= Document Freedom Day 2010 =
== Liberate your documents! ==
[Permanent URL: http://fsfe.org/news/2010/news-20100331-01.en.html ]
31 March 2010, 11:00, Berlin, Germany -- Today is Document Freedom Day
2010. For the third time, groups all over the world are celebrating open
document formats and Open Standards. They are raising awareness for how
a technical issue impacts our day-to-day lives.
Activities are taking place in many countries. In Germany and Austria,
radio stations are receiving awards for offering streams in the open Ogg
Vorbis format. In Slovenia, the country's highest court is commended for
its use of the ODF format for text documents.
In Romania, activists have been busy pointing out to public
administrations that "I can't read your documents". In Johannesburg,
South Africa, the Department of Arts and Culture will hold a celebration
to mark DFD. In the Brazilian city of Vitoria, the group Espirito Livre
is organising a conference on Free Software and Open Standards.
Document Freedom Day coordinator Fernanda Weiden says: "It is great to
see so many volunteers with a passion for freedom in technology. These
people care deeply about the way that software and standards affect
their lives, and they are taking the initiative to make sure that others
can enjoy the same freedoms as them."
Computer users, companies and public administrations are storing huge
amounts of information in electronic form. If this happens in a format
that can only be read by software from a single vendor, the information
will eventually be lost.
Open Standards, such as ODF for office documents or Ogg Vorbis for
music, can be read and written with many different applications. They
give users freedom of choice, since they work on any application on any
platform or operating system. "Open document formats make sure that your
valuable information doesn't turn into digital toxic waste with your
next upgrade to a new software", says Karsten Gerloff, President of the
Free Software Foundation Europe.
"Whether it's your personal emails or your pension records in a
government agency, it's important to think ahead. Will the software
you're using now still be around in ten years' time? If the answer is
no, make sure that your data is saved according to Open Standards." The
DFD team will gather information and reports from this year's
activities, organise them and publish them on the DFD web pages.
Document Freedom Day campaign page
http://www.documentfreedom.org/
List of participating groups (constantly updated):
http://www.documentfreedom.org/Category:Teams
German, Austrian Radio stations honoured for their use of Ogg Vorbis
http://fsfe.org/news/2010/news-20100324-01.en.html
Document Freedom Day 2010 is coordinated by Free Software Foundation
Europe. Participation is open to everyone, and groups are organising
events independently.
== Contacts ==
Free Software Foundation Europe
E-Mail: press at fsfeurope.org
Karsten Gerloff, President
+49-176-96904298
Fernanda Weiden, Document Freedom Day Coordinator
+41-764-021866
http://www.fsfe.org/contact/
== 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 issue
of the FSFE.
http://fsfe.org
== Document Freedom Day 2010 ==
== Free your documents, save your information! ==
[Permanent URL: http://fsfe.org/news/2010/news-20100302-01.en.html]
02 March 2010, 14:30, Berlin, Germany
Will you be able to read your documents 20 years from now? Every day,
millions of computer users like you edit text and spreadsheets, take
pictures and record audio and video. What if you couldn't read your
private letters anymore, or even open that album with pictures from your
honeymoon? What if you couldn't exchange those files with friends,
because the software used by each one of you can't talk to each other?
To help you make your documents future-proof, we celebrate Document
Freedom Day on March 31.
Any person or software can save documents in open document formats, which
are based on Open Standards, and be sure that people will be able to read
those files, independently of the software they use. Anyone can build
applications that read and write files in these formats. The Internet was
built upon Open Standards, and that's why you see so much innovation
online.
On Document Freedom Day, we will raise awareness for Open Document
Formats and Open Standards by organizing activities all over the world
together with partner organizations and volunteers.
During the whole month of March, we will spread the word on open document
formats and Open Standards. We will publish information, talk to the
press, tell our friends about it, and spread the DFD logo all over the
Internet.
There are many ways to take part on this campaign, so pick one and join
us:
* Put a banner in your website, linking to DFD website. You
can find banners in our Artwork Website [1].
* Publish a blog post on Document Freedom Day, or Open
Standards, and spread the word about the campaign. Send us
a link, and we'll include it in the DFD website.
* Use your microblog to spread DFD news and articles! Tag them
using !dfd or #dfd2010
* Organize an activity in your city on March 31st. For ideas
on activities, check the Document Freedom Day website.
* Donate money to DFD [2]. Your contribution
makes Document Freedom Day possible!
* Become a partner organization. Contact our Campaign Team [3] on
how to do that.
Want to find out more about Open Standards [4]?
Document Freedom Day is about helping you to really own your data. You
shouldn't be tied to particular applications for living your life in the
digital world, and you shouldn't have to use any specific software to
deal with your government, your school or anyone else.
For more information on Document Freedom Day, visit our website:
www.documentfreedom.org
[1] http://documentfreedom.org/Artwork
[2] http://documentfreedom.org/Support
[3] http://documentfreedom.org/About#Coordination_Team
[4] http://documentfreedom.org/Open_Standards
== Contact ==
Fernanda Weiden
DFD Campaign Coordinator
Email: weiden(a)fsfeurope.org
Tel: +41 76 4021866
http://fsfe.org/contact
== 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