== FSFE to users: Seize your freedom of choice! ==
22 February 2010, 14:00, Berlin, Germany
Permanent URL: http://fsfe.org/news/2010/news-20100222-01.en.html
FSFE welcomes the arrival of greater competition in the web browser
market. From today, Microsoft has to offer Windows users in Europe the
possibility to choose among different browsers. This step puts into
practice the company's settlement with the European Commission from
December 2009. The Free Software Foundation Europe was an active
participant in the Commission's investigation.
"For the first time, Microsoft has been forced to offer all users a
choice among different web browsers," says FSFE's President Karsten
Gerloff. "This is a stop sign for the company's strategy of extending
its near-monopoly in desktop operating systems to other markets."
FSFE is fighting for freedom of choice and Open Standards. Microsoft's
own Internet Explorer browsers do not interpret web standards
correctly. The company's near-monopoly on the desktop has meant that
web designers have often catered to Microsoft users only, leaving
users of rival browsers to deal with broken pages.
"Microsoft has gained its dominant position in the browser market by
violating its consent decree with the US competition authorities. The
problem we are trying to fix here wouldn't exist if Microsoft had
complied with the laws," says FSFE's Legal Counsel Carlo Piana. "It
is no coincidence that we have recently seen more competition among
browsers, after years where there was no innovation and a total lack
of investment by Microsoft."
It is now up to the users to take advantage of the choice they are
offered. Gerloff reminds the EC that it will constantly need to
monitor the success of the 'ballot screen'. "Microsoft is a convicted
monopolist and has broken countless promises in the past," he
says. "We urge the European Commission to keep a sharp eye on how well
this measure plays out in practice."
The 'ballot screen' is currently limited to Europe. "We call on
competition authorities around the world to take a cue from the EC's
good work in this case. The effect on competition and standards
compliance would be much greater if users were offered a choice
everywhere", says FSFE's Legal Counsel Carlo Piana.
It remains to be seen how the 'ballot screen' will improve competition
in the market for web browsers. FSFE is equally concerned about the
lack of interoperability between Microsoft's products and Free
Software competitors, and the company's practice of bundling its
operating system with consumer hardware.
== Background ==
The initial complaint about Microsoft's abuse of its dominant position
in the web browser market was brought by Opera. FSFE has supported the
investigation as an interested third party, providing feedback and
helping to shape the measures imposed by the European Commission.
The settlement on web browsers is only the latest among several
European Commission investigations into Microsoft's anticompetitive
behaviour. The most famous among these actions -- where FSFE was a key
player [1] -- concerned the workgroup server operating system market. Also
known as the Samba case, it ended with a landmark decision in 2007 by
the European Court of Justice. Microsoft was forced to disclose
interoperability information that it had illegaly withheld from
competitors.
On the same day that the ballot screen was announced, Microsoft also
promised to disclose interoperability information for a number of its
products, such as Windows Server, Microsoft Office, Exchange and
SharePoint. Here, an investigation by the European Commission is still
ongoing.
[1] http://fsfe.org/projects/ms-vs-eu/ms-vs-eu.en.html
== 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
== Contact ==
Karsten Gerloff
President
Free Software Foundation Europe
e-mail: press at fsfeurope.org
mobile: +49-176-96904298
== FSFE: On Valentine's Day, show your love for Free Software! ==
[Permanent URL: http://www.fsfe.org/news/2010/news-20100212-01.en.html ]
12th February 2010, 11:00 am CET, Berlin, Germany
This year on Valentine's Day, FSFE calls on Free Software users
everywhere to show their love for Free Software. Behind every Free
Software initiative and organisation there are real, hard-working
people.
Free Software is everywhere. Its presence on desktop computers,
servers, routers, mobile phones, television sets and in other
electronics means that most of us use Free Software every day.
This is why for Valentine's Day, FSFE invites everyone to show
their appreciation of the people who produce, distribute and
promote Free Software.
"This year why not take the opportunity to show you care about the
people who show you their love all year round?", suggests Karsten
Gerloff, FSFE's President. "Free Software is about making
technology fit people's needs. It's people who are at the centre
of it all, not computers."
On its campaign page [1], FSFE suggests what users can do to show
that they appreciate Free Software. Simply sending a developer a
mail to say "Thank you", buying them a book or just giving them a
hug - with their permission, naturally. Donating to a Free
Software organisation is also among the options.
Everyone is invited to post pictures online of them showing their
love for Free Software. On identi.ca and Twitter, FSFE is using
the hash tag #ilovefs to collect pictures and build a
collage.
For microblogging FSFE is using the hashtag #ilovefs to collect
messages and pictures to build a collage (e.g. see
http://identi.ca/tag/ilovefs).
[1] http://www.fsfe.org/campaigns/valentine-2010/
== 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 Newsletter - January 2010
In January, FSFE was awarded the Theodor Heuss Medal as a "trendsetting
organisation". This recognition for the hard work of the past years was a
good start into the new year.
FSFE participated in a WIPO meeting on patents and standards, moved forward
with the restructuring of the website, identified two Fellowship candidates
for the Fellowship seat in FSFE's General Assembly, and much more.
Read further January Newsletter
Giacomo Poderi
1. Fellowship elections, introducing the candidates: Julia Klein and Björn Schießle
2. Ongoing website restructuring
3. Standards and patents at WIPO, Geneva, Switzerland, 25-29 Jan
4. Fellowship Jabber meeting: "What does it mean to be a candidate for the GA seat?", 06 Jan
5. December Fellowship grants
IN THE SPOTLIGHT
6. FSFE honoured with Theodor Heuss Medal - "trendsetting organisation"
IT HAPPENED IN THE PAST
7. First draft of GPLv3 presented
UPCOMING EVENTS
8. Election for Fellowship GA seat
9. FOSDEM, Brussels, Belgium, 06-07 Feb
1. The Fellowship elections, introducing the candidates: Julia Klein
and Björn Schießle
Julia Klein and Björn Schießle are the two candidates who will run for
the election of the second available seat as Fellowship representative at
FSFE's GA. Both have been Fellows for a few years now. Julia often
participates in Fellowship events and helps in setting up FSFE's booths in
Germany. Björn is active in the German translation team, takes part in the
Baden-Würtemberg
Fellowship events and has a been part of FSFE's German team for several years.
More information on the voting period are available at
http://www.fsfe.org/news/2010/news-20100129-01.htmlhttp://wiki.fsfe.org/election10
2. Ongoing website restructuring
Last month we announced the beginning of the major restructuring of
FSFE's website. The work is not finished yet, but as it is possible to
notice by browsing fsfe.org, our webmasters team did an excellent job in
only a few weeks. The visible changes are only the top of the iceberg.
Many hours of work were spent on the improvement of the underlying
structure of the website. You can help the webmasters team by joining them
or simply by pointing out problems concerning the website.
web(a)fsfeurope.org
http://www.fsfe.org/contribute/web/web.html
3. Standards and patents at WIPO, Geneva, Switzerland, 25-29 Jan
Karsten Gerloff, FSFE's president, and Hugo Roy, FSFE's intern,
participated in the meeting of the WIPO Standing Committee on the Law of
Patents. From FSFE's perspective, the two most important points on the
agenda were the relation between standards and patents, and limitations to
patentability. In this regard, FSFE made a statement which highlights the
relevance of transparent processes when discussing patent regulations and
gives support to the idea of creating a working program for the discussion
of limitations and exceptions of patentability, and their effectiveness in
addressing development concerns. FSFE's statement is available at:
http://blogs.fsfe.org/gerloff/?p=291
4. Fellowship Jabber meeting: "What does it mean to be a candidate for the
GA seat?", 06 Jan
On 06 January, the Fellows met on our jabber server to hear about Torsten
Grote's experience as representative for the Fellowship at FSFE's General
Assembly (GA). Torsten clarified doubts that other Fellows had concerning
this role, and encouraged them to run as candidates for the other available
seat. The election will take place during February.
http://wiki.fsfe.org/Jabber
5. December Fellowship grants
As it happened for the application period of November, we received many
interesting grant applications and deciding amongst these wasn't easy at
all. However, the grants for December have been awarded to Alex Bihlmaier
and Christoph Fritz, both from Germany, and Stelios Stavroulakis from
Greece. They impressed us with their enthusiasm for Free Software projects
and the many valuable contributions they have made so far.
We welcome them to the Fellowship!
http://fellowship.fsfe.org/joinhttp://fellowship.fsfe.org/grant.en.html
IN THE SPOTLIGHT
6. FSFE honoured with Theodor Heuss Medal - "trendsetting organisation"
FSFE will receive this year's Theodor Heuss Medal for its extraordinary
work for equitable participation in the information society. Since 2001
FSFE has promoted the freedom to use, investigate, modify and redistribute
software in all parts of society and politics. Karsten Gerloff, FSFE's
president, and Matthias Kirschner, German team coordinator, emphasised on
the valuable efforts done by Georg Greve, Bernhard Reiter and Werner Koch,
who founded FSFE, and by all volunteers who supported us during these
years. It was them who made this success possible!
The non-partisan Theodor Heuss Foundation seeks "to bring attention to
something that needs to be done in our democracy". Regarding FSFE's medal,
the Foundation states: "FSFE, as a forward thinking organisation,
contributes to the development and establishment of rules for good global
governance." The award ceremony will take place on May 8 in Stuttgart,
Germany.
http://www.fsfe.org/news/2010/news-20100126-01.html
Relevant Links:
http://www.theodor-heuss-stiftung.dehttp://fsfe.org/projects/work.htmlhttp://fsfe.org/contribute/contribute.html
IT HAPPENED IN THE PAST
7. First draft of GPLv3 presented
In January 2006 at MIT in Boston, USA, the first draft of the GPLv3 was
presented and discussed. Georg Greve and other FSFE representatives
participated at the first international conference on the GPLv3. An event
that marked an important milestone towards the new version of the world's
most successful Free Software license.
http://mail.fsfeurope.org/pipermail/press-release/2006q1/000127.html
UPCOMING EVENTS
8. Election for Fellowship GA seat
During the whole month of February, the election for the second Fellowship
seat in FSFE's GA will take place. All Fellows will be asked to vote for
the candidates and to decide who, between Julia and Björn, will join
Torsten in representing the Fellowship in FSFE's highest decision making
body.
http://wiki.fsfe.org/election10
9. FOSDEM, Brussels, Belgium, 06-07 Feb
As usual, FSFE will participate at FOSDEM with a lively and well-staffed
booth. This European event organized by the community, for the community
is the place where Free Software developers meet, and an event that you
should not miss. Drop by the FSFE booth near the entrance and say hello!
FOSDEM takes place at ULB Campus Solbosh, 50 Avenue Franklin D. Roosevelt,
1050 Brussels, Belgium. Admission gratis.
http://fosdem.org/2010/
You can find a list of all FSFE newsletters on
http://fsfe.org/news/newsletter.html
You can join the Fellowship or find how to support us on
http://fellowship.fsfe.org/joinhttp://fsfe.org/contribute/contribute.html
You can order our merchandise at
http://fsfe.org/order/order.html
Copyright 2010, Free Software Foundation Europe <pr(a)fsfeurope.org>.
Verbatim copying and distribution of this entire article is permitted in
any medium, provided this notice is preserved.
== FSFE honoured with Theodor Heuss Medal - "trendsetting organisation" ==
[Permanent URL: http://www.fsfe.org/news/2010/news-20100126-01.en.html ]
26th January 2010, 09:00 am CET, Berlin, Germany
The Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE) receives this year's Theodor
Heuss Medal for its extraordinary work for equitable participation in
the information society. Since 2001 FSFE has been committed to the
freedom to use, investigate, modify and redistribute software in all
parts of society and politics. Theodor Heuss Foundation states: "FSFE as
a forward thinking organisation contributes to the development and
establishment of rules for good global governance."
"Free Software is an indispensable component of a free society in the
digital age. It ensures equal access to the information society for
everyone, " says Karsten Gerloff, President of FSFE, commenting on the
award.
"A small group of people who were ahead of their time founded Free
Software Foundation Europe in November 2000. They have worked for that
success tirelessly and with great personal commitment," Gerloff
emphasises. "Special credit is due to the initiator of FSFE, Georg Greve
and co-founder Bernhard Reiter. Georg Greve took on substantial personal
risk to get the organisation off the ground, and until 2009 presided
over its growth. For many years, Bernhard Reiter built up the German
team to become one of the strongest groups for Free Software in Europe."
"We founded the Free Software Foundation Europe to serve as an
independent organisation, fighting for the freedom of society in the
digital age. Our work is both about freedom from surveillance and
monitoring as well as about freedom for personal initiative in all its
forms," Georg Greve explains. "From the very beginning, the organisation
has taken a long-term view, distributing its work for sustainable change
across many shoulders."
"From the start, we designed the organisation to work independently of
any specific person," adds Bernhard Reiter. "We wanted FSFE to accompany
the changes in society for the coming decades. Today FSFE is supported
and protected by many dedicated people."
Matthias Kirschner, Germany Coordinator of FSFE, comments: "The Medal
goes to all those who have been contributing to FSFE's success over the
years with their considerable initiative and personal commitment. But
there is still much more to do in a world where software is everywhere.
Our work is reaching more and more people, from the United Nations to
our towns and villages. For this, we need broad support. Contributors
are always welcome!
== More Information ==
- What is Free Software: http://fsfe.org/about/basics/freesoftware.en.html
- FSFE's work: http://fsfe.org/projects/work.en.html
- Donate: http://fsfe.org/donate/donate.en.html
- Contribute: http://fsfe.org/contribute/contribute.en.html
== Contacts ==
Free Software Foundation Europe
E-Mail: press at fsfeurope.org
Karsten Gerloff, President
+49-176-96904298
Matthias Kirschner, German coordinator
+49-30-27595290
http://www.fsfe.org/contact/
== About the Theodor Heuss Stiftung ==
The Theodor Heuss Stiftung is above party lines and carries the name
of Germany's first president (term in office 1949 - 59). After his
death the foundation was founded by Hildegard Hamm-Brücher, his son
Ernst Ludwig Heuss, and some friends, to remind of the political
achievements of Theodor Heuss as an example for social commitment,
moral courage and the dedication to foster democracy. The foundation
seeks "to bring attention to something, which has to be done and
shaped in our democracy, without being finished" (Carl Friedrich v.
Weizsäcker, 1965). The Theodor Heuss price is given annually to
persons of high standing and organisations, which are pathbreaking in
this respect.
FSFE Newsletter - December 2009
Despite the temperatures dropping below zero all over Europe and the
Christmas holidays approaching, FSFE kept working as usual for software
freedom. The major news of December are that we have begun to
restructure our website, added Andreas Tolf Tolfsen as webmaster deputy
coordinator, and published a statement on the EC's settlement with
Microsoft in the browser antitrust case. Read on to learn more about
what we did in December.
Moreover, let us offer you our best wishes for a great and Free 2010!
Giacomo Poderi
1. Fellowship Jabber meeting: What do your taxes buy? Free Software in the public sector, 21 Dec
2. Restructuring FSFE's website
3. The Fellowship interviews: Simon Josefsson
4. FSFE welcomes Andreas Tolf Tolfsen as core team member and webmaster deputy coordinator
5. November Fellowship grants
IN THE SPOTLIGHT
6. FSFE welcomes greater user choice in browsers, warns that Free Software is excluded from interoperability
IT HAPPENED IN THE PAST
7. Samba team receives Microsoft's interoperability information
UPCOMING EVENTS
8. Election for Fellowship GA representative
1. Fellowship Jabber meeting: What do your taxes buy? Free Software in the
public sector, 21 Dec
Various Fellows participated in an interesting jabber meeting on Free
Software in the public administration. Karsten Gerloff, FSFE's
president, chaired the meeting and brought his sound experience on the
topic into the chat-room. The ISO standardization process, Open
Standards, procurement rules in the Netherlands, and Free Software in
the Swiss Federal Court and Munich were discussed for nearly two
hours. As usual the conversation went on much longer in an informal
way, after the official closure of the meeting.
http://blogs.fsfe.org/blog/2009/12/18/what-do-your-taxes-buy-free-software-…
2. Restructuring FSFE's website
In order to make FSFE's work more accessible, the web team this month
started work on a major restructuring of fsfe.org's content and
usability. The website wasn't originally designed to include so many
documents and information related to so many different domains: from
the legal to the political, from the educational to the community
oriented and more. The time has now arrived to improve its structure,
and so that it can reflect the diversity and quality of FSFE's
work. The web team's goal is to make our website easier to browse and
to read, and make it possible to find information much faster. If you
would like to help...join the web team!
http://www.fsfe.org/contribute/web/index.en.htmlhttp://home.e-tjenesten.org/~ato/2009/12/restructuring-fsfe-website
3. The Fellowship interviews: Simon Josefsson
This month, Stian Rødven Eide interviewed Simon Josefsson. Simon is a
Fellow and 'old' established GNU hacker with interest in security, who
in November received the Nordic Free Software Award. His contributions
to the Free Software world include such ubiquitous projects as GnuTLS
and Libssh2. In the interview, Stian and Simon talk about differences
between proprietary and Free Software in relation to security issues,
discuss encryption, DNS and different projects that Simon is involved
in, such as GnuTLS, GNU SASL and GSS. Read the interview at:
http://blogs.fsfe.org/fellowship-interviews/?p=98
4. FSFE welcomes Andreas Tolf Tolfsen as core team member and webmaster
deputy coordinator
After contributing to FSFE's web team for three years, Andreas Tolf
Tolfsen has taken on the role of webmaster deputy coordinator within
FSFE, becoming part of the European core team. Andreas is a Norwegian
Free Software activists with years of experience on web design and web
technologies. Together with Reinhard Muller, webmaster coordinator,
Rolf Camps, deputy coordinator, and the web team, Andreas' first big
challenge will be the restructuring of FSFE's website. At the same
time, he will work on the setting up of a Norwegian country
team. Welcome on board Andreas!
http://www.fsfe.org/about/team.htmlhttp://blogs.fsfe.org/fellowship-interviews/?p=79
5. November Fellowship grants
The Fellowship grants project we launched in November generated a
great response in the Free Software community. We received many
outstanding applications by activists coming from all over Europe:
choosing the first three people to receive the grants was not easy at
all. Finally, Alexjan Carraturo from Italy, Ferdinand Thommes from
Germany and Matija Šuklje from Slovenia stood out from the evaluation
process due to their lasting and diverse contributions to Free
Software. We welcome them in the Fellowship!
http://fellowship.fsfe.org/joinhttp://fellowship.fsfe.org/grant.en.html
IN THE SPOTLIGHT
6. FSFE welcomes greater user choice in browsers, warns that Free Software
is excluded from interoperability
FSFE congratulated the European Commission on pushing Microsoft to
give users greater choice between different browsers. The settlement
that the Commission reached on the Microsoft's browser case is an
improvement from the scenario that FSFE criticised this October.
In early 2010, Microsoft will provide the users of its operating
systems with a ballot screen that should make it easy for users to
chose between different web browsers. The screen will suggests various
browsers available on the market, Free Software ones included.
This settlement relates to only one of the two issues that Microsoft
currently faces with the EU Commission. FSFE also congratulates the
Commission for the decision to keep open the investigation on
Microsoft's refusal to let other products interoperate with its own
desktop programs. Microsoft has offered a voluntary commitment, but
FSFE warns that this will not be enough for real competition to
develop.
http://www.fsfe.org/news/2009/news-20091216-01.html
Relevant links:
http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/09/1941http://www.fsfe.org/news/2009/news-20091008-01.htmlhttp://www.fsfe.org/news/2009/news-20091006-01.html
IT HAPPENED IN THE PAST
7. Samba team receives Microsoft's interoperability information
During December 2007, as a consequence of the drawn-out EU vs Microsft
antitrust case, the Samba team was finally able to receive Microsoft's
network interoperability information. The specifications were
requested with a one-time access fee of 10.000 EUR for full access to
crucial information. This event marked an important victory for
competition in the IT market. It was a great achievement for Free
Software, FSFE and the Samba team.
http://mail.fsfeurope.org/pipermail/press-release/2008q1/000193.html
UPCOMING EVENTS
8. Election for Fellowship GA representative
During the whole month of February 2010 it will be possible to vote
for the second Fellowship representative in FSFE's General Assembly
(GA). Fellows will soon have the chance to declare their candidature
and to vote again for participation in FSFE's highest decision-making
body. We encourage you to run for the second seat!
http://www.fsfe.org/news/2009/news-20090601-01.htmlhttp://www.fsfe.org/news/2009/news-20090411-01.html
You can find a list of all FSFE newsletters on
http://fsfe.org/news/newsletter.html
You can join the Fellowship or find how to support us on
http://fellowship.fsfe.org/joinhttp://fsfe.org/contribute/contribute.html
You can order our merchandise at
http://fsfe.org/order/order.html
Copyright 2009, Free Software Foundation Europe <pr(a)fsfeurope.org>.
Verbatim copying and distribution of this entire article is permitted in
any medium, provided this notice is preserved.
= FSFE: EC's browser case settlement with Microsoft =
FSFE welcomes greater user choice in browsers, warns that Free
Software is excluded from interoperability
[Permanent URL: http://fsfe.org/news/2009/news-20091216-01.en.html ]
16 December 2009, 16:10 CEST, Berlin, Germany
Free Software Foundation Europe congratulates the European Commission on
pushing Microsoft to give users greater choice between different
browsers. "The selection screen will make users aware that they can make
their own choices," says Karsten Gerloff, FSFE's President. "We are glad
that FSFE has helped the Commission to put limits to Microsoft's desktop
monopoly."
The Commission announced today that it has settled its antitrust case
against Microsoft regarding web browsers. FSFE participated in the case
as an interested third party. "Microsoft has abused its dominant market
position to push out competitors by tying its own browser to the Windows
operating system," says Gerloff. "The company's continued refusal to
comply with Open Standards[1] also means that many websites today are
designed to work only with Internet Explorer, leaving users of other
browsers at a disadvantage."
== Interoperability ==
The European Commission is also investigating the way Microsoft prevents
competitors from interfacing with many of its desktop productivity
programs. Microsoft has offered a unilateral commitment. Yet these
promises are useless for Free Software developers, since they exclude
commercial use of Microsoft's interoperability information.
Carlo Piana, FSFE's legal counsel, says: "The patent commitments are
clearly insufficient, because they don't allow commercial exploitation.
This keeps out competition from Free Software, which in many areas is
the biggest competitor to Microsoft's programs. Instead, Microsoft will
continue to threaten commercial Free Software developers and their
customers with patent FUD (fear, uncertainty and doubt)."
FSFE's President Karsten Gerloff says: "We welcome the Commission's
decision to keep the interoperability investigation open while it
monitors whether Microsoft's promises help to promote competition. We
are confident that the Commission will take action if the commitment
doesn't improve things for Free Software."
[1] http://fsfe.org/projects/os/def.en.html
== What is the European Interoperability Framework ==
The EIF is a set of interoperability guidelines documents and
initiatives conducted under the auspices of the IDABC (Interoperable
Delivery of European eGovernment Services to public Administrations,
Businesses and Citizens) Programme. The EIF supplements the various
National Interoperability Frameworks in the pan-European dimension.
== 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
== Contact ==
Karsten Gerloff
President
Free Software Foundation Europe
e-mail: press at fsfeurope.org
mobile: +49-176-96904298
Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE) Newsletter - November 2009
November: another month full of activities and work to do for FSFE.
Among other things we launched the Fellowship grant project, fought for
Open Standards in the European public sector, had an excellent time at
the FSCONS in Sweden, and participated in WIPO to ensure that Free
Software principles are respected. To keep FSFE strong and independent,
we have launched our year-end fund raising campaign: Cooking for Freedom.
Giacomo Poderi
1. WIPO meeting on implementation of Development Agenda, Geneva, Switzerland, 16-20 Nov
2. Fellowship Jabber meeting: Free Software in Education
3. FSCONS 2009, Lindholmen, Sweden 13-15 Nov
4. The Nordic Free Software Award to Simon Josefson and Daniel Stenberg
5. FSFE takes action on the problems of the EIF v2
6. The Fellowship grants
IN THE SPOTLIGHT
7. FSFE calls for donations: Invest in freedom!
IT HAPPENED IN THE PAST
8. Launch of the Freedom Task Force
UPCOMING EVENTS
9. European "Open Source" and Free Software Law Event, Brussels, Belgium, 09 Dec
1. WIPO meeting on implementation of Development Agenda, Geneva,
Switzerland, 16-20 Nov
Thanks to the consistent support by FSFE and other organisations, the
World Intellectual Property Organization's (WIPO) Development Agenda is
finally on the way to implementation. Karsten Gerloff, FSFE's President,
participated to the event in Geneva to help WIPO make use of Free
Software and Open Standards. In the meeting, WIPO's member states
discussed the mechanisms for monitoring the progress of WIPO's
Development Agenda in practice.
http://www.fsfe.org/projects/wipo/wipo.html
2. Fellowship Jabber meeting: Free Software in Education
On November 18, more than 25 Fellows joined a chat session to follow
Thomas Jensch's introduction to the FSFE's Education project. Thomas
talked about the general scope of the project and about specific
challenges to be met before bringing to full active status the project,
such as gathering information on the different European education
systems, and developing good strategies for being effective also at the
level of Universities. Afterwords, the Fellows asked questions and
provided interesting feedbacks to Thomas.
http://www.fsfe.org/projects/education/education.html
3. FSCONS 2009, Lindholmen, Sweden 13-15 Nov
The Free Society Conference and Nordic Summit (FSCONS) which took place
in Lindholmen, Göteborg, Sweden was a great success. FSFE's Swedish Team
co-organised the event, and FSFE got a very friendly reception in an
engaging atmosphere of Free Software, hackers and technology people.
Martin Gollowitzer, deputy Fellowship coordinator, organised a OpenPGP
Card Workshop, Matthias Kirschner, Fellowship coordinator, and Andreas
Tolf Tolfsen moderated a workshop on the restructuring of our website.
Hannes Hauswedell presented a talk about PDFreaders.org. Finally, Adrian
de Groot and Karsten Gerloff held two sessions respectively about the
Freedom Task Force and FSFE's work for the public sector.
http://blogs.fsfe.org/mk/?p=380http://wiki.fsfe.org/FSCONS-FSFE
4. The Nordic Free Software Award to Fellow Simon Josefson and Daniel
Stenberg
This year, Nordic Free Software Award presented during FSCONS reflected
the globalisation of the internet and the critical importance of network
services for all software users. The award went to two excellent hackers:
Simon Josefson and Daniel Stenberg. Simon is a member of the Fellowship
and was rewarded for his long-lasting and excellent work on the network
security packages GNUTLS and GNU Sishi of the GNU Project. Daniel's
contributions to curl, libcurl and many other packages were considered
crucial to the Free Software community.
http://fscons.org/awardhttp://blog.josefsson.org/2009/11/15/nordic-free-software-award-2009/
5. FSFE takes action on the problems of the EIF v2
Early this month, FSFE commented on a worrisome leaked draft of the
European Interoperability Framework v2 (EIF). The current EIF serves as
a cornerstones for interoperability in Europe. The draft for the second
version is a clear step backwards. FSFE worked hard to prevent this
document to be adopted by putting pressure on EU members states and by
tracking the 'evolution' of the EIF v2 draft. We also published a press
release explaining why the current version is unacceptable for Free
Software and for the European IT sector.
http://www.fsfe.org/news/2009/news-20091127-01.htmlhttp://www.fsfe.org/projects/os/eifv2.html
6. The Fellowship grants
This month FSFE launched an important initiative to award outstanding
Free Software activists with Fellowship grants that will cover the
Fellowship contribution for one year. Three grants each month will be
assigned during the next 12 months. Everybody who is actively working for
Free Software but cannot afford the Fellowship contribution can apply for
the grant.
http://fellowship.fsfe.org/grant.en.htmlhttp://www.fsfe.org/news/2009/news-20091109-01.html
IN THE SPOTLIGHT
7. FSFE calls for donations: Invest in freedom!
FSFE has been working for the Free Software community in Europe and
beyond since 2001. Donations have always been crucial to sustain our
work. They allow us to remain independent of any company or government,
in order to do what is best for Free Software.
In November we published a call for donations, so that the new year will
find us ready to take on the many and demanding challenges of 2010.
Karsten Gerloff published a letter explaining the reasons to donate to
FSFE.
This year, there is a special reward for the biggest donor of 2009.
That person will share a cooking session with two people from FSFE's
executive team. Software and cooking are both about creativity and
freedom, and we are looking forward to an afternoon or evening of
inspired discussions.
If you believe in our work or you benefited from it, if you believe in
Free Software principles and you want them to be defended: invest in
freedom!
http://www.fsfe.org/news/2009/news-20091118-01.html
Relevant links:
http://www.fsfe.org/donate/letter-2009.htmlhttp://www.fsfe.org/donate/donate.html
IT HAPPENED IN THE PAST
8. Launch of the Freedom Task Force
After many preparations, in November 2006 we finally launched the Freedom
Task Force (FTF). The project required sound planning and lot of efforts
before it could be announced. In short time, thanks to Shane Coughlan's
excellent work as the project's coordinator, the FTF became a key
knowledge centre in Europe for Free Software licensing issues.
http://mail.fsfeurope.org/pipermail/press-release/2006q4/000162.html
UPCOMING EVENTS
9. European "Open Source" and Free Software Law Event, Brussels, Belgium,
09 Dec
Adriaan de Groot, FTF Coordinator, will hold a speech entitled "Use the
Source -- but what is it?" at the European "Open Source" and Free
Software Law Event (EOLE) on 9 December in Brussels.
http://eolevent.eu/
You can find a list of all FSFE newsletters on
http://fsfe.org/news/newsletter.html
You can join the Fellowship or find how to support us on
http://fellowship.fsfe.org/joinhttp://fsfe.org/contribute/contribute.html
You can order our merchandise at
http://fsfe.org/order/order.html
Copyright 2009, Free Software Foundation Europe <pr(a)fsfeurope.org>.
Verbatim copying and distribution of this entire article is permitted in
any medium, provided this notice is preserved.
= FSFE: EC caves in to proprietary lobbyists on interoperability =
Free Software industry criticises remarks by Commission's Vice
President Siim Kallas
[Permanent URL: http://www.fsfe.org/news/2009/news-20091127-01.en.html ]
27 November 2009, 12:30 CEST, Berlin, Germany
The European Commission (EC) has given in to the demands of lobbyists
for Microsoft and SAP when it revised a key document on interoperability
between electronic government services. The Free Software Foundation
Europe (FSFE) has analysed the evolution of a new version of the
European Interoperability Framework (EIF), showing that Commission has
based its work on the input of the Business Software Alliance (BSA), a
lobby group for proprietary software vendors, and ignored the voices of
a large part of the European software industry. At the same time,
remarks by the EC's Vice President about Free Software point to a
worrying lack of awareness within the Commission.
A draft for a revision of the European Interoperability Framework (EIF)
leaked to the press earlier this month [1]. Whereas the earlier version
of the document strongly supports the use of Free Software and Open
Standards in the public sector, the new text only carries a meaningless
description of an "openness continuum", which absurdly enough includes
proprietary specifications.
FSFE has tracked how key parts of the revised European Interoperability
Framework have evolved over time [2]. A version of the document was the
basis of a public consultation in the summer of 2008. FSFE's analysis
shows in detail how from this basis, the views of the BSA lobby group
have influenced the present draft of the text. At the same time, the
European Commission has ignored comments by companies, groups and
individuals in favour of Open Standards and Free Software.
"The European Commission must not make itself the tool of particular
interests. The current draft is unacceptable, and so is the total lack
of transparency in the process that has led to this text," says
Karsten Gerloff, FSFE's President.
On this background, recent remarks by Siim Kallas, the European
Commission's Vice President in charge of administration, show a worrying
lack of awareness of Open Standards and Free Software in parts of the
Commission. In a high-level press conference [3] on November 19 in
Malmö, Sweden, Kallas said that he considered Free Software a problem
for "business continuity". He likened Free Software to a Wikipedia
article, saying that "in Wikipedia text, you see that there are brackets
and footnotes, that information should be confirmed, or should be
checked [...], and if you use open source, if you use the same logic in
operational things, you must have certainty what will happen next."
FSFE is deeply concerned about these remarks. "Mr Kallas is badmouthing
a whole sector of the European IT economy", says Gerloff. "Either Mr
Kallas is actively hostile to Free Software and Open Standards, or he is
entirely ignorant about them. Both is simply not justifiable in a Vice
President of the European Commission in charge of the EC's
administration."
Elmar Geese, Chair of Linux-Verband, a German association of Free
Software businesses with 80 members, shows himself surprised at Mr
Kallas' remarks. "We do not know who advised Mr Kallas to say these
things. To me, this sounds like the propaganda of fear, uncertainty and
doubt from 10 years ago. We invite Mr Kallas to inform himself about the
Free Software industry. I am sure this will change his mind."
Jan Wildeboer, Red Hat EMEA Evangelist, rejects Kallas' remarks.
"Compared to many proprietary alternatives, Free Software shows that it
not only saves money but also delivers high quality solutions. The use
of Free Software in mission-critical environments all over the world is
proof of its quality."
Such statements from the EC give a boost to the critics of the new
version of the EIF. FSFE argues that the original EIF has served well as
a guideline to the European public sector. Even though it is only a
recommendation, it has become an important reference in Europe and
beyond. If it needs to be revised, the new document should improve
interoperability through reliance on Open Standards, rather than promote
proprietary software and specifications. The Commission should go back
to the consultation document and work from there, making sure that this
time comments from all sides are properly addressed.
Red Hat's Wildeboer shares the criticism: "It is good to see that EIFv2
is under more scrutiny now. We need a strong focus on interoperability
based on Open Standards. The leaked draft version shows how a lack of
transparancy can hurt that goal. Now is the time to ask some serious
questions. I fully trust the Commission to reinstate the goals of EIFv1.
Open Standards and Open Specifications are key to interoperability."
FSFE's President Karsten Gerloff argues: "If the Member States of the
European Union want to preserve the credibility of European
institutions, they should reject the current draft of the EIF. Instead,
they should help the Commission to build a better one that puts Open
Standards front and centre."
[1] EIFv2: EC breaks interop, then bows to public protest?
http://blogs.fsfe.org/gerloff/?p=285
[2] *The analysis: EIFv2* Tracking the loss of interoperability
http://fsfe.org/projects/os/eifv2.en.html
[3] http://www.se2009.eu/en/meetings_news/2009/11/19/press_conference_the_minis… (Flash)
== What is the European Interoperability Framework ==
The EIF is a set of interoperability guidelines documents and
initiatives conducted under the auspices of the IDABC (Interoperable
Delivery of European eGovernment Services to public Administrations,
Businesses and Citizens) Programme. The EIF supplements the various
National Interoperability Frameworks in the pan-European dimension.
== 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
== Contact ==
Karsten Gerloff
President
Free Software Foundation Europe
e-mail: press at fsfeurope.org
mobile: +49-176-96904298
= Freedom Food: FSFE to cook for its donors =
[Permanent URL: http://www.fsfe.org/news/2009/news-20091118-01.en.html ]
18 November 2009, 12:30 CEST, Berlin, Germany
For this year's round of fund-raising, the Free Software Foundation
Europe (FSFE) has cooked up something special. The biggest donor of 2009
will share a cooking session with FSFE's President and other members of
the organisation's executive team. FSFE is looking to raise 100,000 Euro
during the last quarter of 2009.
Free Software and cooking are both about creativity, skill and enjoying
yourself. "Recipes can be used for any purpose, including sharing them
with others, and making your own improvements. In these respects cooking
is just like Free Software - you have the freedom to use, study, share
and improve" says FSFE's President Karsten Gerloff.
FSFE has been working for the Free Software community in Europe and
beyond since 2001. Thanks to its supporters, the organisation has been
able to break proprietary monopolies , defend European developers and
users against software patents, and build the Freedom Task Force into
Europe's foremost expert group on legal aspects of Free Software.
Many threats continue to face Free Software however - and FSFE continues
to fight against them. Computer users in Europe are forced to use
proprietary software on a daily basis. Closed standards build walls that
restrict Free Software and its users. Interoperability in the European
public sector is under attack, as proprietary software companies
continue to push their agendas in Europe and around the world.
These are just a few of the issues that donors are entitled to discuss
with senior FSFE staff. "A lot of us at FSFE are passionate hobby chefs.
We are looking forward to sharing a creative time with supporters of
Free Software," says Gerloff.
== The fine print ==
- Qualifying donations must be received between January 1 2009 and
December 31 2009.
- A European location for the cooking event will be determined by
discussion with the selected donor.
- At least two senior FSFE staff will cook for (and happily dine with)
up to four persons chosen by the selected donor.
- Costs for accommodation and travel to the location of the dinner will
be borne by FSFE.
- The list of the top three donors will be published on this website and
updated regularly.
== 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
Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE) Newsletter - October 2009
October has been a dense, vibrant and challenging month for FSFE.
We have done more work than will fit the limits of this letter.
For this reason, after reading the newsletter, please visit the
news section of our website to have a complete overview of our
work:
http://www.fsfe.org/news/news.html
Giacomo Poderi
1. FSFE suggests to make MySQL independent as solution for Oracle/Sun deal
2. Announcing FSFE's new Finnish country team
3. Fellowship meetings in Frankfurt, Berlin and Vienna
4. Windows 7 to hit consumers with known security problem
5. New Fellowship jabber server
6. Welcome to Alina Mierlus as intern
IN THE SPOTLIGHT
7. EC vs MS: the browser and interoperability cases
IT HAPPENED IN THE PAST
8. Fellows discuss the future of the Fellowship portal
UPCOMING EVENTS
9. FSFE and the Fellows co-organise FSCONS 2009, Lindholmen, Sweden, 13-15 November
10. FSFE to launch the Fellowship grants project
1. FSFE suggests to make MySQL independent as solution for the
Oracle/Sun deal
A lot of rumours spread during the last weeks about the acquisition of
Sun Microsystems by Oracle. Here, the Free Software community is
concerned for the future of MySQL. To shed some light on this issue,
FSFE's president, Karsten Gerloff, published a detailed analysis of the
key points involved in the acquisition. Following this analysis,
FSFE suggested that the best solution to allow the Oracle/Sun deal to
be finalized and secure a free future for MySQL is to make it
independent.
http://blogs.fsfe.org/gerloff/?p=274http://www.fsfe.org/news/2009/news-20091023-02.html
2. Announcing FSFE's new Finnish country team!
We are pleased to announce the formation of a new country team working
under the FSFE's umbrella: Otto Kekäläinen, Henri Bergius, and
Timo Jyrinki are the members of FSFE's Finnish team. They will work
respectively as team coordinator, deputy coordinator and Finnish
translation coordinator. All of them will participate in the
upcoming FSCONS, where they will meet other FSFE team members to discuss
the team's strategies for cooperation and for their growth in Finland.
To contact the Finnish team you can write an e-mail to:
finland(a)fsfeurope.org
http://www.fsfe.org/contact/local.html
3. Fellowship meetings in Frankfurt, Berlin and Vienna
During the month, the regular Fellowship local meetings took place as
usual. German Fellows met in Frankfurt and in Berlin on the 7th and 8th
of October, while the Austrian Fellows held their usual monthly meeting
on the 16th. Main topics of the evenings have been: Free Software in
education, follow-up on the "Ask your candidate about Free Software!"
campaign, the Fellowship jabber meetings, and specific Free Software
projects Fellows are involved in. To get in touch with your local
Fellowship group or to start one in your own region, have a look at:
http://wiki.fsfe.org/CategoryFellowshipGroup
4. Windows 7 to hit consumers with known security problem
In October, the German federal IT security agency (BSI) issued a report
concerning a 'high-risk' vulnerability in Microsoft's SMB2-Protocol
which also affects Windows 7. Microsoft remained silent about this
warning and did not yet provide a solution to the problem. FSFE
published a press release to highlight that the company's bad practice
of ignoring high risk vulnerabilities is unfortunately the rule, not the
exception. With Free Software, users are not dependent on a single party
to fix such problems for them.
http://www.fsfe.org/news/2009/news-20091019-01.html
5. New Fellowship jabber server
In order to improve the services to FSFE's Fellows we recently replaced
our old jabber server with a new one based on ejabberd. After a testing
period, we are happy to announce that the new server is up and running!
This change will solve many of the problems that Fellows reported to us
during the past months. To take advantage, remember to update your
account settings!
http://wiki.fsfe.org/Jabber
6. Welcome Alina Mierlus!
On 15 October, Alina Mierlus joined FSFE to start her internship. She
will work with us until mid-February 2010 from our new Berlin office
and will mainly focus on campaigns and events coordination. Alina is from
Romania and worked over the past six years advocating Free Software. She
says: "This internship offers me the opportunity to apply what I've
learned, but for a European Foundation. I've always believed that
campaigns, events and all the things that put people together are the
most important ways to have a healthy community."
Welcome on board Alina!
http://blogs.fsfe.org/alinam/
IN THE SPOTLIGHT
7. EC vs MS: the browser and the interoperability cases
The open issues that Microsoft has with the European Commission (EC) got
shaken up in October. The proposed solutions will not be helpful for
Free Software, so FSFE is keeping up the pressure on the EC.
Commissioner Neelie Kroes wants to close two important cases concerning
Microsoft before the end of her mandate at the Directorate General for
Competition (DG Comp): one case relates to the dominant position of the
company in the browser market, the other to the failure in providing
interoperability information for desktop applications.
FSFE is working to provide input to the Commission in order to make the
settlements as fair as possible for all the actors in the software
market, Free Software included. In the past weeks, we already explained
why we believe that the current details of the settlements are not
satisfactory and provided feedback to the Commissioner. We will soon
deliver a new formal comment concerning the updated version of the
settlements to the Commission.
http://www.fsfe.org/news/2009/news-20091008-01.html
Relevant Links:
http://blogs.fsfe.org/gerloff/?p=263http://www.fsfe.org/news/2009/news-20091006-01.htmlhttp://www.fsfe.org/projects/browserbundling/letter-20091005.html
IT HAPPENED IN THE PAST
8. Fellows discuss the future of the Fellowship portal
Two years ago, the Fellows of FSFE started a lively discussion on the
future of the Fellowship portal. The discussion covered the use of
forums, calenders, mailing lists, jabber accounts and other services,
and it was one of the landmarks that brought the Fellowship platform to
the current and improved version.
http://mail.fsfeurope.org/pipermail/press-release/2007q4/000188.html
UPCOMING EVENTS
9. FSFE and the Fellows co-organise FSCONS 2009, Lindholmen, Sweden,
13-15 November
This year, the Free Society Conference and Nordic Summit (FSCONS) in
Lindholmen (Göteborg), Sweden, will be co-organised by FSFE and the
Fellows. Beside the participation of Karsten Gerloff, FSFE's president,
Adriaan de Groot, Freedom Task Force coordinator, who will hold talks,
the Fellows will organise workshops and panels.
http://wiki.fsfe.org/FSCONS-FSFEhttp://fscons.org/
10. FSFE will launch the Fellowship grants project
Thanks to FSFE's donors and tarent GmbH in particular, we will be able
to award three Fellowship grants each month for one year. These grants
will cover the Fellowship contribution for people who have done
exceptional things to bring Free Software forward, and will be awarded
after evaluation of the individual applications. Candidacies can be
submitted to fellowship(a)fsfeurope.org. In December, we will announce
the first three people who will receive the grants.
http://fellowship.fsfe.org/grant.html
You can find a list of all FSFE newsletters on
http://fsfe.org/news/newsletter.html
You can join the Fellowship or find how to support us on
http://fellowship.fsfe.org/joinhttp://fsfe.org/contribute/contribute.html
You can order our merchandise at
http://fsfe.org/order/order.html
Copyright 2009, Free Software Foundation Europe <pr(a)fsfeurope.org>.
Verbatim copying and distribution of this entire article is permitted in
any medium, provided this notice is preserved.