FSFE calls on Microsoft to release interoperability information
without restrictions
The European Commission has fined Microsoft 899 million Euro for
anti-competitive behaviour by restricting access to interoperability
information through unreasonable royalty payments prior to October
2007. This is in addition previous fines of 497 million Euro and 280
million Euro applied in the same investigation, resulting in a total
penalty of 1.676 billion Euro.
"Microsoft is the last company that actively promotes the use of
software patents to restrict interoperability. This kind of behaviour
has no place in an Internet society where all components should connect
seamlessly regardless of their origin," says Georg Greve, president of
the Free Software Foundation Europe.
"The idea that interoperability information for software can be
restricted by software patents is simply unacceptable," comments Shane
Coughlan, head of FSFE's Freedom Task Force. "The Commission is now
recognising this issue in the context of understanding that patent
royalties can distort the market. We have to ensure that such
distortion does not occur again. If Microsoft wants to act in good
faith it should release all the interoperability information for its
products on a royalty free basis."
"Microsoft have abused their monopoly position to prevent competition
and choice," says Jonas Oberg, vice-president of Free Software
Foundation Europe. "Yesterday's decision by the Commission is step
towards correcting this but Microsoft are still reaping the benefits of
their abuse. We need to act to restore a free market in European software."
Context - The European Commission press release:
http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/08/318&format=HT…
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.
Contact:
You can reach the FSFE switchboard from:
Belgium: +32 2 747 03 57
Germany: +49 700 373 38 76 73
Sweden: +46 31 7802160
Switzerland: +41 43 500 03 66
UK: +44 29 200 08 17 7
Media contact: Shane Coughlan, FTF Coordinator, FSFE extension: 408
mobile: +41792633406
Further information: http://fsfeurope.org
Microsoft pledge excluding primary competitors
Yesterday's media briefing by Microsoft on its its pledge to release
interoperability information for flagship products contained little
actual news. Over the years Microsoft has made multiple similar pledges
and they at times proved to be detrimental rather than beneficial for
interoperability. Examining the terms of the Microsoft's latest action
shows no major change of policy.
The announcement confirmed that Microsoft was planning to use its
software patent portfolio against interoperating products by requiring a
patent license for all commercial activity. [2] This is consistent with
its previous attempts at allowing competition only where it provides no
actual challenge to its monopolies.
Microsoft's patent licences are incompatible with Free Software, the
primary competitor to Microsoft in many markets. Almost all major
competitors have made significant investments in Free Software and built
substantial parts of their business on the principles of freedom of
competition and innovation.
Free Software's freedoms to use, study, share and improve software
without additional restrictions are key to the success and utility of
Free Software in both commercial and non-commercial ICT
infrastructure. They are also the basis for many of today's working
examples of interoperability and competition.
Microsoft's announcement contains little more than a statement that they
will support interoperability only under terms that disallow fair
competition. Their press statements may indicate otherwise, but terms
of release highlight this explicitly. There has never been a shortage
of promises by Microsoft, but results are what must be considered rather
than words.
Regrettably, the lack of substance in the pledge and the timing suggest
that Microsoft is primarily hoping for positive media coverage and not an
examination of the substance of their limited interoperability release.
It can be no coincidence that delegates are meeting in Geneva for the
Ballot Resolution Meeting (BRM) during this period to discuss serious
issues in the proposed MS-OOXML format [3], through which Microsoft aims
to reaffirm their control over standards in the global marketplace. [4]
If Microsoft truly means to facilitate interoperability and fair access
they should spare delegates the BRM, retract MS-OOXML from ISO and
converge this work into the global effort for the Open Document Format,
the existing Open Standard at ISO for office documents.
They should also release full interoperability information for all their
products without restrictions of any kind.
[1] http://mailman.fsfeurope.org/pipermail/press-release/2006q1/000126.html
[2] http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2008/feb08/02-21ExpandInteroperabi…
[3] http://fsfeurope.org/documents/msooxml-idiosyncrasies
[4] http://news.zdnet.co.uk/leader/0,1000002982,39292519,00.htm
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.
Further information: http://fsfeurope.org
[ http://documentfreedom.org/News/20080220 ]
Introducing Document Freedom Day
26 March: A global day for document liberation
Sign up your DFD team today!
The Document Freedom Day (DFD) is a global day for Document Liberation
with grassroots action for promotion of Free Document Formats and Open
Standards in general. The DFD was initiated and is supported by a group
of organisations and companies, including, but not limited to, the Free
Software Foundation Europe, ODF Alliance, OpenForum Europe, IBM, Red Hat
and Sun Microsystems, Inc.
On 26 March 2008, the Document Freedom Day will provide a global
rallying point for Document Liberation and Open Standards. It will
literally give teams around the world the chance to "hoist the flag":
A "DFD Starter Pack" containing a flag, t-shirt, leaflets and stickers
is in preparation and is planned to be sent out in the first weeks of
March to the first 100 teams that sign up. Sixteen teams already signed
up during the preparation phase of the DFD prior to this release. Sign
your team up now!
"We're proud to support this global effort to encourage open and
inclusive information exchange," said Marino Marcich, Managing Director,
OpenDocument Format Alliance. "Document freedom means creating,
exchanging, and preserving your electronic documents without having to
buy software from a particular vendor."
"Data lock-in and subsequent vendor lock-in are some of the most severe
issues users are facing today," says FSFE president Georg Greve. "Yet
most people only realise this connection when it is too late and they
have effectively lost control over their own data. We are supporting the
Document Freedom Day to help raise awareness for this issue by starting
with something that affects pretty much all users of computers: text
documents, spreadsheets and presentations."
"Free document formats and open standards are important elements in the
continued expansion of the global open source community," said Tom
Rabon, executive vice president, Corporate Affairs at Red Hat. "Red Hat
strongly supports Document Freedom Day and encourages participation by
all who look forward to the day when documents are controlled by those
who own them, not necessarily by those who create the technology to
access those documents."
Simon Phipps, Chief Open Source Officer, Sun Microsystems stated, "As I
explained in my paper "Freedom to Leave" [*], it's fundamental in the
emerging market for people to be free to use any software they desire to
handle their data. I fully support the goals of Document Freedom."
[*] http://docs.google.com/View?docid=dhb29vwq_3dzb2cs
Alexandre Oliva of the Free Software Foundation Latin America (FSFLA)
comments: "When you save your documents using a Free Open Standard
format such as ODF, you're also saving your own future, ensuring your
continued ability to access, decode and convert their contents."
Graham Taylor Director of OpenForum Europe: "OpenForum Europe applauds
the announcement of Document Freedom Day. The whole essence of
'openness' is captured by the right of users, citizens,
governments... to be able to freely access and exchange documents today
and in the future. Nothing gives greater meaning to the prevalent danger
of lock-in to proprietary solutions, and for the need for Government to
act now."
About the Document Freedom Day:
The Document Freedom Day (DFD) is a global day for Document
Liberation. It is a day of grassroots effort around the world to
promote and build awareness for the relevance of Free Document Formats
in particular and Open Standards in general. The DFD is supported by a
large group of organisations and individuals, including, but not
limited to Ars Aperta, COSS, Esoma, Free Software Foundations Europe
and Latin America, IBM, NLnet, ODF Alliance, OpenForum Europe, OSL,
iMatix, Red Hat, Sun Microsystems, Inc., The Open Learning Centre,
Opentia, Estandares Abiertos.
The list of DFD supporting groups can be found at
http://documentfreedom.org/Who
The list of DFD teams is available at
http://documentfreedom.org/Category:Teams
Further information:
http://documentfreedom.org
Contact:
contact(a)documentfreedom.org
Graham Taylor graham(a)openforumeurope.org
Ivan Jelic jelic(a)fsfeurope.org
Kerri Catallozzi kcatallo(a)redhat.com
Marino Marcich mmarcich(a)odfalliance.org
Marko Milenovic milenovic(a)fsfeurope.org
Terri Molini terri.molini(a)sun.com
FSFLA info(a)fsfla.org
FSFE's Freedom Task Force today announces the first European Licensing and
Legal Workshop for Free Software will be held on Friday the 11th of April in
Amsterdam, The Netherlands. The venue for this meeting is the
InterContinental Amstel Hotel.
The event is targeted towards large projects and medium to large enterprises
wishing to discuss their existing licence compliance processes. Parties
attending are expected to contribute to issues ranging from process
development through to optimising purchasing contract language for the
benefit of the European Free Software community.
Harald Welte and Armijn Hemel will be attending to represent
gpl-violations.org, and Dr. Till Jaeger will deliver a talk on licence
enforcement. Ciaran O'Riordan (FSFE Brussels and patent issue
representative), Shane Coughlan (FSFE legal coordinator) and Marko Milenovic
(FTF team member) will represent FSFE.
This workshop has limited space available and therefore attendance is by
invitation only. Projects and companies interested in attending this event
should contact the FTF at ftf(a)fsfeurope.org.
The European Licensing and Legal Workshop for Free Software is one of the
activities of FSFE's Freedom Task Force, also known as the FTF. The FTF is an
infrastructure project that can help individuals, projects and businesses
understand Free Software licensing and the opportunities that it presents. The
FTF works in partnership with gpl-violations.org to deal with licence
violations in the European arena.
The FTF undertakes several activities, ranging from the operation of a
European Legal and Technical Network which currently covers sixteen European
countries and with contacts around the world through to delivering training
and consultancy in Free Software licensing. It provides a variety of services
for individuals, community projects and commercial businesses with the aim of
fostering best practice throughout the industry.
For more information about the FTF or the first European Licensing and Legal
Workshop please contact the FTF:
The Freedom Task Force can be emailed at ftf(a)fsfeurope.org
Belgium: +32 2 747 03 57 ext 408
Germany: +49 700 373 38 76 73 ext 408
Sweden: +46 31 7802160 ext 408
Switzerland: +41 43 500 03 66 ext 408
UK: +44 29 200 08 17 7 ext 408
The Freedom Task Force website is located at http://www.fsfeurope.org/ftf/
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.
Further information: http://fsfeurope.org
January has been a month full of activity both on the grassroots community
level and in broad topics like Free Software legal infrastructure. The local
Fellowship groups in Berlin and Duesseldorf are very active, and Duesseldorf's
Fellowship is planning to expand to nearby cities in the coming months.
Meanwhile, FSFE and gpl-violations.org have been deepening their partnership
to ensure fair use of Free Software licences in the European area.
This is a great time to get more involved with FSFE and the Fellowship,
especially if you are interested in fostering local activities for like-minded
Free Software enthusiasts or new members of our community. You can find
tips on getting active here: http://fsfeurope.org/contribute.
Shane, FSFE Zurich office
1. GPL-violations.org and FSFE's Freedom Task Force plan future interaction
2. NLnet continues to support FSFE's Freedom Task Force
3. Berlin Fellowship meeting and talk
4. Duesseldorf Fellowship meeting and planning future events
5. FSFE meeting in Göteborg, Sweden
6. SELF Open Documentary Contest
FORTHCOMING EVENTS
7. Richard Stallman Speech about Free Software Philosophy and History in Berlin, 2008-02-18
8. Preparation for FOSDEM, Brussels, 2008-02-23 and 2008-02-24
9. "Standards and the Future of the Internet" Conference, Geneva, 2008-02-26
10. Secure shell speech at Duesseldorf Fellowship, Duesseldorf, 2008-02-27
1. GPL-violations.org and FSFE's Freedom Task Force plan future interaction
On the 31st of January representatives from gpl-violations.org and FSFE's FTF
met in Berlin to discuss the future of licence compliance in the European area.
Harald Welte and Armijn Hemel discussed the perspective of the successful
gpl-violations.org project, while Shane Coughlan represented FSFE. Dr. Till
Jaeger attended one of the sessions and brought his considerable legal knowledge
to the conversation. GPL-violations.org and FSFE's FTF have agreed to work
closely together to ensure fair use, understanding and responsibility in the
use of Free Software licences.
http://laforge.gnumonks.org/weblog/2008/02/02/#20080202-gplviolations-meeti…
2. NLnet continues to support FSFE's Freedom Task Force
The initial phase of the FTF was possible thanks to support by the Netherlands
based philantropic organisation NLnet foundation. Today the FTF's legal and
technical networks cover sixteen European countries, have over seventy members
and include contacts from the USA, Canada, Australia, South Korea and Taiwan.
The FTF delivers training courses in Switzerland in cooperation with Digicomp,
in Sweden with Internet Academy and in The Netherlands with ATComputing. Now,
after just over twelve months of continual growth, NLnet is providing a second
round of financial support to this innovative legal project.
http://fsfeurope.org/news/2008/news-20080118-01.en.html
3. Berlin Fellowship meeting and talk
The Berlin Fellowship Group met at the Newthinking Store as usual and featured
a talk from Hannes Hauswedell about the free BSD operating systems. Discussion
centred around BSD variants as alternative Free operating systems, description
of the various BSD variants and the policies that the BSD projects have
regarding Free Software adoption.
If you would like to join in the fun, please note that the Berlin Fellowship
meets every second Thursday in the month at the Newthinking Store,
Tucholskystr. 48 in 10117 Berlin.
4. Duesseldorf Fellowship meeting and planning future events
The Duesseldorf Fellowship met as usual and discussed future plans. This
included a highly interesting and constructive discussion about having a booth
at the Labour's Day 1. May at Duesseldorf. The Fellowship will share their
booth with other organisations. Chaosdorf e.V. (the local CCC group,
http://www.chaosdorf.de) may attend. The Fellowship also planned meetings
in other cities like Cologne and Roermond/NL to intensify the contact to other
Fellows.
Get in contact with the Duesseldorf Fellowship: rk(a)office.fsfeurope.org
5. FSFE meeting in Göteborg, Sweden
The Swedish team of the FSFE organised a small meeting for those
interested in the FSFE activities on the 28th of january. Some of the
issues discussed focused around publishing the videos recorded during
FSCONS in december, and generally around video editing and mastering.
6. SELF Open Documentary Contest
The SELF (Science, Education and Learning in Freedom) project has
announced a SELF Open Documentary Contest where individuals and
companies are invited to "create a documentary about the creation of
free knowledge and education in the digital era". The contest runs
until the end of may 2008, and the winners will be presented during a
SELF conference in Spain in july 2008.
http://www.selfproject.eu/contest
FORTHCOMING EVENTS
7. Richard Stallman Speech about Free Software Philosophy and History in Berlin, 2008-02-18
On Monday 18. February at 19:00 Richard M. Stallman, founder of the GNU project
and the FSF, will give a speech at the mediacentre - Atrium, Johannisstrasse 20,
in 10117 Berlin-Mitte. He will talk about the history and philosophy of Free
Software. The Berlin Fellowship group will have a small booth there and inform
visitors about the local groupd and FSFE's work in Germany and Europe. Admission
starts at 18:30. The entrance fee is 5 EUR.
8. Preparation for FOSDEM, Brussels, 2008-02-23 and 2008-02-24
Many in FSFE are getting ready for FSFE's 7th trip to FOSDEM. Like previous
years, FSFE has been given a large stall just inside the main entrance.
FOSDEM is one of the year's two largest Free Software events where FSFE's
members, friends, and employees can meet each other and the free software
community. It's also an opportunity to buy t-shirts and other FSFE
material, and to join the Fellowship of FSFE - which we launched at FOSDEM
2005.
If you're at the event or nearby, drop in an say hi! FOSDEM is very much a
community focussed event, with no entrance fee, but you can donate if you
like.
http://fosdem.org/2008/
9. "Standards and the Future of the Internet" Conference, Geneva, 2008-02-26
Shane Coughlan, the coordinator of FSFE's Freedom Task Force, will host a
breakout session discussing licensing issues at the "Standards and the Future
of the Internet" Conference being held in Geneva, Switzerland, during the 26th
and 27th of February. The conference will be hosted at the International
Conference Centre and confirmed speakers include Vint Cerf, Carlo Piana,
Thomas Vinje and Jeremy Allison.
10. Secure shell speech at Duesseldorf Fellowship, Duesseldorf, 2008-02-27
Patrick Haehnel will hold a talk at the Duesseldorf Fellowship on the 27th of
February. The title of his speech is "Forget the Swiss Army Knife! - Secure
Shell - tips'n'tricks."
You can find a full list of forthcoming events here:
http://fsfeurope.org/events/events.html
You can find a list of all FSFE newsletters here:
http://www.fsfeurope.org/news/newsletter.en.html
Copyright (C) FSFE. Verbatim copying and distribution of this entire
article is permitted in any medium, provided this notice is preserved.
NLnet continues to support FSFE's Freedom Task Force
FSFE's Freedom Task Force was launched in November 2006 to help support
individuals, projects and businesses with Free Software licensing. The
initial phase of the FTF was possible thanks to support by the
Netherlands based philantropic organisation NLnet foundation. NLnet's
support allowed the FTF to provide training, consultancy and to work in
partnership with gpl-violations.org to resolve licence issues in the
European area. The FTF also formed networks of technical and legal
experts to foster cooperation between lawyers, projects and businesses
with licensing concerns. Now, after just over twelve months of
continual growth, NLnet is providing a second round of financial support
to this innovative legal project.
"The next twelve months are going to be pretty exciting for the FTF and
for Free Software in general," says Shane Coughlan, FTF Coordinator. "The
European anti-trust case against Microsoft was recently completed, the
amount of Free Software savvy lawyers is increasing and Free Software
adoption is rapidly rising. Free Software is no longer an alternative.
It's mainstream." The FTF will play a part in ensuring that this
mainstream technology is as simple to use and distribute as possible. We
will continue to produce knowledge, to train people, to connect people and
to resolve issues that occur. Thanks to NLnet I believe the FTF will be in
a position to help lead European Free Software licensing best practice."
"We consider the user-friendly legal framework behind the development of
Free Software to be one of the core assets, and a strong driver of
constant innovation," states Michiel Leenaars, strategy manager at
NLnet. "But as with any fine print it takes some work to understand the
opportunities. The Freedom Task Force is creating awareness and building
a network of expertise across Europe".
Today the FTF's legal and technical networks cover sixteen European
countries, have over seventy members and include contacts from the USA,
Canada, Australia, South Korea and Taiwan. The FTF delivers training
courses in Switzerland in cooperation with Digicomp, in Sweden with
Internet Academy and in The Netherlands with ATComputing. We have
identified an area of the Free Software community that needed further
development and we are determined to ensure that Europe has excellent
licensing knowledge available to the widest possible audience," says
Shane Coughlan. "I'm confident that the FTF will continue to deliver
high quality assistance to both non-commercial and commercial
stakeholders."
With NLnet's support, the FTF will continue to expand the European Legal
and Technical Networks to cover the entire EU and to help individuals,
projects and businesses understand Free Software licensing. The FTF's
current training courses will be expanded and delivered in Germany, Italy
and the UK.
"This is only the beginning," concludes Shane Coughlan, FTF Coordinator.
The Freedom Task Force can be found at http://www.fsfeurope.org/ftf/
The Freedom Task Force can be emailed at ftf(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.
Contact:
You can reach the FSFE switchboard from:
Belgium: +32 2 747 03 57 ext 408
Germany: +49 700 373 38 76 73 ext 408
Sweden: +46 31 7802160 ext 408
Switzerland: +41 43 500 03 66 ext 408
UK: +44 29 200 08 17 7 ext 408
Shane Coughlan, FTF Coordinator, FSFE extension: 408
Joachim Jakobs, Media Relations, FSFE extension: 404
mobile: +49-179-6919565
Further information: http://fsfeurope.org
Happy new year everyone. The last month of 2007 was pretty exciting, with the
biggest news being the release of interoperability information by Microsoft in
connection with the European antitrust case. The SAMBA project has arranged
full access to specifications necessary for communication competitive
alternatives to Microsoft's proprietary products. Of course, this does not
mean that Microsoft's monopolistic behaviour has been resolved. A new
antitrust case may be undertaken after complaints by Opera Software that
Microsoft has willfully distorted the web browser marketplace. It's
also important to note that this does not in any way solve the problem
with patents on software. Such patents are still being granted by the
European Patent Office (EPO) in violation of current law, and the FSFE is
encouraging the European Commission to take actions to permanently abolish
patents on software, both in theory and practice.
In other news, Google has committed to supporting FSFE's Freedom Task Force in
helping people understand Free Software licences. Free Software events in
Scandinavia and the Balkans showed the continued spread of Free Software
technology and values across Europe, and concerns about information control
and retention have been voiced in Germany. It looks like we are going to have
a very busy 2008! You can be part of it by contributing time and energy to
FSFE's activities, by telling people about Free Software and by using some
of the great free solutions out there. Check out
http://www.fsfeurope.org/contribute/ for some information on getting started.
- Shane, Zuerich Office
<coughlan(a)fsfeurope.org>
1. MS vs EU - Microsoft Releases Interoperability Information To SAMBA
2. FSFE Supports New Antitrust Case
3. Google Contributes To The FTF
4. Free Software Story In Berlin
5. FScons
6. Privatsphaere.org Meeting On Privacy
7. STACS Session In Belgrade
8. Serbian Ministry For Information Society Undertakes Localisation Efforts
1. MS vs EU - Microsoft Releases Interoperability Information To SAMBA
In 2004 the European Commission found Microsoft guilty of monopoly abuse
in the IT marketplace and demanded that complete interoperability information
be made available to competitors. Microsoft objected to this decision and was
overruled in September 2007 by the European Court of First Instance (CFI).
The CFI found Microsoft guilty of deliberate obstruction of interoperability
and upheld the obligation for Microsoft to share its protocol information.
The Samba Team has decided to make use of Micrsoft's obligation under the
European judgements. Through the Protocol Freedom Information Foundation (PFIF),
network interoperability information has been requested and a one-time access
fee of 10.000 EUR is being paid to give Samba team full access to important
specifications.
"This case is over and interoperability won. The European Court made clear that
interoperability information should not be kept secret and the agreement shows
that Microsoft saw no way to continue its obstruction of interoperability in
this area. This establishes a standard which everyone will have to meet from
now on," summarizes Georg Greve, president of FSFE.
http://www.fsfeurope.org/news/2007/news-20071220-01.en.html
2. FSFE Supports New Antitrust Case
Opera Software has formally complained about Microsoft's anti-competitive
behaviour in the web browser marketplace and there is the possibility of a new
antitrust case on this issue being launched by the European Commission. FSFE
has sent a letter to the European Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes offering
its support for any investigation undertaken on the basis of the complaint.
"Although Opera Software does not produce Free Software, we largely share their
assessment and concerns regarding the present situation in the Internet browser
market", FSFE president Georg Greve writes in the letter and continues: "Some of
the most successful browsers in the concerned market are Free Software or
contain large portions of Free Software. This includes, Mozilla Firefox and
Konqueror, a browser made by KDE. Those products are highly innovative and
widely recognized as more secure than the dominant application. They faithfully
implement major international Open Standards relevant to browser technology."
http://www.fsfeurope.org/news/2007/news-20071221-01.en.htmlhttp://fsfeurope.org/documents/20071219-opera-antitrust.pdf
3. Google Contributes To The FTF
FSFE's Freedom Task Force provides Free Software licence education,
training and consultancy. We do stuff like managing a pan-European
network of legal experts and working with gpl-violations.org to resolve
licensing issues. Basically, the FTF helps to build infrastructure
that encourages Free Software adoption and fair use.
Recently Google made a contribution to help the FTF deliver training
courses, attend conferences and translate documentation into more
languages. Like all NGOs we have limited resources and Google's
assistance makes a significant difference. We would like to thank Chris and
the rest of the team at the Googleplex for believing in what we do and
for making it possible for us to continue this work.
http://www.fsfeurope.org/ftf/
4. Free Software Story In Berlin
On the 13th of December the Berlin Fellowship group held a local meeting.
Amongst the up to 20 people in the room from Berlin, there were also
visitors from outside Berlin: Georg Greve (FSFE's President) and
Bernhard Reiter (FSFE's German Coordinator). During tea, gingerbread,
and other sweeties (plus beer) it was talked about the beginning of
FSFE, how the participants came to Free Software, and other nice, funny,
interesting stories, which fitted nicely into the pre Christmas mood.
Picture: http://www.fsfe.org/en/fellows/mk/weblog/teatime_in_berlin
5. FScons
In December close to 200 participants attended FSCONS (Free Software
Conference in Scandinavia). During the two days the participants could
listen to presentation ranging from Free Software licensing to Free
Software in embedded devices. FSCONS was arranged by FSFE, and will
become an annual event to gather people from the nordic countries.
http://www.fscons.org
6. Privatsphaere.org Meeting On Privacy
"The citizens should control the government instead the government controlling
the citizens!" was a spontaneous outcry of those attending an event called
privatsphaere.org - a joint initiative of UUGRN.org, the "Laboratory for
Dependable Distributed Systems University of Mannheim" and FSFE.
After six presentations tackling the European data retention directive, the
German "online searching" and the electronic health card from different
perspectives, about 80 people in the audience agreed that the building of
"data mountains" will not prevent terrorism in Europe but will cause
additional problems to the society as whole. One visitor asked: "Where are
all the local journalists, counsels, tax consultants and medical doctors?
They should have joined this great event!" Three speakers repeatedly
recommended the usage of Free Software to help ensure some minimum privacy,
and FSFE pointed out that people should be careful with regards committing
personal information to archives.
7. STACS Session In Belgrade
On the 4th of December, FSFE hosted a STACS project session in Belgrade. Civil
society representatives both the local area and the EU participated in workshops
and discussions, brainstormed interesting projects intended for future
development.
http://www.fsfeurope.org/projects/stacs/stacs.en.html
8. Serbian Ministry For Information Society Undertakes Localisation Efforts
According to the official website of Serbian Ministry for telecommunication and
information society, the ministry will invest in Free Software localisation in
Serbia to provides solutions to the public and business sector. Fedora and
Ubuntu GNU/Linux distributions will be localised along with GNOME, KDE, Mozilla
products (Firefox and Thunderbird) and OpenOffice.org. The work will be
undertaken in cooperation with Serbian universities. Initial contacts with
localisation teams and Free Software
community are currently being made.
Get active with FSFE:
http://www.fsfeurope.org/contribute/
You can find a list of all FSFE newsletters on
http://www.fsfeurope.org/news/newsletter.en.html
Copyright (C) FSFE. Verbatim copying and distribution of this entire
article is permitted in any medium, provided this notice is preserved.
FSFE supports new antitrust investigation against Microsoft
"Microsoft should be required openly, fully and faithfully to
implement free and open industry standards," is the message of a
letter by the Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE) to European
Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes. To help achieve this goal, FSFE
offered its support for a possible antitrust investigation based on
the complaint of Opera Software against Microsoft. The complaint was
based on anti-competitive behaviour in the web browser market.
"Although Opera Software does not produce Free Software, we largely
share their assessment and concerns regarding the present situation in
the Internet browser market", FSFE president Georg Greve writes in the
letter and continues: "Some of the most successful browsers in the
concerned market are Free Software or contain large portions of Free
Software. This includes, Mozilla Firefox and Konqueror, a browser made
by KDE. Those products are highly innovative and widely recognized as
more secure than the dominant application. They faithfully implement
major international Open Standards relevant to browser technology."
So what is the problem in the browser market? FSFE explains:
"Precisely because they abide by industry recognized Open Standards
and cannot implement the undisclosed and non-compliant 'Microsoft
dialects' of these standards, they often appear limited when compared
with Microsoft’s Internet Explorer which establishes itself as the
closed, de facto standard due to Internet Explorer’s dominant
position. Moreover, these web browsers cannot be hardwired into the
dominant Windows Operating System as is the case with Internet
Explorer."
"For these reasons," Georg Greve concludes "we strongly support
enforcement actions that counter Microsoft’s strategy of 'embracing,
extending and extinguishing' multilateral Open Standards - a strategy
Microsoft already employed successfully in the Work Group Server
market addressed in the 2004 Decision. Default standards compliance by
Microsoft is of great importance to FSFE, as we are witnessing many
similar attempts by Microsoft in other markets to undermine public and
international standards that enable interoperability".
You can read the entire letter at
http://fsfeurope.org/documents/20071219-opera-antitrust.pdf
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://fsfeurope.org
Contact:
You can reach the FSFE switchboard from:
Belgium: +32 2 747 03 57
Germany: +49 700 373 38 76 73
Sweden: +46 31 7802160
Switzerland: +41 43 500 03 66
UK: +44 29 200 08 17 7
EU antitrust case over: Samba receives interoperability information
In 2004 the European Commission found Microsoft guilty of monopoly
abuse in the IT marketplace and demanded that complete
interoperability information be made available to competitors.
Microsoft objected to this decision and was overruled in September
2007 by the European Court of First Instance (CFI). The CFI found
Microsoft guilty of deliberate obstruction of interoperability and
upheld the obligation for Microsoft to share its protocol information.
The Samba Team has decided to make use of Micrsoft's obligation under
the European judgements. Through the Protocol Freedom Information
Foundation (PFIF), network interoperability information has been
requested and a one-time access fee of 10.000 EUR is being paid to
give Samba team full access to important specifications.
"One case is over and interoperability won. The European Court made
clear that interoperability information should not be kept secret and
the agreement shows that Microsoft saw no way to continue its
obstruction of interoperability in this area. This establishes a
standard which everyone will have to meet from now on," summarizes Georg
Greve, president of the Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE).
Jonas Öberg, FSFE's vice president, continues: "Other winners are all
users of Workgroup productivity applications: Samba will now gain full
access to all the information necessary for full interoperability with
today's and tomorrow's Microsoft Workgroup Server products. All users
stand to benefit from this, even those using Microsoft's products,
because increased competition is likely to put pressure on Microsoft's
pricing and decrease Microsoft's margins."
"Under the current situation, thanks to the improvements that we have
been able to obtain, the agreement is the best solution possible. It
does not solve all the open issues we have with Microsoft, it just
partially remedies an unfair and illegal situation. It is not a
settlement, it is compliance to the remedies imposed by the Commission
and upheld by the EC Courts. And at least it is now fully compatible
with Free Software licensing," comments Carlo Piana, legal counsel of
the FSFE.
Piana continues: "We have been able once for all to receive a list of
the patents that Microsoft claims to be reading on the specifications.
Incredibly we have never been exactly told which those patents were.
This should be helpful to stop FUD against Samba, and we hope the same
will happen with other Free Software projects. It is standard practice:
if you have an issue with somebody, you should tell what this issue is,
or shut up completely."
"The European Commission has been criticised harshly for its agreement
with Microsoft, in particular its failure to declare potentially
relevant patents of Microsoft invalid," Jonas Öberg continues: "The
system is broken and needs fixing, but it is not for civil
administration to declare specific patents valid or invalid. We need
informed, transparent and democratic dialog on this issue."
Georg Greve adds: "The European Commission got further than any other
antitrust authority in the world and was more successful. They deserve
our gratitude and support for having gone 80% of the way. All the same
one could have hoped for the courage to also mention the problems caused
by software patents for interoperability and thus competition, including
a clear request to the proper political places to address this issue."
"We should also not forget that this is only about one area in which
Microsoft is showing the same behaviour. There are outstanding antitrust
complaints from both the European Committee for Interoperable Systems
(ECIS) and Opera about different abusive behaviours in the office,
Internet and web browser area," Greve adds. "If the same methods are
abusive in one area, they should also be abusive in another. So if the
European Commission wants to follow the positive example it set since
1998, it should not fail to also investigate the other complaints."
"The overall summary is positive. When FSFE set out in 2001 to support
the European Commission in its antitrust investigation against
Microsoft, our goal was to make this information available to Free
Software. Working jointly with the Samba team since 2003, we managed to
do just that."
Jonas Öberg concludes: "Software patents were a problem then and they
remain a problem today. We will need to solve this problem politically,
and FSFE intends to keep working on this. Meanwhile I'd like to thank
all the volunteers and employees of FSFE and Samba who worked on this
amazing success for Free Software with little or no support while others
were allowing themselves to be solicited out of the case. Our thanks
also goes to everyone who supported our work over the years and helped
make this success possible."
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://fsfeurope.org
Contact:
Georg Greve +41-76-5611866
Jonas Öberg +46-733-423962
Carlo Piana +39-347-8835209
Shane Coughlan +41-79-2633406
Ciaran O'Riordan +32-477-364419
You can reach the FSFE switchboard from:
Belgium: +32 2 747 03 57
Germany: +49 700 373 38 76 73
Sweden: +46 31 7802160
Switzerland: +41 43 500 03 66
UK: +44 29 200 08 17 7
Welcome to FSFE's exceptionally full November newsletter. In Europe FSFE has
been involved in speeches, meetings, training courses and public betas of new
technology. On the global level we have been participated in the recent
Internet Governance Forum meeting in Brazil.
As always FSFE's work has been complemented by the contributions of the Fellows.
The Fellows in Nijmegen, Dusseldorf and Berlin are due particular credit this
month after participating in discussions on various topics. In Berlin the
increased use of Free Software on mobile devices was discussed, while Free
Software and business was the topic of choice in Dusseldorf and Nijmegen.
If you are interested in starting Fellowship meetings in your area please
contact the Fellowship at http://fsfe.org/en/contact_us
- Shane, FSFE Zurich Office
1. United Nations Internet Governance Forum (IGF)
2. STACS meeting in London
3. Trophees du Libre 2007 in Soissons
4. Training Courses in Stockholm and Nijmegen
5. FTF events in Linz, Lausanne, Nijmegen and Dusseldorf
6. Foundation activities in Sweden
7. Berlin Fellowship discusses Free Software mobile phones
8. FSFE revisiting software patent information
9. SELF public beta and bug fixing
10. Interview with Werner Koch
Forthcoming events:
11. Free Software Conference Scandinavia, Gothenburg, Sweden
12. FSFE informes on privacy and freedom in Schwetzingen
1. United Nations Internet Governance Forum (IGF)
The second Internet Governance Forum was hosted by the Brazilian
government in Rio de Janeiro and showed a strong emphasis of Open
Standards as one of the key issues, also thanks to the constant work
that FSFE has been doing over the years and the good collaboration with
many groups in the Dynamic Coalition on Open Standards (DCOS). FSFE's
president Georg Greve had a busy time participating in the pre-IGF
Standards Edge conference by the Bolin Group and several workshops on
the issue, including the general assembly Security Session. Open
Standards are likely to play a greate role in the future UN work.
http://fsfeurope.org/projects/igf/
2. STACS meeting in London
On the 2nd of November, the FSFE organised a capacity building session
for CSOs as part of the STACS project
(FP6-2005-Science-and-Society-19-044597), in order to increase CSO
awareness of Free Software and to demonstrate its use. The session took
place at The Hub in London and was attended by a nice mixture of
participating CSOs, both from the greater London area, from the rest of
the UK and from several other European countries. The session ended with
a wish from all participants to hold several more similar sessions for
other CSOs in other places around Europe.
3. Trophees du Libre 2007 in Soissons
The Trophees du Libre, organised by CETRIL, is the world's largest Free
Software award with several categories. The 29 November saw the 4th
edition of the Trophees du Libre, held at the Chateau de Villeneuve
Saint-Germain with participants coming from as far as Taiwan, Israel or
Montreal. Having participated in the jury last year, FSFE president
Georg Greve was invited to preside over the jury of this edition and to
moderate the award ceremony while FSFE intern Irina Dzhambazova was
using the opportunity to get to know more projects and supporting the
event as best she could.
http://www.tropheesdulibre.org/?lang=en
4. Training Courses in Stockholm and Nijmegen
On the 8th of November, the FTF in collaboration with Internet Academy in
Stockholm, Sweden delivered a course on the strategic implementation of
Free Software in business. On the 26th of November the FTF and ATComputing
in Nijmegen, The Netherlands delivered the same course. The FTF now offers
course in Switzerland, Sweden and The Netherlands and expects to expand into
more countries soon. For more information about FTF courses please visit:
http://www.fsfeurope.org/ftf
5. FTF events in Linz, Lausanne, Nijmegen and Dusseldorf
It has been a busy month for the FTF. Shane Coughlan, FTF Coordinator,
delivered a keynote entitled 'Free Software, licensing and business
processes' on the 3rd of November at elce2007 in Linz, Austria. He also
spoke at the Business and Law schools of Lausanne University, Switzerland,
on the 21st and 22nd of November, attended a Fellowship meeting in Nijmegen,
The Netherlands on the 26th, and delivered a speech for the Dusseldorf
Fellows about Free Software licensing and business processes on the 28th.
For more information about FTF events please visit FSFE's events page:
http://www.fsfeurope.org/events/events.html
6. Foundation activities in Sweden
The Swedish team of the FSFE has been busy during the month, holding
several presentations about SELF and Free Software in Sweden. The first
presentation was held at the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm
on the 7th of November, followed up by the University College of Borås
in Borås on the 9th, Umeå University in Umeå on the 12th, Mid Sweden
University in Sundsvall on the 19th, Karlstad University in Karlstad on
the 20th and Linköping University in Linköping on the 21st.
All events were quite well attended, with a mixture of students, teachers
and other members of the faculty. In the presentations, emphasis was
placed also on how SELF actually contributes, not only to further education
on Free Software, but also to encourage the Free Software philosophy of
sharing and cooperation in other areas.
7. Berlin Fellowship discusses Free Software mobile phones
On 13. November there was a local Fellowship meeting in Berlin. Fellow
Robert Schuster gave a presentation about the relevance of OpenMoko for
the Free Software community. There was an interesting discussion about
what that means for the freedom of private persons as well as the
possibilities these freedoms give SMEs who can offer special services
for their costumers. It was decided that the Berlin Fellowship group
will meet every second Thursday in the month at the Newthinking store.
Afterwards the meeting was moved into a pub to get know to each other.
More information:
- The slides (in German):
http://fsfe.org/en/content/download/33600/207464/file/OpenMoko-Vortrag-fell…
- Pictures of the event:
http://store.newthinking.de/blog/archive/2007/11/13/erster-fsfe-fellowship-…
- Mailing list for meetings in Berlin: berlin(a)lists.fsfe.org.
8. FSFE revisiting software patent information
We have begun to revisit the published information on out webpages.
There is increasing discussion of software patents within the institutions,
so we are revising the information published on out website. Some updates
are already online, and in the coming weeks, we will continue to provide
more documentation about the current status as well as summaries of what was
learned and what has already happened.
http://www.fsfeurope.org/projects/swpat
9. SELF public beta and bug fixing
After the launch of the public beta version of the SELF platform, the
development team has been working extensively on fixing bugs and
implementing the missing functionality of the platform. However, more
work is still needed in this area, and if you want to help, we encourage
you to try out the platform at http://www.selfplatform.eu/ and report
whatever bugs you come across.
10. Interview with Werner Koch
For our German readers there is something of a treat this month. Gulli
has an interview with Werner Koch, creator of GnuPG and one of the co-founders
of FSFE. Werner talks about his perspectives on security and Free Software.
http://www.gulli.com/news/der-autor-von-gnupg-im-gespr-2007-11-23/
Forthcoming events:
11. Free Software Conference Scandinavia, Gothenburg, Sweden
The FSFE is organising the Free Software Conference Scandinavia (FSCONS),
taking place in Gothenburg, Sweden on the 7th and 8th of December 2007. It is
the first in its kind event in the region, inspired by the growing momentum
around Free Software.
http://www.fscons.org/
12. FSFE informes on privacy and freedom in Schwetzingen
The data retention directive has been put into German law and will be valid
from January 2008. And there are other threads as the German "hacker act",
the "on-line searching" or the electronic health card. For this reason FSFE
is organising an event to inform the public about the coming risk for privacy
and freedom.
https://privatsphaere.org
You can find a list of all FSFE newsletters on
http://www.fsfeurope.org/news/newsletter.en.html
Copyright (C) FSFE. Verbatim copying and distribution of this entire
article is permitted in any medium, provided this notice is preserved.