Hi all,
the issue of Open Standards has been rising in its importance and profile for the past years -- with FSFE being a part of that work during the UN WSIS and IGF, our work in the A2K coalition, and in our contacts with governments and industry.
We were among the first to speak out against Microsoft's OOXML format, and FSFE has been actively working as part of a global alliance to stop ISO from approving this highly proprietary format as IS-29500.
If you still have question marks as to the driving motivation behind MS-OOXML and care for an entertaining read, I suggest
http://news.zdnet.co.uk/leader/0,1000002982,39292519,00.htm?r=36
But our reaction to OOXML is not the purpose of this email, although the underlying problem of primarily reacting to new threats can be seen as a guiding thought on what I would like to introduce you to.
Instead of focussing only on what needs to be stopped, let us think about what should be promoted: Open Standards, interoperability and the freedom to choose your software - so you can choose Free Software easily.
This is the underlying strategy of the Document Freedom Day as a global grassroots awareness day to complement the Software Freedom Day.
While Open Standards are primarily a topic for expert discussions that take place outside most people's sight, everyone uses documents, so this is something people can directly relate to.
The idea behind the Document Freedom Day was one that arose from a wild mix of people and organisations. We wanted a positive signal, a day that could educate people and raise awareness about the benefits of Document Freedom and Open Standards to help them understand what having this freedom means for them.
Thankfully, Ivan Jelic jelic@fsfeurope.org and Marko Milenovic milenovic@fsfeurope.org of FSFE's Serbian team volunteered to bring this idea to life. They have been working in the past weeks to bring the pieces together. You can see the results online at
They have gone pretty much as far as they could on their own, and they will continue to work on it, but what they now need is for others to get involved. That is why I'm writing this mail.
WHAT YOU CAN DO
a) Get your group, organisation or company to support the Document Freedom Day at http://documentfreedom.org/index.php/Who
b) Provide more information for the web pages
Add your favorite links about Document Freedom and Open Standards to http://www.documentfreedom.org/index.php/Articles and write your own articles about your own experiences to the site.
c) Spread the word about Document Freedom Day
Tell your friends, family, neighbors and projects about Document Freedom Day and encourage others to get involved as well.
IMPORTANT: The media-coordination@documentfreedom.org team is planning a major media release soon. But the pickup for this release will largely depend on how "new" this still is.
So please do not yet blog about it, and do not yet do press releases on your support for DFD. That day will come soon, but for the moment this should stay on the grapevine.
d) Organise a local DFD team
Find a group of people and organise activity for the DFD. The place where you can register your activity is http://www.documentfreedom.org/index.php/Join
e) Get creative!
If you have a talent for artworks or just like to play with GIMP, what about contributing to http://documentfreedom.org/index.php/Artwork
Want to design t-shirts, mugs, pins, leaflets? Go ahead!
And remember: The Document Freedom Day is work in progress, it is a collaborative activity. Please feel personally invited to get involved.
Best regards, Georg
P.S. Ah, I almost forgot: The first DFD will be on 26 March 2008, mark your calendars!