Free Software in Munich - FSFE thanks cabaret artist Christine Prayon

Wed May 15 11:48:07 UTC 2019

It’s hard not to see Prayon continuing her satire through her donation
of the prize money. She doesn't keep the money given from the same City
of Munich responsible for the defeat of free software. The question is:
was FSFE chosen because of its fight or the lack thereof? Either
way, FSFE should refuse taking that money. It's money coming from the
50 + 37 = 87 million deal of City of Munich against Free Software.      

Regards,
Besnik

On Wed, 15 May 2019 12:11:42 +0200
Carmen Bianca Bakker <carmenbianca at fsfe.org> wrote:

> This article arrived in my mailbox this morning. It's a lovely read!
> Thank you to the author, and to Christine Prayon.
> 
> Je mer, 2019-05-15 je 06:50 +0000, press at fsfe.org skribis:
> >  = Free Software in Munich - FSFE thanks cabaret artist Christine
> > Prayon =
> > 
> > [ Read online: https://fsfe.org/news/2019/news-20190515-02.en.html ]
> > 
> > Yesterday, political satirist Christine Prayon was awarded the
> > 10,000 Euro Dieter Hildebrandt Prize of the City of Munich for
> > demanding political or decidedly socio-critical political satire.
> > Prayon is donating the prize money to the Free Software Foundation
> > Europe.
> > 
> > The jury states [1], among other things, that the award recipient
> > Prayon "[...] does not simply accuse - she unmasks, and we are her
> > witnesses". Prayon herself used her thank-you speech to put the
> > finger on one of Munich's sore spots: Prayon describes the former
> > genius, progressive process of making Munich independent of the
> > providers of proprietary software and letting the complete
> > administration run on a free system. Prayon then criticised the
> > switch back to proprietary systems.
> > 
> > The migration of workstations back to proprietary software will cost
> > Munich almost 50 million Euros over the next six years. A further 37
> > million Euros will have to be invested in implementation projects.
> > The Free Software Foundation Europe already criticised the
> > migration-project in the past. The migration will not solve
> > existing organisational IT problems in the day-to-day
> > administrative business. At the same time new dependencies on
> > manufacturers of proprietary software will arise and license fees
> > will be paid to the proprietary manufacturers instead of using
> > these funds in tax payers' best interest for the further
> > development of the software and the cooperation with other
> > administrations. The systems become less transparent and no longer
> > comprehensible for citizens. Further information on the migration
> > plans of the City of Munich can be found here [2].
> > 
> > Munich is thus turning against the trend: in other administrations,
> > Free Software is being used with overwhelming success. Since the
> > French government decided to start using more Free Software back in
> > 2012, between 0.6% and 5.4% more companies using Free Software have
> > been created in France every year; between 6.6% and 14% more people
> > find employment in the IT sector every year. In Barcelona, 70% of
> > the budget for the development of new software is used to create
> > Free Software. Contracts have so far been awarded to 3,000
> > companies, 60% of them SMEs, mostly from the region. In
> > collaborative projects, more and more cities are working on common
> > software solutions and jointly develop them, saving costs and
> > sharing risks.
> > 
> > The Free Software Foundation Europe has launched the campaign
> > "Public Money? Public Code!" to convince other administrations to
> > switch to Free Software and support them in their migration. As
> > part of the campaign, we published the specialist publication
> > "Public Money Public Code - Modernising Public Infrastructure with
> > Free Software". The brochure aims to answer questions from
> > decision-makers about the benefits of using and developing Free
> > Software for the public administration.
> > 
> > More information about the campaign and its supporters can be found
> > on our campaign website at publiccode.eu [3], and the brochure can
> > be found here [4].
> > 
> > The Free Software Foundation Europe would like to take this
> > opportunity to thank Christine Prayon for her commitment to Free
> > Software and her generous donation.
> > 
> >  1:
> > https://www.muenchen.de/rathaus/Stadtverwaltung/Kulturreferat/Kulturfoerderung/Preise/Dieter-Hildebrandt-Preis/2019.html
> > 2: https://fsfe.org/news/2019/news-20190515-01.html 3:
> > https://publiccode.eu/ 4:
> > https://fsfe.org/campaigns/publiccode/brochure
> > 
> >   == About the Free Software Foundation Europe ==
> > 
> >   Free Software Foundation Europe is a charity that empowers users
> > to control technology. Software is deeply involved in all aspects
> > of our lives; and it is important that this technology empowers
> > rather than restricts us. Free Software gives everybody the rights
> > to use, understand, adapt and share software. These rights help
> > support other fundamental freedoms like freedom of speech, press
> > and privacy.
> > 
> >   The FSFE helps individuals and organisations to understand how
> > Free Software contributes to freedom, transparency, and
> > self-determination. It enhances users' rights by abolishing
> > barriers to Free Software adoption, encourage people to use and
> > develop Free Software, and provide resources to enable everyone to
> > further promote Free Software in Europe.
> > 
> >   http://fsfe.org
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> > https://lists.fsfe.org/mailman/listinfo/press-release
> > 
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> 