[FSFE PR][EN] FSFE welcomes three new members from Austria

Free Software Foundation Europe press at fsfeurope.org
Wed Mar 24 18:45:07 CET 2004


-- press release --

-- for immediate release--

Essen/Wien, Wednesday March 24th, 2004

FSFE welcomes three new members from Austria

(Essen/Wien) Three Free Software activists from Austria join Free
Software Foundation Europe (FSFE). 

After years of successful cooperation through their membership in the
"Verein zur Förderung Freier Software" (FFS), Austria's associate
organization of the FSF Europe, Georg Jakob, Karin Kosina and Reinhard
Müller have now officially joined the ranks of the FSFE.

"Joining the FSF Europe was a logical and important step, something
 the FFS has been aiming to build capacity for from its first days,"
 says Georg Jakob, current president of the FFS. "Being part of the
 European Union, Austria is not only strongly influenced by European
 politics, we also feel this is the right step as we've always seen
 ourselves as Europeans as well as Austrians."

"The most important threats we are currently facing, such as software
 patents, cannot be dealt with on a national scale alone.  European
 cooperation is necessary. We are confident that this cooperation,
 which has proved its effectiveness many times already, will increase
 even more through the integration of Austrian representatives into
 the FSF Europe core team," Karin Kosina continues.

"Working together across language, cultural and political barriers is
 sometimes a very challenging task, but also one that is very
 rewarding," says Georg Greve, president of the FSF Europe. "Seeing
 the network grow is both exciting and promising. We hope that others
 will also feel the desire to build cooperation across all borders and
 get active within the FSF Europe."

Having seen a constantly growing group of permanent and occasional
volunteers, this brings the amount of fully represented countries in
the FSF Europe up to five, with more to be expected.


About the Free Software Foundation Europe

   The Free Software Foundation Europe (FSF Europe) is a charitable
   non-governmental organization dedicated to all aspects of Free
   Software in Europe. Access to software determines who may participate
   in a digital society. Therefore the freedoms to use, copy, modify and
   redistribute software - as described in the Free Software definition -
   allow equal participation in the information age. 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 FSF Europe, which was founded in 2001 as the
   European sister organization of the Free Software Foundation in the
   United States.

   http://fsfeurope.org
   
Contact

   Europe:
        Georg C. F. Greve   <greve at fsfeurope.org>
        phone: +49-40-23809080
        fax:   +49-40-23809081

   Austria:
        Georg Jakob <jakob at fsfeurope.org>
        Karin Kosina <kosina at fsfeurope.org>
        Reinhard Müller <mueller at fsfeurope.org>

   Further contact information available at 
   
   http://fsfeurope.org/contact/



About the Verein zur Förderung Freier Software (FFS)

   The "Verein zur Förderung Freier Software" (FFS) was founded in
   2001 as a non-profit organization to complement the existing
   international organizations in attending to users and developers of
   Free Software in Austria.  Apart from the participation in various
   projects for the support of Free Software in the private, business,
   and public sectors, the growing number of members also care for the
   protection and improvement of the legal foundations of the
   development and use of Free Software.

   http://ffs.or.at



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