[FSFE PR][EN] FSF Europe Newsletter

[FSF Europe]

1. FSFE stands firm in Microsoft case
2. FSFE gains observer status at the WIPO
3. Intensifying world wide co-operation
4. Two FSFE members attending SFScon
5. Other public appearances


1. FSFE stands firm in Microsoft case

Microsoft has steadily been soliciting supporters of the European
Commission antitrust case to withdraw their support for the Commission
by offering a series of financial settlements. The agreement with Sun
Microsystems to withdraw has now been joined by financial settlements
with Novell and the CCIA, after which they also agreed to withdraw from
the case.  In light of these developments, the FSFE reaffirms its
determination to support the European Commission in the landmark
antitrust case, in which a decision is expected soon.

This leaves much of the European Commission case depending on the
independence and reliability of FSFE, but it also increments the
personal and financial resources the FSFE will have to spend.
Everybody can help to strengthen FSFE's position against Microsoft
with a donation.

  http://www.fsfeurope.org/projects/ms-vs-eu/
  http://www.fsfeurope.org/help/paypal.en.html


2. FSFE gains observer status at the WIPO

The Free Software Foundation Europe is now officially accredited as
observer at the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), where
it will be working along with others to question the ideology that
more monopolisation of knowledge is always good.  As announced in the
October WIWO statement, FSFE will be working to change WIPO towards a
"World Intellectual Wealth Organisation."

  http://www.fsfeurope.org/projects/wipo/


3. Intensifying world wide co-operation

Earlier last month, Georg Greve contributed a keynote to the Congresso
Internacional de Software Livre (CONISLI) in Sao Paulo, Brazil. He
also used the opportunity to increase communication with the vibrant
Brazilian Free Software community and visit several Telecentros in
Sao Paulo. The Telecentro movement is currently the largest digital
inclusion project in the world and a prime example how Free Software
can sustainably and directly empower people.


4. Two FSFE members attending SFScon

The LUG Bozen/Bolzano/Bulsan decided to enrich their traditional
LinuxDay with the first South Tyrol Free Software Conference (SFScon).
This event also addressed people outside the usual target group, for
example with a meeting of Wikipedia authors. The FSFE supported this
conference with three speeches: Werner Koch talked about "privacy and
encryption techniques", and Alessandro Rubini presented "Free Software
in teaching" and gave an "Introduction to kernel programming".


5. Other public appearances

On 5 November, a seminar on Free Software was organised in Västerås by
the local LUG, the Swedish Linux Association and the Department of
Computer Science and Engineering at Mälardalen University. Jonas Öberg
gave an introduction about the four freedoms that make software free.

At a local event in Genova on 11 November, Alessandro Rubini held a
speech about the development process of Free Software. He explained
that while collaborative development is good, smaller projects often
cannot build up a large community.  Still, as long as the software is
free, the projects remain useful in their niche problem space even
years after development stopped.  Several schools participated in the
event, and the final discussion brought in the topic of Free Software
in education and the problem of software patents.


You can find a list of all FSF Europe newsletters on
http://www.fsfeurope.org/news/newsletter.en.html