[FSFE PR][EN] FSF Europe Newsletter

Free Software Foundation Europe press at fsfeurope.org
Wed Feb 8 12:04:40 CET 2006


1. Fellowship meetings in Vienna and Berlin
2. Discussion about Free Software in Austrian schools started
3. First draft of GPLv3 presented
4. Microsoft still trying to avoid competition


1. Fellowship meetings in Vienna and Berlin

Matthias Kirschner organised the first Fellowship meeting in Berlin.
Bernhard Reiter, FSFE's coordinator for Germany, was there to inform
about FSFE's work. A good discussion evolved, and interest in more
regular meetings was clearly voiced.

In Vienna, Karin Kosina and Reinhard Müller had invited to the second
Austrian Fellowship meeting. There was a very good discussion about
Free Software in Austrian schools.

While it was decided to stick with bi-monthly meetings in Vienna,
Berlin might even see monthly meetings if enough volunteers are found
to help with the organisation. Upcoming Fellowship meetings will be
announced on the FSFE events page as usual:

  http://www.fsfeurope.org/events/events.en.html


2. Discussion about Free Software in Austrian schools started

Most schools in Austria still use and teach mostly proprietary
software. While many schools show very good initiatives towards the
adaption of Free Software, there is still a long road ahead. The FSFE
has created a mailing list meant for general discussion about Free
Software in Education in Austria, without being focussed on a specific
project or type of school.

  https://mail.fsfeurope.org/mailman/listinfo/edu-at


3. First draft of GPLv3 presented

The MIT in Boston, USA, hosted the first international conference on
the GPLv3. Georg Greve, Stefano Maffulli and Ciaran O'Riordan
represented the FSFE on this event that marks the first milestone of
the way towards a new version of the world's most successful Free
Software license.


4. Microsoft still trying to avoid competition

In a press release, Microsoft announced licensing Windows Server
source code instead of specifications, claiming to thus meet the
requirements put before them by the European Commission. FSFE was once
again quick to explain how this announcement is a mere attempt to
distract from Microsofts non-compliance with the European Court order,
and a tactical ploy to endanger Free Software developers: after having
seen such Windows source code, a developer writing interoperable
software is potentially subject to copyright infringement lawsuits
brought about by Microsoft.

Several media, including the Wall Street Journal and the International
Herald Tribune, followed FSFE's explanations on this issue.


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


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