[FSFE PR][EN] FSFE Newsletter: October

Free Software Foundation Europe press at fsfeurope.org
Tue Dec 2 13:59:13 CET 2008


October marked the beginning of a planning phase in FSFE.  As well as
planning our campaigns for next year, we've been working on some
actions for around the upcoming festive season.  Alongside the
internal discussions, we've been asking the community for ideas when
we go to events or hold Fellowship meetings.  Nothing is concrete yet,
so if you have good ideas, please join our public lists and let us
know!

A minor change is that, starting next month, Shane will hand over the
newsletter task to me.  So, thanks to Shane for almost two years of
newsletters!  I'm looking forward to writing next month's, and if you
have suggestions for how the format might be changed, let me know via
ciaran[a]fsfe.org.

				Ciaran O'Riordan, FSFE Brussels Office


1. Antitrust work bears fruit
2. Fellowship interview: Rolf Camps
3. Free Software licensing and Net TV in Italy
4. Behind the Scenes at the Freedom Task Force
5. Fellowship meeting in Geneva

FORTHCOMING EVENTS

5. Fellowship meeting, Bolzano, Italy (2008-11-15)
6. Fellowship meeting, Cologne, Germany (2008-11-18)


1. Antitrust work bears fruit

One year after the final court case was won, FSFE is pleased to hear that
the Samba development team is getting useful interoperability information
from Microsoft.  FSFE's goal was always to ensure that Free Software
developers would benefit from any published information.  This outcome comes
after 5 years of work from FSFE, the Samba team, and other organisations.

  http://fsfeurope.org/projects/ms-vs-eu/
  http://fsfe.org/en/fellows/ciaran/ciaran_s_free_software_notes/fsfe_s_antitrust_victory_with_samba


2. Fellowship interview: Rolf Camps

We interviewed Rolf Camps for some insight on what motivates volunteers and
how they get involved.  Rolf is clearly one of our most active translators,
so he told us what that work involves, and about Free Software awareness in
Belgium.

  http://www.fsfe.org/en/fellows/ciaran/fellowship_interviews/fellowship_interview_with_rolf_camps
  http://fsfeurope.org/contribute/translators/translators.en.html  


3. Free Software licensing and Net TV in Italy

Shane Coughlan, FTF coordinator, attended the 'IP-TV 2.0 Conference' in Rome
on the 15th of October to deliver a speech entitled "The implication of Free 
Software licenses for the future of IPTV."  This event was organised by the
Telematics Freedom Foundation, run by Rufo Guerreschi.  The chair of the event
was Arturo Di Corinto, Professor of Communication Science at the University of 
Rome La Sapienza.  The attendance was quite good and there were several quite
lively discussions.  Most of the audience was still new to Free Software, and
opinions were quite divided regarding the importance and impact of increased
freedom in this field.

  http://www.telematicsfreedom.org/en/project/14/event-ip-tv-net-tv


4. Behind the Scenes at the Freedom Task Force

Ciaran O'Riordan, FSFE's Fellowship Ambassador, published an exciting profile
article [1] about the Freedom Task Force (FTF), FSFE's legal project. Ciaran
looked at the main areas of the FTF's work, including building the world's most
successful Free Software legal and technical network, enforcing the GPL in
collaboration with gpl-violations.org [2], and offering licensing support to
Free Software projects. Shane Coughlan, FTF Coordinator, is also involved in
delivering consultancy and training to third parties on licensing best practice
and policy decisions.

The FTF is active behind the scenes on many legal and policy issues related to
Free Software, and Ciaran's article offers a rare glimpse into the goings on of
one of FSFE's most important ventures in this area. The article has recieved
significant media coverage, including Slashdot, Free Software Daily,  FOSS
Bazaar, Linux.com and LWN.net.

Check it out! 

  [1] http://fsfe.org/en/fellows/ciaran/ciaran_s_free_software_notes/status_of_fsfe_s_legal_dept_ftf
  [2] http://www.gpl-violations.org/


5. Fellowship meeting in Geneva

On October 19th, 13 Fellows met in Geneva.  Ciaran O'Riordan and
Benjamin Morant were there from FSFE to learn about the local Free
Software groups and activities, and to answer questions about FSFE and
discuss upcoming campaigns.  We think this was the Fellowship's first
francophone meeting and look forward to many more.


FORTHCOMING EVENTS

This is only a partial list, and only contains events where our presence 
has been confirmed at time of drafting this newsletter.  For a more complete 
list of events FSFE will be involved with, please consult
http://www.fsfeurope.org/events/


6. Fellowship meeting, Bolzano, Italy (2008-11-15)

On Saturday, 15th November at 14:00 h there will be a Fellowship meeting at 
the TIS Innovation Park of Bolzano. The meeting is open to Fellows and all 
persons interested in FSFE's work in Italy and the projects of the Fellowship. 
The meeting has two parts. First Patrick Ohnewein, coordinator of the Italian 
FSFE group, will talk about the activities of the FSFE and the Fellowship in 
Italy. In the second part the Fellows will be invited to make proposals for 
and discuss about future initiatives to promote and help Free Software. 


7. Fellowship meeting, Cologne, Germany (2008-11-18)

On Tuesday, 18th november at 19.00 h again all fellows and people who want 
to support FSFE or simply want to inform about Free Software will gather at 
the Fellowship Meeting in Hallmackenreuther, Brüsseler Platz, Cologne. 


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

Copyright (C) FSFE.  Verbatim copying and distribution of this entire 
article is permitted in any medium, provided this notice is preserved. 


More information about the Press-release mailing list