= Record fine against Microsoft upheld by European Court of Justice =
[Read online: http://fsfe.org/news/2012/news-20120627-01.en.html ]
The European Court of Justice has ordered Microsoft to finally pay a
record fine for using its near-monopoly on the desktop to keep rivals
out of the workgroup server market. Four years ago, the European
Commission slapped the software giant with a fine of 899 million Euros
for its anticompetitive behaviour. In today's ruling, the ECJ ruled that
this unprecedented fine was largely justified.
For a decade, the Free Software Foundation Europe has participated in
the case[1], also on behalf of the Samba team, which provides a Free
Software workgroup server competing with Microsoft's proprietary
product.
1. http://fsfe.org/projects/ms-vs-eu/ms-vs-eu.en.html
"Microsoft remains a convicted monopolist, and was reduced to
negotiating the terms of its punishment," says Karsten Gerloff,
President of the Free Software Foundation Europe. "The court has reduced
the fine by less than five percent. The European Commission was right in
being tough on Microsoft. We have worked hard to support the Commission
in this case, and are extremely proud of the victory we've achieved. We
are grateful to the Samba team and all the others who invested so much
effort along with us, and hope that the Commission will continue to push
for an open, competitive IT market."
The case shows that Microsoft has used patents as an excuse not to
reveal their mundane changes to public protocols. The court recognised
that the company was wrong to refuse to give access to the
interoperability information unless a party took a license for patents
too. This is an example of how software patents are a real and present
damage to competition even if used out of court.
"We have successfully asserted the rights of Free Software developers
like the Samba Team to access interoperability information, but
Microsoft refused our legitimate demands until the very end," says Carlo
Piana, General Counsel for the Free Software Foundation Europe. "Today's
decision establishes that we were right once again. Receiving the
interoperability information was our right, not a concession by
Microsoft."
The threat to competition has not gone away. Microsoft still attempts to
bring ever larger parts of the technology market under its control, and
other companies such as Apple are following its lead. The company still
uses patents to put rivals under pressure and profit from their work[2].
It also uses new approaches to restrict device owners from installing
software of their choice[3]on their hardware. To counter these threats
Free Software Foundation Europe will continue to work for a free
information society, and for the interests of Free Software users and
developers everywhere.
2. https://fsfe.org/projects/swpat/letter-20101222.en.html
3.
http://fsfe.org/campaigns/generalpurposecomputing/secure-boot-analysis.en.h…
== Background ==
After the 2004 Decision of the European Commission was upheld by the
General Court of the European Court of Justice, in 2007 Microsoft
finally complied fully with the provision to release timely and accurate
interoperability informations with competitors under so-called
"Reasonable And Non Discriminatory (RAND)" conditions.
After Microsoft did not fulfill the Commission's requirements, the
Commission finally set the fine for noncompliance to EUR 899 million,
assessing that up and until October 2007 Microsoft fell short of its
obligations to offer RAND conditions.
Microsoft contested this assessment and appealed to the European Court
of Justice. The company claimed that because the information contained
in the release was covered by patents and thus innovative, it was
entitled to charge rivals substantial amount of money for access to this
information. Not having received sufficient guidance, it was within its
rights to set a high price for interoperability information, and in good
faith charge running royalties even for the "trade secret" part, which
unbundled from the license for patents upon express request from the
Commission.
FSFE and the Samba Team (which is a licensee of the interoperability
information, or "WSPP", through the Protocol Freedom Information
Foundation) intervened in the case to deny that the information was
"innovative". The only value attached to the information was to allow a
drop-in replacements of network services to be created through the
discovery of trivial details of the protocols, whereas the general
concepts, structure and engineering decisions were both well understood
and not ground-breaking if taken individually, nor was innovative the
idea of combining them novel or innovative. The Court upheld the finding
of the Commission, finding that: "Microsoft in practice continued to
refuse Free Software developers all access to the interoperability
information, which was not something that the letter recognised it could
legitimately do."
=== Contact ===
Karsten Gerloff
President
gerloff(a)fsfeurope.org
+49 176 9690 4298
If you wish to receive further updates, subscribe to our press release
mailing list at http://fsfe.org/press[4].
4. http://fsfe.org/press
== About the Free Software Foundation Europe ==
The Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE) is a non-profit
non-governmental organisation active in many European countries and
involved in many global activities. Access to software determines
participation in a digital society. To secure equal participation in
the information age, as well as freedom of competition, the Free
Software Foundation Europe (FSFE) pursues and is dedicated to the
furthering of Free Software, defined by the freedoms to use, study,
modify and copy. Founded in 2001, 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 FSFE.
http://fsfe.org/
= FSFE Newsletter - June 2012 =
[Read online: http://fsfe.org/news/nl/nl-201206.en.html ]
== Free Software, Open Source, FOSS, FLOSS Same same but different
==
There are two major terms connected to software that can be freely used,
studied, shared and improved: Free Software and Open Source. You can
also find different combinations and translations of those terms like
FOSS, Libre Software, FLOSS and so on. Reading articles about Free
Software or listening to people involved in Free Software often raises
the question: Why do they use one term or another and how they differ
from each other?
Long time FSFE volunteer Björn Schiessle wrote a good article[1]about
this topic, how to deal with the different terminology.
1.
http://blog.schiessle.org/2012/05/11/free-software-open-source-foss-floss-s…
== State neglected web standards, company now faces EUR 5600 in fines ==
In Slovakia, the state has mandated electronic means as the only way of
fulfilling certain statutory obligations. However the dedicated web
solution excludes some citizens from participating as it is not
interoperable and runs only on the non-free software from one vendor. In
absence of any non-electronic option, this means that the state mandates
the use of a certain product from a certain vendor. People who did not
own the copy, had to buy one. A Slovak textile importer deemed that the
state should not force him to use a certain software for its business
and fulfilled its legal obligation by paper. Now the company faces EUR
5600 in fines.
Current FSFE intern Martin Husovec decided this is not just and made it
his internship project to change it: he is working on the case, reading
court files, wrote FSFE's press release[2], and an executive summary of
the EURA case[3]. He is motivated to ensure that no one is forced to use
certain non-free software in Slovakia just to fulfil the law, and will
keep you updated[4].
2. http://fsfe.org/news/2012/news-20120509-01.en.html
3. http://fsfe.org/news/2012/news-20120509-02.en.html
4. http://fsfe.org/news/news.en.html
== Will the UK be lobbied into the FRAND trap? ==
Free Software could be blocked from the UK's public sector use if the
new policy allow"FRAND" terms[5]within British standards. As recently
revealed by Freedom of Information Requests[6]: Intensive lobbying
efforts have focused on pressuring the Cabinet Office to back down on a
strong definition of Open Standards over the past few months.
5. http://fsfe.org/projects/os/why-frand-is-bad-for-free-software.en.html
6. http://www.freedomofinformationrequests.co.uk/
FSFE is trying to counter this development. In May the FSFE asked North-
West UK businesses to tell Government that Open Standards matter[7], and
we will continue to work on the case.
7. http://fsfe.org/news/2012/news-20120528-01.en.html
== Democratic elections with non-free software? ==
In France, the FSFE has raised its concerns (French)[8]on the online
voting process implemented for French electors registered abroad. FSFE
strongly criticised the complete lack of precautions, the opacity of the
voting process, and the request to use proprietary software to vote.
8. https://fsfe.org/news/2012/news-20120525-01.html
== Something completely different ==
- "My cooking can't be a copy of your cooking." Richard Stallman wrote a
new article"Network Services Aren't Free or Nonfree; They Raise Other
Issues"[9].
- This month's Fellowship interview[10]is with Giacomo Poderi, member of
FSFE's general assembly, has worked as a translator and editor for
FSFE, as well as completing a masters degree in Philosophy. Currently
he is working on a Ph.D in sociology, which looks at the user
experience in Free Software Projects, focusing on the turn-based
strategy game "The Battle for Wesnoth".
- According to joinup[11], software written by or for public authorities
and public organisations in the Basque Country will by default be made
available to others as Free Software starting this July.
- What happens with licenses when the licensor gets insolvent? IfrOSS
wrote a proposal (German)[12]about insolvency questions with Free
Software Licenses, which FSFE also supports.
- Open Standards: "How did we get to a point where we will pay for the
'privilege' of having a vendor take our data and lock it up such that
we have to pay them, again and again, to access it?" asks Jake Edge
from LWN in his article"Who owns your data?"[13]. Will you "rebel" at
next year's Document Freedom Day[14]?
- In the lawsuit Oracle vs. Google FSFE's Carlo Piana[15]and FSF's John
Sullivan[16]published articles covering the topic.
- A selection from the Fellowship blog aggregation[17]:Fellowship
representative Nikos Roussos gave a speech[18]about Free Software
solutions that can be used for self-hosted web services.
- Georg Greve does "not believe that Windows is the future of the Free
Software desktop." Sounds obvious? Is it? Here is his blog article"A
bridge leading nowhere: Outlook-centric groupware"[19].
- Clean, playful, wide use in Free Software, out-of-the-boxiness. Fellow
Karl Beecher argues why to choose Python for teaching[20].
- FSFE's vice-president is hacking on Searduino[21], a software to make
it easy to program C/C++ for Arduino. It is also a simulator for
source level Arduino API so it is possible to directly test executable
code without the Arduino board present, and it can even do more.
- Or are you looking for a good configuration for your tiling window
manager? Fellows shared their configuration files for Awesome[22], and
xmonad[23].
- Beside that Hannes Hauswedell wrote about improving e-mail
privacy[24]by removing header information when using GnuPG and
Thunderbird, and
- Isabel Drost explains how to ruin software projects fast and rapidly.
E.g. by referring developers as resources, not not investing in
tooling, or by other suggestions[25].
- Finally, if you have the problem that one of your presentations is
still too long, she also has suggestions how to shorten it[26].
9.
https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/network-services-arent-free-or-nonfree.html
10. http://blogs.fsfe.org/fellowship-interviews/?p=590
11.
https://joinup.ec.europa.eu/news/spains-basque-countrys-administration-shar…
12.
http://www.ifross.org/artikel/vorschlag-des-ifross-insolvenzrechtlichen-fra…
13. https://lwn.net/Articles/496418/
14. http://documentfreedom.org
15. http://piana.eu/java-verdict
16.
https://www.fsf.org/news/fsf-statement-on-jurys-partial-verdict-in-oracle-v…
17. http://planet.fsfe.org
18. http://roussos.cc/2012/05/14/liberate-your-cloud-data/
19. http://blogs.fsfe.org/greve/?p=505
20. http://computerfloss.com/2012/05/why-choose-python-for-teaching/
21.
https://sandklef.wordpress.com/2012/04/16/examples-in-manuals-how-to-verify…
22. http://blogs.fsfe.org/h2/2012/05/05/my-awesome-wm-config/
23. http://blogs.fsfe.org/thomaslocke/2012/05/05/my-xmonad-wm-config/
24. http://blogs.fsfe.org/h2/2012/05/12/improving-e-mail-privacy/
25.
http://blog.isabel-drost.de/index.php/archives/389/geecon-failing-software-…
26.
http://blog.isabel-drost.de/index.php/archives/385/presentation-shortening
-
== Get Active: PDFReaders 2.0 Your help is needed! ==
Our petition[27]is signed by 72 organisations, 57 businesses, and 2327
individuals. The Green party filed an oral request in the European
Parliament[28](5 questions) , and in the German Parliament[29](18
questions with introduction). The German agency for IT security is
recommending pdfreaders.org[30]in their new migration guide and
highlights that you should not advertise for non-free software readers.
And 539 public administrations removed the advertisement for non-free
software, which is a success rate of 25%.
27. http://fsfe.org/campaigns/pdfreaders/petition.en.html
28. http://fsfe.org/campaigns/pdfreaders/parliamentary-questions-eu.en.html
29.
http://gruen-digital.de/2012/03/document-freedom-day-kleine-anfrage-laesst-…
30. http://pdfreaders.org
After long discussions and considerations the PDF readers team is now
preparing a major update to PDFReaders.org, adding: a more appealing and
cleaner front-page, with one recommendation for the auto-detected
platform; free pdf reader recommendations for mobile platforms; and free
pdf browser plugin recommendations.
Please have a look at the current reader overview and the TODOs
there[31], and tell us[32]if you know any other free PDF reader that we
have not listed, and which Android reader you would recommend.
31. https://wiki.fsfe.org/PDFreaders/todo2012/Overview-Page
32. mailto:feedback@pdfreaders.org
Thanks to all the Fellows[33]and donors[34]who enable our work,
33. http://fellowship.fsfe.org/join
34. donate/thankgnus.en.html
Matthias Kirschner- FSFE
--
Free Software Foundation Europe <http://fsfe.org>
FSFE News <http://fsfe.org/news/news.en.rss>
Upcoming FSFE Events <http://fsfe.org/events/events.en.rss>
Fellowship Blog Aggregation <http://planet.fsfe.org/en/rss20.xml>
Free Software Discussions <http://fsfe.org/contact/community.en.html>
= State neglected web standards, company now faces EUR 5600 in fines =
[Read online: http://fsfe.org/news/2012/news-20120509-01.en.html ]
In Slovakia, a law introduced to reduce red tape has led to injustice.
The state has mandated electronic means as a only way of fulfilling
certain statutory obligations. However the dedicated web solution
excludes some citizens from use as it is not interoperable and runs only
on the software from one vendor. In absence of any non-electronic
option, this means that state, in fact, prescribed the use of a certain
product from a certain vendor. Who did not own the copy, had to buy one.
Slovak textile importer deemed that state should not force him to use a
certain software for his business and fulfilled its legal obligation by
paper. Now the company faces EUR 5600 in fines.
The Slovak tax administration has already imposed 12 fines on EURA
Slovakia, s.r.o., which submitted its monthly tax returns on paper,
because the use of electronic forms was impossible as the state's web
application worked only on Microsoft's Windows operating system together
with Microsoft Internet Explorer. All other competing operating systems
such as Apple, GNU/Linux, BSDs failed to run the state's application.
The Slovak tax administration has, therefore, precluded citizens who use
competing products from fulfilling its obligations towards the
state./"This situation is absurd. If another public body decides to use
an Apple-only solution for its public services, should then everybody
buy Apple's products just to fulfill this legal obligation? How many
different products should citizens and companies have to buy just to
comply with all the different laws?"/asks Martin Husovec, member of the
FSFE Legal, who now assists the Slovak company in appealing the fines
before the court.
Ironically, instead of reducing the red tape, this negligence only added
further complications for the companies. Moreover, the "EURA case"
raises a question of why the state should promote any one vendor's
operating system. It only hurts the competition, increases costs for the
small companies and leads to social injustice such as in this case. If
the state requires the electronic form as a only way of respecting the
law, it has to offer the multi-platform solution, which is available to
everybody. It is the task of the state to be here for everybody and not
only for selected citizens.
More information about the EURA case on the following link:
http://fsfe.org/news/2012/news-20120509-02.en.html
== About the Free Software Foundation Europe ==
The Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE) is a non-profit
non-governmental organisation active in many European countries and
involved in many global activities. Access to software determines
participation in a digital society. To secure equal participation in
the information age, as well as freedom of competition, the Free
Software Foundation Europe (FSFE) pursues and is dedicated to the
furthering of Free Software, defined by the freedoms to use, study,
modify and copy. Founded in 2001, 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 FSFE.
http://fsfe.org/
= FSFE Newsletter - May 2012 =
[Read online: http://fsfe.org/news/nl/nl-201205.en.html ]
== 54 DFD events and FSFE handcuffed EU Commissioner ==
As you can read and see in this years report[1], Document Freedom Day
2012 was celebrated with 54 events in 23 countries and in 19 world
languages. It was the biggest DFD in history with over 26 talks, over 6
awards for Open Standards, lots of other events and the press coverage
counted almost one hundred articles. FSFE coordinated between all the
different events, awarded several organisation, and in Germany mailed
over 370 and called over 170 politicians about Open Standards[2].
Several of these politicians, from a range of political parties, did
activities for DFD[3]. FSFE also send out 100 information packages
including handcuffs[4]to suggested people including several politicians,
CEOs, and the Pope. EU Commissioner Neelie Kroes used our handcuffs in a
public speech, which resulted in a lot of additional press
coverage[5]including the front page of the Guardian Online. FSFE is
eager to hear more reports of what recipients of the package did with
the handcuffs.
1. http://documentfreedom.org/news/2012/news-20120403-01.html
2. http://fsfe.org/projects/os/def.en.html
3. http://documentfreedom.org/events/events.html
4. http://documentfreedom.org/handcuffs/index.html
5. http://documentfreedom.org/news/2012/news-20120420-01.html
== May 4th: Day against DRM. Is it their "good right" to restrict us? ==
Last week your editor gave an interview about Digital Restriction
Management (DRM)[6](German). It was about the questions of what DRM is,
why companies introduce DRM, why you have to treat your customer as an
enemy to make DRM work, and which other possibilities exist. When
discussing Free Software, DRM, Antifeatures and other topics you might
often hear from intelligent critical people that it is "the good right"
of producers to control their products. Why do so many people think so?
Would they also accept those restrictions in "the analogue world"? Is it
the good right of a publisher to prohibit that you can read a book out
loud, lend it friends, or sell it? Several times your editor abused
books: last week he used three of them to fix his broken sofa. Would it
be acceptable that the publisher or the author can forbid such use
cases? Do more people accept such restrictions with software and data,
and if so, why? Has the industry with the term "Digital Rights
Management" successfully implied that they have this right, and a lot of
people accept this?
6. http://blogs.fsfe.org/mk/?p=929
The 4th of May is the Day against DRM[7]. While DRM has largely been
defeated in music, it is a growing problem in the area of ebooks. So it
is good news that due to pressure from their readers, Tor/Forge will
drop DRM from ebooks[8]. Discuss the topic with your friends or
colleagues, e.g. send them Richard Stallman's short story"The Right to
Read"[9], and tell us your experience on our public discussion lists
<http://fsfe.org/contact/community.en.html>or send it directly to your
editor[10].
7. http://dayagainstdrm.org/
8. http://www.defectivebydesign.org/tor-to-drop-drm-on-ebooks
9. https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/right-to-read.html
10. http://fsfe.org/about/kirschner/kirschner.en.html
== Free Software topic in the French Presidential elections ==
French President Nicolas Sarkozy said that 15 percent[11]of the State's
IT budget is spent on Free Software programming, support, and
maintenance. In future this budget will increase by 30 percent per year.
He said this policy is "strategic for the development of the French IT
sector". His challenger François Hollande even said this policy has to
be intensified.
11.
https://joinup.ec.europa.eu/news/sarkozy-administration-open-source-spendin…
grows-30-percent-annually
Besides that, the French Free Software advocacy group April asked all of
the candidates in the French presidential elections[12]about their
positions on Free Software, software patents[13], DRM[14]and more.
12.
https://www.april.org/en/presidential-elections-2012-and-free-software-some-
answers-some-non-answers-some-dont-answer
13. http://fsfe.org/projects/swpat/swapt.en.html
14. http://drm.info
It is important to raise awareness for Free Software with your
politicians, and sending them questions is a good start. FSFE is
gathering all such effort in our"Ask Your Candidate" campaign[15]. FSFE
would like to thank April[16]for their good work in France, and
encourages other Free Software supporters in Europe to get in contact
with their politicians. If you have questions how to start such
activities in your country, region, or municipality, please get in
contact with us. By next month you will also have the political parties'
replies to the questions from FSFE for two federal state elections in
Germany.
15. http://fsfe.org/campaigns/askyourcandidates/askyourcandidtes.en.html
16. http://april.org
== Vendor lock-in costing Helsinki 3.4 million Euros per year? ==
A report on the City of Helsinki's pilot project for the use of
OpenOffice in the public administrations leaves the public with more
questions than answers. The city trialled the Free Software productivity
suite on the laptops of council members for ten months in 2011. The
suite enjoyed high approval rates among its users. When the pilot was
finished, the City produced a report stating that the costs of migrating
the entire administration to OpenOffice would be very high. Read more
about it in the press release[17]and if you are interested in details of
the City of Helsinki's OpenOffice pilot project, and in lessons that may
be drawn from this project, we have published an analysis of the
report[18].
17. http://fsfe.org/news/2012/news-20120412-02.en.html
18. http://fsfe.org/news/2012/news-20120412-02.en.html
== Something completely different ==
- "Replace 'ICT' with 'Sex'": 42 minutes before the deadline our
education team[19]submitted FSFE's position for a consultation on ICT
education[20]to the UK Department of Education. Besides other points
we highlighted the importance of "ICT education", instead of "ICT
training".
- Fellowship Interview: Operating Free Software based servers and
workstations in a pro-privacy web hosting and IT service company,
advocating Free Software since 2001, volunteering for the Freedroidz
project, and more: this months's interview is Bernd Wurst[21].
- The Czech municipality Grygov uses Free Software[22]for nearly
everything in their public administration.
- On the 31st of March, FSFE's UK Fellows have set up a link between the
Green Light (Manchester) and Chorlton's Big Green (Leicester)
festivals. There was a Free Software talk and booth at both events,
and a live link-up which brought environmentalists together via Free
Software.
- Our web team met in Manchester for a web sprint[23]. A variety of
international volunteers worked together to improve website features
and infrastructure. Interested in fixing bugs, or implementing new
functionality to improve our information about Free Software in web
work? Join our web team[24]!
- Computerworld UK published a a good article on software patents[25].
- A selection from the Fellowship blog aggregation[26]:
- Affiliate Userscripts to support FSFE: If you already spend money on
Amazon or libri, you can install a userscript[27]developed by Hannes
Hauswedell and 5% of the money you spend there goes to FSFE to the
struggle for Software Freedom! The userscripts are tested for
Chromium, Firefox, and Iceweasel[28].
- Distributed Free Software: Thomas Jensch wrote an article on how to
setup OwnCould on Hiawatha[29], and Sam Tuke also looked into setting
up a local web development server[30].
- Different experiences than Wikipedia: Hannes Hauswedell from the
PDFreaders[31]team is currently living in China, and wrote about his
technical experiences with the Chinese firewall[32].
- After his hard disk died Patrik Willard wrote about git and
rsync[33]and Isabel Drost also dedicated a blog article to git[34].
19. http://fsfe.org/projects/education/education.en.html
20. http://blogs.fsfe.org/riepernet/?p=149
21. http://blogs.fsfe.org/fellowship-interviews/?p=573
22.
https://joinup.ec.europa.eu/news/czech-municipality-uses-open-source-nearly-
everything
23. http://fsfe.org/news/2012/news-20120402-01.en.html
24. http://fsfe.org/contribute/web/web.en.html
25.
http://blogs.computerworlduk.com/open-enterprise/2012/03/open-standards-
licensing-apples-key-evidence/index.htm
26. http://planet.fsfe.org
27. http://wiki.fsfe.org/SupportPrograms
28. http://blogs.fsfe.org/h2/userscripts/
29. http://blogs.fsfe.org/riepernet/?p=155
30. http://blogs.fsfe.org/samtuke/?p=359
31. http://pdfreaders.org
32.
http://blogs.fsfe.org/h2/2012/04/20/an-inside-view-on-the-great-chinese-fir…
/
33. http://blog.padowi.se/2012/04/22/2012w16/
34. http://blog.isabel-drost.de/index.php/archives/377/second-steps-with-git
== Get Active: FRAND is FRAUD - Participate in UK consultation ==
Busy times in the UK. Besides the consultation on education (see above)
the UK government is holding another one until the 4th of June about
what sort of patent licenses an Open Standard[35]should require. FSFE
and our sister organisation the FSF published a joint statement[36]on
the UK Open Standard consultation, explaining why FRAND conditions for
Open Standards discriminate against Free Software (regular readers might
realise this is an ongoing debate), and recommending the UK government
to abolish software patents to prevent damage to the UK's economy. We
also informed UK Free Software businesses, organisations, and Fellows
about the consultation, prepared draft answers to some of the questions
in the survey[37], held a Summit Meeting of Open Standard experts[38],
and also published a joint statement together with other Open Standard
groups[39].
35. http://fsfe.org/project/os/def.en.html
36. http://fsfe.org/news/2012/news-20120426-01.en.html
37. http://fsfe.org/projects/os/uk-standards-consultation.en.html
38. http://fsfe.org/news/2012/news-20120425-02.en.html
39. https://fsfe.org/news/2012/news-20120425-01.html
There is a website explaining how to participate in the
consultation[40]. Please do so to support the requirement for royalty-
free licenses for Open Standards.
40. http://consultation.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/openstandards/how-to-respond
Thanks to all the Fellows[41]and donors[42]who enable our work,
41. http://fellowship.fsfe.org/join
42. donate/thankgnus.en.html
Matthias Kirschner- FSFE
--
Free Software Foundation Europe <http://fsfe.org>
FSFE News <http://fsfe.org/news/news.en.rss>
Upcoming FSFE Events <http://fsfe.org/events/events.en.rss>
Fellowship Blog Aggregation <http://planet.fsfe.org/en/rss20.xml>
Free Software Discussions <http://fsfe.org/contact/community.en.html>
= Summit Meeting of UK and International NGOs calls upon UK Government
to deliver on Open Standards =
[Read online: http://fsfe.org/news/2012/news-20120425-02.en.html ]
The Free Software Foundation Europe held a summit meeting on Monday of
Free Software and Open Standards experts. Hosted by the BCS Open Source
Specialist Group, the meeting was called in reaction to the ongoing
public consultation by the Cabinet Office on the use of Open Standards
in Government [1]. It was triggered by concerns over the currently
proposed policy, which would discriminate against the use of Free
Software in the public sector, thanks to a definition which would allow
Government to adopt standards which impose charges, prohibiting its use [2].
"The policy being proposed in the consultation would constitute a u-turn
from the Government's commitment to a level playing field for software
and for businesses promised last year [3]" said Sam Tuke, UK Coordinator
of FSFE. "Lobbying and deliberation have resulted in another year of
Britain falling behind neighbouring countries in realising the savings
and interoperability benefits of Free Software [4][5][6]".
Gerry Gavigan, chair of the Open Source Consortium said: “The government
has been talking about the need for open standards since 2002. In the
meantime the oligopoly gripping public sector IT, first officially
identified in 2004, continues, as does the use of restrictive and choice
limiting proprietary standards for software".
Graham Taylor, Chief Executive, Open Forum Europe said: “Government
needs to move beyond policy setting and deliver on its past promises. It
is right to see public procurement as the focus for its activities, but
to change past behaviour it needs to invest more in education, and be
willing to be more prescriptive in its dealing with procurement decisions”.
Simon Phipps, a Director of the Open Source Initiative said: "OSI has
long asserted that unrestricted open standards are essential for open
source; the Open Standards Requirement of 2006 [7] explains why. We join
other groups serving the UK in calling on the government to embrace a
truly open standards requirement."
Jim Killock, Executive Director of ORG said: "Open Standards are best
when they are free to use, and can't be hijacked and stifled.
Unfortunately, some major software companies want to have vetoes and
decide where payments are made. While governments need flexibility, they
should be clear that royalty free standards will ensure greater
competition and innovation."
Howard Thomson, Treasurer, and Martin Houston, Council Member, of FLOSS
UK said: "Adopting open standards and freedom from having to pay license
fees for intellectual property just to implement those standards is
vital for the future efficient use of IT in this country, giving good
value for money to the taxpayer and the opportunity for a vibrant local
IT culture to benefit everyone."
A group of attendees also agreed jointly to urge the Government to stay
committed to its stated goals of openness and competition, and
published a joint statement [8] pledging to assist in the process of
practically implementing an open standards policy.
== Links ==
[1] http://consultation.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/openstandards/
[2] http://fsfe.org/projects/os/bsa-letter-analysis.en.html#3
[3]
http://blogs.computerworlduk.com/open-enterprise/2012/04/how-microsoft-lobb…
[4]
http://www.computerweekly.com/blogs/public-sector/2011/02/prime-minister-pu…
[5]
https://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/252921/munich_mayor_says_swi…
[6]
http://www.publicserviceeurope.com/article/1761/european-public-services-mu…
[7] http://opensource.org/osr-intro
[8] http://fsfe.org/news/2012/news-20120425-01.en.html
== About the Free Software Foundation Europe ==
The Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE) is a non-profit
non-governmental organisation active in many European countries and
involved in many global activities. Access to software determines
participation in a digital society. To secure equal participation in the
information age, as well as freedom of competition, the Free Software
Foundation Europe (FSFE) pursues and is dedicated to the furthering of
Free Software, defined by the freedoms to use, study, modify and copy.
Founded in 2001, 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 FSFE.
http://www.fsfe.org/
== About the Open Source Consortium ==
Open Source Consortium is a UK based association of firms and
individuals that deliver solutions and advice based on Open Standards
and Free & Open Source Software. We campaign ceaselessly for the use of
Open Standards in all aspects of public and commercial life, promoting
the unique advantages of Free & Open Source Software and welcome anyone
that supports our aims and objective. http://www.opensourceconsortium.org/
== About the Open Source Initiative ==
The Open Source Initiative (OSI) is a non-profit corporation with global
scope formed to educate about and advocate for the benefits of open
source and to build bridges among different constituencies in the open
source community. http://opensource.org
== About FLOSS UK ==
Free and Libre Open Source Software UK is for people who care about Open
IT standards and the systems that implement them. We promote education
and understanding through our newsletter, regular briefings and
conferences. We are independent of any industry groupings and are
not-for-profit. We value intelligence, thoughtfulness and long-term
thinking rather than immediacy and froth. http://www.flossuk.org/
== About Open Rights Group ==
Open Rights Group is the UK’s leading voice defending freedom of
expression, privacy, innovation, creativity and consumer rights on the
net. We campaign to change public policy whenever your rights are
threatened, by talking to policy-makers, informing the public through
the media, and mobilising our supporters. Founded in 2005 by 1,000
digital activists, ORG is a non-profit organisation.
http://www.openrightsgroup.org/
= Press contacts =
Howard Thomson, FLOSS UK : howard.thomson(a)dial.pipex.com, 077 7091 7538
Martin Houston, FLOSS UK : mhoust42(a)gmail.com
Sam Tuke, FSFE : samtuke(a)fsfe.org, 0049 30275 95290
Graham Taylor, OFE : graham(a)openforumeurope.org
Peter Bradwell, ORG : peter(a)openrightsgroup.org
Gerry Gavigan, OSC : gerry.gavigan(a)opensourceconsortium.org, 077 8755 8976
Simon Phipps, OSI : webmink(a)opensource.org, 023 8098 7027
= Report of Document Freedom Day 2012 =
[Read online:
http://www.documentfreedom.org/news/2012/news-20120403-01.en.html]
Document Freedom Day 2012 was a great success! America, Asia, Africa
and Europe celebrated together Open Standards at 54 events. It is
no doubt that DFD is growing and we believe that it will be even more
successful next year. So what about having look at what happened
around the world on 28th of March? And what has the Pope to do with
Open Standards? Read our detailed report to find out.
This year was the most powerful DFD day in the history! And we are
proud to say that. Our DFD team and amazing volunteers managed to
get on board more than 50 local organisers all around the world. One
of the most active countries that deserves our respect is Venezuela
with 10 events in a single country. The Document Freedom Day 2012 was
celebrated in 22 countries and in 19 world languages. Our fifth year
of organising this event got considerable press coverage with
almost one hundred articles. All this was possible thanks to the
support of our two main sponsors, Google and Oracle, and help of
hundreds of volunteers and 38 partners spread in all the corners of
the world.
Full report with additional information and pictures:
http://www.documentfreedom.org/news/2012/news-20120403-01.en.html
== About the Free Software Foundation Europe ==
The Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE) is a non-profit
non-governmental organisation active in many European countries and
involved in many global activities. Access to software determines
participation in a digital society. To secure equal participation in
the information age, as well as freedom of competition, the Free
Software Foundation Europe (FSFE) pursues and is dedicated to the
furthering of Free Software, defined by the freedoms to use, study,
modify and copy. Founded in 2001, 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 FSFE.
http://fsfe.org/
== About Document Freedom Day ==
Document Freedom Day (DFD) campaigns to celebrate information
accessibility and introduce non-technical audiences to Open Standards.
Open Standards are a basic condition for freedom and choice in
software; ensuring the freedom to access data, and the freedom to
build Free Software to read and write information. Started in 2008,
the campaign has resulted in hundreds of
events worldwide, and this year will take place on March 28th. This
year 28 partners are supporting DFD.
http://documentfreedom.org
Contact: Matthias Kirschner, Free Software Foundation Europe,
Linienstr. 141, 10115 Berlin, t +49-30-27595290, m +49-1577-1780003
= FSFE Newsletter - April 2012 =
[Read online: http://fsfe.org/news/nl/nl-201204.en.html ]
== Let us end all Free Software "projects" quickly! ==
A "project" is always temporary, in the narrow sense of the term. Some
Free Software people use "project" to refer to long lasting initiatives
instead. Your editor also did this, until Bernhard Reiter convinced him
to use different terms for people, the result they create, and temporary
concerted actions. After several people in FSFE encouraged Bernhard to
write down his thoughts, he now published an article arguing[1]: By
adopting the more widespread use of the term project, Free Software
initiatives will be more successful. "Free Software is here to stay,
prepare your mind for this situation.", writes Bernhard.
1.
http://blogs.fsfe.org/bernhard/2012/03/lets-end-all-free-software-projects-…
== Corporate perk or monopolist bribery? ==
Staff in the European Parliament are facing a challenge to their ethics.
A company is offering all of them a gift which could compromise their
independence. The company in question is Microsoft, and the gift is a
bunch of proprietary programs. Through the Parliament's administration,
Microsoft is offering staff (though probably not MEPs) gratis licenses
to Microsoft Office, Project, and Visio. This happens under the so-
called "Home Use Program".
The staff is working on regulations that also effect Microsoft, who is
now making a gift to them. Staff is usually the one who does all the
legwork. They are the one who control access to our MEPs. FSFE asks the
MEPs to tell their staff, and the staff in their groups, not to accept
Microsoft's gift. On the contrary, they should push the administration
into making Free Software tools available that staffers can use to do
their work, and urge the Parliament itself to migrate to Free Software.
Karsten Gerloff wrote about this in his blog[2]and will closeley monitor
how the MEPs and their staff in the European Parliament will react. We
will keep you posted.
2.
http://blogs.fsfe.org/gerloff/2012/03/23/corporate-perk-or-monopolist-bribe…
== Help for FSFE from Greece ==
The election period for this year's Fellowship GA seat has ended on
February 29th. To summarise the detailed election results[3]: Our new
Fellowship representative is Nikos Roussos from Greece. He will meet
with other members of FSFE's general assembly[4]in Lisboa at the end of
April, to work on strategic questions for the coming years. Thanks to
Albert Dengg and Gert Seidl who also stood for the Fellowship GA seat,
and who want to continue their great work for FSFE in their area.
3. http://fsfe.org/news/2012/news-20120303-01.en.html
4. http://fsfe.org/about/members.en.html
== Something completely different ==
- Digital Restriction Management: In his article"Like candy from a baby:
PS Vita takes freedom from new generation"[5], Sam takes the Sony PS
Vita, as an example how owners of devices are restricted in what they
can do with their computers.
- Guido Günther joined the Debian Project while completing his degree
in physics at the University of Konstanz. He helped with development
of Debian for new processor architectures, and co-initiated Debian’s
Groupware Meetings. He also enjoys contributing to the GNOME project,
and advanced Free Software virtualisation technologies. Read more in
the last Fellowship interview[6].
- Ask Your Candidates:[7]in Germany, we asked the usual set of
questions[8]and published the analysis[9]. Compared with the positive
replies in the Berlin election[10], the Saarland election was a
disappointment. Our press release also resulted in discussions[11]if
it is "the good right" of companies to restrict the users.
- Fellow Anna Morris was interviewed by the BBC(Audio, starting at
17:13)[12]about a conference that she is organising in London for
women in Free Software. In just a few minutes she discusses what Free
Software is, what it is like being a woman in the Free Software
movement, and how she first got involved.
- FSFE's volunteers and staff have been quite busy with Document Freedom
Day[13]in the last weeks. We will send out the handcuffs[14]and write
a report what happend all over the world. In the preperation we have
published an article by FSFE co-founder Bernhard Reiter[15]. He
discusses what makes a good data format, and argues that Open
Standards are good, but that we need to push further still. His
central question to data formats is "Can we make it simpler?" The
article is in German, and we are looking for translations[16].
- FSF announced the Free Software Awards[17]. Big thanks from FSFE to
Free Software hacker Yukihiro Matsumoto and GNU Health[18].
- Iceland launched a project[19]to encourage migration of the public
administration to Free Software. Your editor is already looking
forward to a report about this at FSCONS[20]in Gothenburg.
- A selection from the Fellowship planet aggregation[21]:Free Software,
nothing for marketing? And which is the most powerful brand in Free
Software? Timo Jyrinki writes about brands, marketing and technical
details[22].
- Hugo Roy is organising an event at Sciences Po on 6th April[23](in
French). Beside others Lawrence Lessig, author of "Code and other laws
of Cyberspace" will talk about "The Character of Cyberlaw Battles".
- Birgit Hüsken explains how to knit the Fellowship plussy[24].
- Fellow Number 1, Mario Fux, wants to set up a local association[25]in
Randa, Switzerland to keep the local Free Software activities running.
- And Mirko Böhm writes about about managing trust in mixed commercial
and volunteer Free Software communities[26].
5. http://blogs.fsfe.org/samtuke/?p=325
6. http://blogs.fsfe.org/fellowship-interviews/?p=547
7. http://fsfe.org/campaigns/askyourcandidates/askyourcandidates.en.html
8. http://fsfe.org/campaigns/askyourcandidates/example-questions.en.html
9. http://fsfe.org/news/2012/news-20120322-01.en.html
10. http://fsfe.org/news/2012/news-20120322-01.en.html
11.
http://netzpolitik.org/2012/saarlandische-piraten-abhangigkeit-und-restrikt…
12. http://download.fsfe.org/audio/20120320-bbc5-interview-anna-morris.ogg
13. http://documentfreedom.org
14. http://fsfe.org/news/2012/news-20120321-01.en.html
15. http://fsfe.org/projects/os/minimalisticstandards.en.html
16. http://fsfe.org/contribute/translators/translators.en.html
17. https://www.fsf.org/news/2011-free-software-awards-announced
18. http://health.gnu.org/
19.
https://joinup.ec.europa.eu/news/all-icelands-public-administrations-moving…
20. http://fscons.org
21. http://planet.fsfe.org
22. http://losca.blogspot.de/2012/03/on-brands-marketing-and-technical.html
23. http://blog.hugoroy.eu/2012/03/28/cyberlawconf-avec-lawrence-lessig/
24. http://blogs.fsfe.org/birgit.huesken/?p=122
25. http://blogs.fsfe.org/mario/?p=179
26.
http://www.agile-workers.com/web/2012/03/managing-trust-in-mixed-commercial…
-
== Get Active: Leaflets to free others mobile! ==
Our Free Your Android[27]campaign, got a lot of attention. Beside
preparing his exams, Torsten Grote gave interviews for the German
newspaper"Die Tageszeitung"[28], radio interviews[29], and held a first
installation party for FoeBud e.V.[30]. Also at our booth at Cebit[31],
Chemnitzer Linux-Tage[32], as well as Augsburger Linuxinfotage[33]a lot
of people showed interest in this campaign. We would like to get more
people involved in this campaign. We ask you to promote the campaign
with leaflets and posters in your local Free Software user group, your
hackerspace, company, university, school, or your favourite bar. Please
write an e-mail with a postal address to fellowship[34]
fsfeurope.org[35], and we send you some leaflets and posters to promote
it.
27. http://fsfe.org/campaigns/android/android.en.html
28. https://www.taz.de/Kampagne-fuer-offene-Mobilsysteme/!90036/
29.
http://on3.de/element/13543/freie-software-fuer-android-handys-weg-mit-den-…
30. http://foebud.de
31. http://blog.romal.de/2012/03/fsfe-cebit-stand-uberlebt.html
32. http://blogs.fsfe.org/birgit.huesken/?p=105
33.
http://blog.schiessle.org/2012/03/26/ruckblick-auf-den-augsburger-linux-inf…
34. mailto:fellowship@fsfeurope.org
35. mailto:fellowship@fsfeurope.org
Thanks to all the Fellows[36]and donors[37]who enable our work,
36. http://fellowship.fsfe.org/join
37. http://fsfe.org/donate/thankgnus.en.html
Matthias Kirschner- FSFE
--
Free Software Foundation Europe <http://fsfe.org>
FSFE News <http://fsfe.org/news/news.en.rss>
Upcoming FSFE Events <http://fsfe.org/events/events.en.rss>
Fellowship Blog Aggregation <http://planet.fsfe.org/en/rss20.xml>
Free Software Discussions <http://fsfe.org/contact/community.en.html>
= Document Freedom Day 2012: Activists around the world celebrate Open
Standards =
[Read online: http://fsfe.org/news/2012/news-20120328-02.en.html ]
Free Software advocates worldwide are today celebrating information
accessibility and Open Standards. 48 events in 17 countries are using
demonstrations, talks and workshops to explain why Open Standards[1]and
Free Software are crucial to a free and competitive information society.
1. http://fsfe.org/projects/os/os.en.html
A network of 34 international partner organisations[2]are carrying this
message to new audiences, from Cairo to Argentina, Poland to Taiwan, and
the European Parliament[3]to Aberystwyth University.
2. http://documentfreedom.org/partners.html
3. http://erikjosefsson.eu/sites/default/files/global_dfd_invite.html
"The growth of support for Document Freedom Day[4]shows growing demand
for accessible formats and unprejudiced standards" says Campaign
Coordinator Matthias Kirschner. "Citizens, businesses, and politicians
alike are calling for adoption of fairer and more compatible
international standards". Prizes are being awarded this year by Document
Freedom Day teams in Germany[5], Italy[6], Slovakia and Poland[7], to
businesses and government offices which have recently adopted Open
Standards within their organisations.
4. http://documentfreedom.org
5. http://fsfe.org/news/2012/news-20120328-01.en.html
6. http://www.dfd-arezzo.tk/
7. http://www.linux.org.pl/news/kontener-na-newsy-i-eventy/document-freedom-%2…
Open Standards are a common language, publicly documented, that computer
programs can speak. They are central to interoperability and freedom of
choice in technology. Open Standards allow Free Software developers to
create programs that can interoperate with other solutions, so users can
migrate away from proprietary solutions.
"Fresh support from celebrities like Stephen Fry[8], and major community
groups such as Open Rights Group have introduced Open Standards to new
groups this year" said Deputy Campaign Coordinator, Sam Tuke. "We are
delighted by the response we have received, and the additional political
impact Document Freedom Day has achieved".
8. http://documentfreedom.org/testimonials.html#quote-fry
Document Freedom Day 2012 is facilitated by the Free Software Foundation
Europe, and supported by campaign patrons[9]Google and Oracle.
9. http://documentfreedom.org/sponsors.en.html
== About the Free Software Foundation Europe ==
The Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE) is a non-profit
non-governmental organisation active in many European countries and
involved in many global activities. Access to software determines
participation in a digital society. To secure equal participation in
the information age, as well as freedom of competition, the Free
Software Foundation Europe (FSFE) pursues and is dedicated to the
furthering of Free Software, defined by the freedoms to use, study,
modify and copy. Founded in 2001, 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 FSFE.
http://fsfe.org/
== About Document Freedom Day ==
Document Freedom Day (DFD) campaigns to celebrate information accessibility
and introduce non-technical audiences to Open Standards. Open Standards are a
basic condition for freedom and choice in software; ensuring the freedom to
access data, and the freedom to build Free Software to read and write
information. Started in 2008, the campaign has resulted in hundreds of events
worldwide, and this year will take place on March 28th. This year 28 partners
are supporting DFD.
http://documentfreedom.org
Contact: Matthias Kirschner, Free Software Foundation Europe,
Linienstr. 141, 10115 Berlin, t +49-30-27595290, m +49-1577-1780003
== You suggest, we send handcuffs: Who needs education about standards? ==
[Read online: http://fsfe.org/news/2012/news-20120321-01.html ]
Do you know a certain politician who should really learn more about
Open Standards? Have you tried to explain the importance of Open Standards to
your boss, friends, local administration or service, but without any results?
Would support from the outside world help? Definitely! Inform our Document
Freedom Day (DFD) team about your situation and we will send a free, remarkable
gift to your contact to help them learn more about the power of Open
Standards.
All you have to do is submit the name and postal address of the person you'd
like the DFD team to contact by March 30. The DFD team will then deliver
by post gratis Open Standards educational packages, consisting of a short
letter explaining the topic and - to symbolise proprietary standards - a pair of
handcuffs! The DFD team is planning to send 100 packages, so submit your
suggestion soon to be sure your contact will receive their free materials. DFD
packages will be sent on April 4, and you can track shipment through our package
tracking map on the right [1].
Your support directly increases the amount of packages sent. Any donation above
the amount of 10 EUR gives you the right to indicate the name of an additional
person who will receive our package. So, who needs education about Open
Standards? Tell us today [1]!
1. http://documentfreedom.org/handcuffs/index.en.html
== About Document Freedom Day ==
Document Freedom Day (DFD) campaigns to celebrate information accessibility
and introduce non-technical audiences to Open Standards. Open Standards are a
basic condition for freedom and choice in software; ensuring the freedom to
access data, and the freedom to build Free Software to read and write
information. Started in 2008, the campaign has resulted in hundreds of events
worldwide, and this year will take place on March 28th. This year 28 partners
are supporting DFD.
== About the Free Software Foundation Europe ==
The Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE) is a non-profit non-governmental
organisation active in many European countries and involved in many global
activities. Access to software determines participation in a digital society. To
secure equal participation in the information age, as well as freedom of
competition, the Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE) pursues and is
dedicated to the furthering of Free Software, defined by the freedoms to use,
study, modify and copy. Founded in 2001, 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 FSFE.
http://www.fsfe.org/
Contact: Matthias Kirschner, Free Software Foundation Europe,
Linienstr. 141, 10115 Berlin, t +49-30-27595290, m +49-1577-1780003