[for immediate release]
FSFE: Early comment on new Microsoft Shared Source Licenses
"Since we so rarely have opportunity to say something positive about
Microsoft, let me begin by congratulating them", says Georg Greve,
president of Free Software Foundation Europe. "Microsoft finally seems
to have made a step forward on their long march towards giving their
users freedom: of the five licenses published, our cursory first
analysis suggests that two of them indeed fulfill the Free Software
Definition."
According to FSFEs first glance, the "Microsoft Permissive License"
(Ms-PL) and "Microsoft Community License" (Ms-CL) both appear to
satisfy the four freedoms that define Free Software. In particular:
The Ms-CL also appears to implement a variation of the Copyleft idea,
which was first implemented by the GNU General Public License (GPL).
Given previous Microsoft statements about the Copyleft approach and in
particular the GNU GPL as 'viral', 'cancerous' and 'communist', seeing
Microsoft now publish licenses applying the very same principles seems
quite an evolution.
Naturally, it is not the publication of licenses, but the publication
of software under a Free Software license, that gives people freedom:
It is indeed not very useful if every company, administration or
author publishes their own license; so it would have been preferrable
if Microsoft had made the decision to use the GNU General Public
License (GPL) and Lesser General Public License (LGPL) for its Shared
Source program.
Far more than 50% of Free Software worldwide is published under these
licenses, they are very well-known and people trust them for good
reason.
"Microsoft has walked a mile and is now standing mere inches from the
GNU (L)GPL: We fully understand that Microsoft is first trying to get
the nail of its little toe wet in the Free Software community, and we
welcome that," continues Greve. "But in the course of time we would
prefer to see Microsoft join the large global community of commercial
GNU (L)GPL vendors."
"For now it will be good if Microsoft starts relicensing its portfolio
under the Ms-PL or Ms-CL; but we still have to warn people to be
careful about the 'Shared Source' label and look at the specific
licenses: The other three licenses of the Shared Source program are
clearly proprietary and obviously do not qualify as Free Software."
Greve finishes.
The Free Software Foundations will need more time to study all these
licenses and their interactions with other licenses in depth, so this
is not a final evaluation -- and the final evaluation may as well
reveal problems that were not visible at first sight.
Microsoft still has a long way to go, but for now it seems they made a
step in the right direction, and the Free Software Foundation Europe
hopes they will keep it up.
About the Free Software Foundation Europe:
The Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE), founded 2001, is a
charitable non-governmental organisation dedicated to all aspects of
Free Software in Europe. Access to software determines who may
participate in a digital society. The 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 FSFE.
Further information about FSFE's work can be found at
http://fsfeurope.org, get active yourself at
http://fsfeurope.org/contribute/.
The Free Software Foundation (FSF) announces the creation of a new
annual award, and a call for nominations:
"Free Software Award for Projects of Social Benefit"
This award is presented to the project or team responsible for
applying free software, or the ideas of the free software movement, in
a project that intentionally and significantly benefits society in
other aspects of life.
We look to recognize projects or teams that encourage collaboration to
accomplish social tasks. A long-term commitment to one's project (or
the potential for a long-term commitment) is crucial to this end.
This award stresses the use of free software in the service of
humanity. We have deliberately chosen this broad criterion so that
many different areas of activity can be considered. However, one area
that is not included is that of free software itself. Projects with a
primary goal of promoting or advancing free software are not eligible
for this award (we honor those projects with our annual Award for the
Advancement of Free Software
<http://www.fsf.org/news/fs-award-2005.html>).
We will consider any project or team that uses free software or its
philosophy to address a goal important to society. To qualify, a
project must use free software, produce free documentation, or use the
idea of free software as defined in the Free Software Definition
<http://www.fsf.org/licensing/essays/free-sw.html>. Work done
commercially is eligible, but we will give this award to the project
or team who best utilizes resources for society's greater benefit.
Please send your nominations to <award-nominations(a)gnu.org>, on or
before Monday 30 November 2005. Please submit nominations in the
following format:
* Put the name of the project or team you are nominating in the
email message subject line.
* Please include, in the body of your message, an explanation (40
lines or less) of the project, how it uses free software or free
software ideas, and why you think it is especially important to
society.
* Please state, in the body of your message, where to find the
materials (e.g., software, manuals, or writing) which your
nomination is based on.
We will announce the members of the 2005 award committee shortly.
--
John Sullivan
Program Administrator | Phone: (617)542-5942 x23
51 Franklin Street, 5th Fl. | Fax: (617)542-2652
Boston, MA 02110-1301 USA | GPG: AE8600B6
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FSFE urges European Commission to keep defending European economic interests
"We congratulate Microsoft on effective use of their considerable
financial resources: First they manage to pay off Sun, then Novell and
the CCIA. Now they convinced Real Networks to serve their own head on
a silver platter for just US $761 Million," comments Georg
Greve, president of the Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE) on the
recent agreement between Real Networks and Microsoft. "Given that
people were stunned by the apparently large antitrust fine of 500
Million EUR, it is interesting to see how Microsoft has now spent six
to seven times that amount on the case just to make sure they won't
have to compete in an open market."
"Apple turned down an offer for cooperation from Real Networks in
April 2004; teaming up with Microsoft in response is a classic
tactical mistake. If they successfully push Apple out of the market,
Real Networks will be at the mercy of Microsoft; and if they fail it
leaves them out of business. Either way, RealNetworks loses: How long
will they survive a full Microsoft onslaught once they are the only
two remaining players?" Greve concludes.
"Microsoft is the clear winner in this situation: they convinced Sun,
Novell, CCIA and Real Networks to desert the only protection they
could turn to now and in the future", Carlo Piana, Milano based lawyer
of FSFE says and concludes: "This shows how serious Microsoft takes
this case, how much the Commission investigation means to them. At the
same time they keep making billions of money by not changing the very
same practices that earned them an antitrust case in the first place."
"We have to ask ourselves who is going to pay those billions", asks
Piana and immediately gives the answer: "All of you, the customers,
pay that money in higher fees and more monopolies. That is why we urge
the Commission to keep the case up."
Greve summarises: "FSFE will not stop defending everyones freedom in our
digital society, in addition we are not for sale. We have discovered we
may be the only party that will see this case through to the end,
standing by the side of the Commission. You can help us do that job by
supporting our work and you can achieve something yourself by replacing
the proprietary software on your computers today."
About the Free Software Foundation Europe:
The Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE), founded 2001, is a
charitable non-governmental organisation dedicated to all aspects of
Free Software in Europe. Access to software determines who may
participate in a digital society. The 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 FSFE. Further
information about FSFE's work can be found at http://fsfeurope.org,
get active yourself at http://fsfeurope.org/contribute/.
1. IPRED2 - the new attack against freedom
2. Stichting NLnet donate 150,000 EUR to support GPLv3 activities
3. Alessandro Rubini in Slovenia
4. Stefano Maffulli at the OpenOffice.org Conference in Slovenia
1. IPRED2 - the new attack against freedom
The European Commission has recently published it's draft for a second
directive on the enforcement of "intellectual property rights." The
text proposes criminalising most infringements of patents, copyrights,
and trademarks, and also criminalising the aiding, abetting, or
inciting of such an infringement. By requiring that jail sentences,
large fines, and other harsh punishments be available for these new
crimes, this directive could create enough fear to prevent citizens
and companies from participating in the production and distribution of
software, and to an extent, the use of software and the publication of
information. It would also turn patent, trademark, and copyright laws
into affordable weapons for well-funded companies to use on
competitors.
Ciaran O'Rioran has put together a page in which he explains how this
directive could be abused to harm Free Software and what can be done
against it.
http://www.fsfeurope.org/projects/ipred2/
2. Stichting NLnet donate 150,000 EUR to support GPLv3 activities
Stichting NLnet, a non-profit foundation based in The Netherlands,
announced to donate 150,000 EUR to support the GPLv3 activities of the
Free Software Foundation and the Free Software Foundation Europe. This
is an important contribution, and NLnet hopes to encourage other
grant-making organisations to help fund this unique project.
3. Alessandro Rubini in Slovenia
In Portoroz in Slovenia, Alessandro Rubini participated in a business
conference about Free Software. He gave a talk about the the use of
Free Software in business and participated in a round table discussion
about how the government should help Free Software companies grow. Apart
from these official appearances, he spent most of the time in Slovenia
establishing contacts with other Free Software advocates from both
Slovenia and Croatia.
4. Stefano Maffulli at the OpenOffice.org Conference in Slovenia
At the OpenOffice.org Conference in Koper - Capodistria, Stefano
Maffulli spoke at the round table that closed OOoConf2005. The debate
ranged from the decision of Massachusetts to use OpenDocument Format to
the next advancements in OpenOffice.org. The Conference was very well
managed and the hospitality of LUG Trieste and LUGOS (Slovenia) was
wonderful.
You can find a list of all FSF Europe newsletters on
http://www.fsfeurope.org/news/newsletter.en.html