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_antitr...
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_inter... 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_fsf... [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
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