Happy new year everyone. The last month of 2007 was pretty exciting, with the biggest news being the release of interoperability information by Microsoft in connection with the European antitrust case. The SAMBA project has arranged full access to specifications necessary for communication competitive alternatives to Microsoft's proprietary products. Of course, this does not mean that Microsoft's monopolistic behaviour has been resolved. A new antitrust case may be undertaken after complaints by Opera Software that Microsoft has willfully distorted the web browser marketplace. It's also important to note that this does not in any way solve the problem with patents on software. Such patents are still being granted by the European Patent Office (EPO) in violation of current law, and the FSFE is encouraging the European Commission to take actions to permanently abolish patents on software, both in theory and practice.
In other news, Google has committed to supporting FSFE's Freedom Task Force in helping people understand Free Software licences. Free Software events in Scandinavia and the Balkans showed the continued spread of Free Software technology and values across Europe, and concerns about information control and retention have been voiced in Germany. It looks like we are going to have a very busy 2008! You can be part of it by contributing time and energy to FSFE's activities, by telling people about Free Software and by using some of the great free solutions out there. Check out http://www.fsfeurope.org/contribute/ for some information on getting started.
- Shane, Zuerich Office coughlan@fsfeurope.org
1. MS vs EU - Microsoft Releases Interoperability Information To SAMBA 2. FSFE Supports New Antitrust Case 3. Google Contributes To The FTF 4. Free Software Story In Berlin 5. FScons 6. Privatsphaere.org Meeting On Privacy 7. STACS Session In Belgrade 8. Serbian Ministry For Information Society Undertakes Localisation Efforts
1. MS vs EU - Microsoft Releases Interoperability Information To SAMBA
In 2004 the European Commission found Microsoft guilty of monopoly abuse in the IT marketplace and demanded that complete interoperability information be made available to competitors. Microsoft objected to this decision and was overruled in September 2007 by the European Court of First Instance (CFI). The CFI found Microsoft guilty of deliberate obstruction of interoperability and upheld the obligation for Microsoft to share its protocol information.
The Samba Team has decided to make use of Micrsoft's obligation under the European judgements. Through the Protocol Freedom Information Foundation (PFIF), network interoperability information has been requested and a one-time access fee of 10.000 EUR is being paid to give Samba team full access to important specifications.
"This case is over and interoperability won. The European Court made clear that interoperability information should not be kept secret and the agreement shows that Microsoft saw no way to continue its obstruction of interoperability in this area. This establishes a standard which everyone will have to meet from now on," summarizes Georg Greve, president of FSFE.
http://www.fsfeurope.org/news/2007/news-20071220-01.en.html
2. FSFE Supports New Antitrust Case
Opera Software has formally complained about Microsoft's anti-competitive behaviour in the web browser marketplace and there is the possibility of a new antitrust case on this issue being launched by the European Commission. FSFE has sent a letter to the European Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes offering its support for any investigation undertaken on the basis of the complaint.
"Although Opera Software does not produce Free Software, we largely share their assessment and concerns regarding the present situation in the Internet browser market", FSFE president Georg Greve writes in the letter and continues: "Some of the most successful browsers in the concerned market are Free Software or contain large portions of Free Software. This includes, Mozilla Firefox and Konqueror, a browser made by KDE. Those products are highly innovative and widely recognized as more secure than the dominant application. They faithfully implement major international Open Standards relevant to browser technology."
http://www.fsfeurope.org/news/2007/news-20071221-01.en.html http://fsfeurope.org/documents/20071219-opera-antitrust.pdf
3. Google Contributes To The FTF
FSFE's Freedom Task Force provides Free Software licence education, training and consultancy. We do stuff like managing a pan-European network of legal experts and working with gpl-violations.org to resolve licensing issues. Basically, the FTF helps to build infrastructure that encourages Free Software adoption and fair use.
Recently Google made a contribution to help the FTF deliver training courses, attend conferences and translate documentation into more languages. Like all NGOs we have limited resources and Google's assistance makes a significant difference. We would like to thank Chris and the rest of the team at the Googleplex for believing in what we do and for making it possible for us to continue this work.
4. Free Software Story In Berlin
On the 13th of December the Berlin Fellowship group held a local meeting. Amongst the up to 20 people in the room from Berlin, there were also visitors from outside Berlin: Georg Greve (FSFE's President) and Bernhard Reiter (FSFE's German Coordinator). During tea, gingerbread, and other sweeties (plus beer) it was talked about the beginning of FSFE, how the participants came to Free Software, and other nice, funny, interesting stories, which fitted nicely into the pre Christmas mood.
Picture: http://www.fsfe.org/en/fellows/mk/weblog/teatime_in_berlin
5. FScons
In December close to 200 participants attended FSCONS (Free Software Conference in Scandinavia). During the two days the participants could listen to presentation ranging from Free Software licensing to Free Software in embedded devices. FSCONS was arranged by FSFE, and will become an annual event to gather people from the nordic countries.
6. Privatsphaere.org Meeting On Privacy
"The citizens should control the government instead the government controlling the citizens!" was a spontaneous outcry of those attending an event called privatsphaere.org - a joint initiative of UUGRN.org, the "Laboratory for Dependable Distributed Systems University of Mannheim" and FSFE. After six presentations tackling the European data retention directive, the German "online searching" and the electronic health card from different perspectives, about 80 people in the audience agreed that the building of "data mountains" will not prevent terrorism in Europe but will cause additional problems to the society as whole. One visitor asked: "Where are all the local journalists, counsels, tax consultants and medical doctors? They should have joined this great event!" Three speakers repeatedly recommended the usage of Free Software to help ensure some minimum privacy, and FSFE pointed out that people should be careful with regards committing personal information to archives.
7. STACS Session In Belgrade
On the 4th of December, FSFE hosted a STACS project session in Belgrade. Civil society representatives both the local area and the EU participated in workshops and discussions, brainstormed interesting projects intended for future development.
http://www.fsfeurope.org/projects/stacs/stacs.en.html
8. Serbian Ministry For Information Society Undertakes Localisation Efforts
According to the official website of Serbian Ministry for telecommunication and information society, the ministry will invest in Free Software localisation in Serbia to provides solutions to the public and business sector. Fedora and Ubuntu GNU/Linux distributions will be localised along with GNOME, KDE, Mozilla products (Firefox and Thunderbird) and OpenOffice.org. The work will be undertaken in cooperation with Serbian universities. Initial contacts with localisation teams and Free Software community are currently being made.
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