Hi,
the country teams are pillars of FSFE's success. They are also the parts of our organisation that are best placed to take action for Free Software in their respective countries.
The European core should support the country teams and help them to become active, especially where public actions are concerned.
The core also functions as a place where the different country team coordinators can exchange their experiences.
In order for the country teams to become active, they need to know the situation they're facing in their country. For this reason, Christian, Matthias and I have drawn up a catalogue of questions.
As mentioned in a separate mail, these questions should
+ give the country team a better overview of the situation in their own country
+ serve to gather information on the situation of Free Software in different European countries
+ allow the country teams to develop and plan actions together with the core
+ allow the core to understand each country better and help the country teams take action.
The Finnish team has already given the catalogue a spin, and come up with some very interesting answers -- I'll forward the questions separately, to keep the discussion structured.
Please find the current catalogue of questions below for discussion. Please add/comment/review/substract as you see fit.
Best regards, Karsten
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• What are the main Free Software Organizations in your country right now? Please also list the biggest GNU/Linux User Groups or Associations (if they exist).
• What are the current issues in Free Software in your country? Are there any public debates ongoing about (for example) government procurement or similar things?
• Are there regulations in your country regarding the procurement of software for government/ administration? Do they include Free Software options?
• Is it usual practice in your country to sell Windows bundled with new computers? If so, what does usually happen when you ask the vendor to sell you the computer without a bundled license?
• Does your country have a government sponsored consumer advocacy group?
• What are the main conferences/ trade fairs/ events that IT people in your country attend? What is their focus and when are they usually held?
• What is the name of the biggest FOSS oriented service companies in your country (i.e. companies that make money installing, customizing, training people in the use of FOSS)?
• Is there a movement to get educational institutions to start teaching Alternative Software aside from Microsoft?
• Are there government sponsored GNU/Linux distributions available? If so, what is their focus (education, security, privacy, ...)?
• Does you government support electronic transmission of tax information and -filings? If so, does it provide software for the taxpayer to use? Is this software Free Software? Is it available for non-Microsoft Operating Systems?
• Does your legal system accept software patents? Is there a discussion around this topic?
• What are your personal goals for the new chapter in your country? Please list them as 1, 3, 5 year goals.
• Are there any statistics available for your country as far as "Computer Literacy" goes?
• Does your country support the deduction of donations to charitable organizations from ones taxable income?
• Whats the most popular Linux distribution in your country?
• Does the current ruling party in your country address the question of Free Software in their program / strategy?
• Is there "Software Education" taught in schools in your country? If so, at which age do children start to learn to use software?
• Whats the biggest IT magazine in your country? How much of this magazine is dedicated to Free Software?