Free Software crucial to competition, regulators in Novell patent deal say
Competition authorities in Germany and the United States today
highlighted the fundamental role that Free Software plays for
competition in the software market. After several months of discussions,
the US Department of Justice (DOJ) and the German Federal Competition
Office (FCO) have allowed a consortium of Microsoft, Oracle, Apple and
EMC to acquire 882 patents from Novell only subject to conditions
clearly intended to prevent their use against Free Software players.
"This is an historic step", says Karsten Gerloff, President of the Free
Software Foundation Europe, which was involved in the FCO investigation
since the beginning. "The regulators acknowledge that Free Software is
crucial to competition; that patent aggression can well be
anticompetitive behaviour; and that fear, uncertainty and doubt serve to
push smaller competitors out of the market."
== Parallels to Microsoft case - no patent privilege ==
"FSFE has been highlighting the danger of software patents for a decade,"
says FSFE's legal counsel Carlo Piana. In the present transaction,
patents play a similar role as they did in the European Commission's
antitrust proceedings against Microsoft. Microsoft was forced to
disclose its secret protocols, but refused to make them available under
conditions that would allow their use in GPL-licensed Free Software.
FSFE is glad to see that conversely in this situation antitrust
authorities on both sides of the Atlantic are recognising the power of
copyleft Free Software licenses to preserve competition.
The decisions by the FCO and the DOJ are also an acknowledgement that
regulatory intervention can be necessary to overcome vendor lock-in and
create a level playing field for all market participants. "Patents are
not an excuse to avoid antitrust scrutiny. Today's announcements make
that clear as daylight" says Piana.
In a hearing at the European Court of Justice next month, FSFE will
state its objections to Microsoft's strategy of using patents to limit
competition, as Microsoft is appealing the fine of 899 million Euro
imposed by the Commission.
FSFE will carefully review the actual decisions as they become
available. "Today's announcements point in a very interesting
direction. It is a success for the intense work done by FSFE and
others, such as the Free Software Foundation and the Open Source
Initiative. But the conditions we've seen are no panacea. The devil
will be in the details," says Gerloff. Intense monitoring by the
competition authorities will be required to ensure that the conditions
for the transaction will have the intended effect.
== Contact ==
Karsten Gerloff
President, Free Software Foundation Europe
Phone: +49 176 9690 4298
Mail: gerloff(a)fsfeurope.org
== Resources ==
US DOJ announcement:
http://7thspace.com/headlines/379849/usdoj_cptn_holdings_llc_and_novell_inc…
German FCO announcement:
http://www.bundeskartellamt.de/wDeutsch/aktuelles/presse/2011_04_20W3Dnavid…
FSFE statement to German FCO from December 22, 2010
http://fsfe.org/projects/swpat/letter-20101222.en.html
FSFE response to questions by German FCO from April 6, 2011
http://fsfe.org/projects/swpat/letter-20110406.en.html
Overview of FSFE's work
http://fsfe.org/projects/work.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 - April 2011 =
[Version en ligne: http://fsfe.org/news/nl/nl-201104.fr.html ]
== A decade of Freedom: FSFE turned 10 ==
One room with a bed, a desk, and a sofa. That was the situation when
your editor started working as an intern for FSFE in Georg Greve's one
room appartment in Hamburg in 2004. FSFE started with its operations in
March 2001[1] as the first sister organisation of the FSF in the US. We
have come a long way[2] since then. First of all, our interns don't get
Georg's mandatory cooking lessons any more, instead they now have their
own desks and do not have to work from the sofa any more. Second, we now
have the Fellowship which leads to a growth of volunteers and
activities:
- In the UK, Sam Tuke is currently busy setting up a punchy team. They
are giving talks, organising events, and documenting the
developments[3] in the future role of Free Software in the British
public sector.
- Our Italian team is currently supporting ADUC to get rid of the
Windows Tax[4] . ADUC is an Italian association for users/consumers'
rights who recently filed a class action request against Microsoft
Italy's refusal of reimbursing unused OEM licences for its operating
system. Carlo Piana is helping ADUC's lawyers and Giacomo Poderi with
the Italian team will help to raise awareness on this issue[5] .
- In Switzerland you have a confusing landscape of different Free
Software organisations, which have problems with coordionation. It was
nearly impossible to find out what is going on in the next weeks, or
to find a date for an activity which does not interfer with another
group. That's why the Zurich Fellowship group has now set up an event
calendar on freie-termine.ch[6] to improve this situation.
- Our Swedish team was actively publishing videos from FSCONS[7] . Last
year in November, we hosted our own track at FSCONS around different
topics of decentralised (social) networks and free network services.
Now the videos of the talks[8] are finally online.
- This year there are at least 8 Federal State elections in Germany. The
German team already received replies from the parties in Sachsen-
Anhalt[9] , Rheinland-Pfalz[10] , and Baden-Würrtemberg[11] on
questions like general support of Free Software, problems of vendor
lock-in, Open Standards[12] , non-free PDF readers advertisements[13]
on public websites, the use of Free Software in education[14] , and
software patents[15] . The same will be done for the remaining
elections.
1. http://fsfe.org/news/2011/news-20110310-01.fr.html
2. http://fsfe.org/about/history/birthday10.fr.html
3. http://fsfe.org/uk/mapping-uk.fr.html
4. http://wiki.fsfe.org/WindowsTaxRefund
5. http://fsfe.org/news/2011/news-20110321-01.fr.html
6. http://freie-termine.ch
7. http://fscons.org/2010/news/fscons-2010-videos-finally
8.
http://blogs.fsfe.org/torsten.grote/2011/03/28/fscons-2010-divide-and-re-co…
9. http://fsfe.org/campaigns/ayc/201103-germany-sachsen-anhalt.de.html
10. http://fsfe.org/campaigns/ayc/201103-germany-rheinland-pfalz.de.html
11. http://fsfe.org/campaigns/ayc/201103-germany-baden-wuerttemberg.de.html
12. http://fsfe.org/projects/os/os.fr.html
13. http://fsfe.org/campaigns/pdfreaders/pdfreaders.fr.html
14. http://fsfe.org/projects/education/education.fr.html
15. http://fsfe.org/projects/swpat/swpat.fr.html
== Worldwide celebration of Open Standards ==
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.
Many of you followed our call to participate in this year's Document
Freedom Day: in Brazil, the Federal Data Processing Company - Serpro -
hold events in 10 cities. In the European Parliament, experts discussed
Open Standards as a means to guarantee access to cultural works in the
long term. Other groups participated in Argentina, Belgium, Brazil,
Croatia, Greece, Germany, Italy, Mexico, Netherlands, Panama, Portugal,
Spain and United Kingdom. Selected FSFE activities include:
- The City Munich was awarded with the European Document Freedom Day
prize for its LiMux project[16] .
- Tagesschau.de awarded[17] for the use of Open Standards: The prize was
awarded in Berlin and Hamburg by the Foundation for a Free Information
Infrastructure (FFII) and us for offering the broadcast shows also in
the free video format "Ogg Theora". As you can see on the pictures[18]
(DE) the cake was amazing (also available in French[19] )
- "A bright Document Freedom Day for Britain?" about Open Standards in
Britain[20] .
16. http://fsfe.org/news/2011/news-20110330-02.fr.html
17. http://fsfe.org/news/2011/news-20110330-01.fr.html
18. http://blogs.fsfe.org/mk/?p=765
19. http://blogs.fsfe.org/nicoulas/?p=87
20. http://fsfe.org/news/2011/news-20110330-04.fr.html
== Something completely different ==
- Redhat made $909 million with Free Software and Nokia is spreading
FUD?: After Mirko Böhm wrote an interesting analysis[21] on the
current Nokia move, your editor commented on Nokia's announcement[22]
about selling the proprietary Qt business to Digia. This also led to
interesting discussions on our public mailing lists about the meaning
of "commercial".
- Our freshly elected Fellowship representative Hugo Roy[23] wrote about
IPRED[24] (FR).
- Fellowship Interview with Dan Leinir Turthra Jensen[25] . Dan
describes the aims of these exciting gaming projects, and discusses
what Free Software could mean for gaming in future.
- New Legal News available for 19.02.-25.02.[26] , 26.02.-04.03.[27] ,
05.03.-13.03.[28] , 14.03.-20.03.[29] , 21.03.-28.03.[30]
- 2010 Free Software Awards[31] go to: Rob Savoye and the TOR project.
Savoye is a long-time free software hacker, who has worked on GNU and
other free software for over 20 years. TOR is enabling people around
the world to experience freedom of access and expression on the
Internet while keeping them in control of their privacy and anonymity.
- The FSF welcomed Debian's "Squeeze" release[32] . Debian GNU/Linux
also received a prize at the Cebit, where Karsten Gerloff held the
laudatio[33].
21. http://www.kdedevelopers.org/node/4394
22. http://blogs.fsfe.org/mk/?p=736
23. http://fsfe.org/news/2011/news-20110301-01.fr.html
24.
http://blog.hugoroy.eu/2011/03/28/ipred-remettre-en-question-la-politique-d…
25. http://blogs.fsfe.org/fellowship-interviews/?p=267
26. http://matija.suklje.name/?q=node/232
27. http://matija.suklje.name/?q=node/233
28. http://matija.suklje.name/?q=node/236
29. http://matija.suklje.name/?q=node/237
30. http://matija.suklje.name/?q=node/238
31. http://www.fsf.org/news/2010-free-software-awards-announced
32.
http://www.fsf.org/news/debian-squeeze-makes-key-progress-toward-being-a-fu…
33. http://fsfe.org/events/2011/lnm-award-debian.fr.html
== Get Active - Translations for free PDF readers ==
During our pdfreaders campaign[34] we received the feedback that it is
difficult to use some free PDF readers, as the download pages, or the
actual software is not translated. Since then our intern Nicoulas Jean
is in contact with several free PDF reader developers. Take a look at
our list of PDF readers[35] and how to help them with translation, and
take action:
- Help translating your favorite PDF reader and ask others to do so.
- Find out how to help with translations of the missing readers and add
this information it to the website.
34. http://fsfe.org/campaigns/pdfreaders/pdfreaders.fr.html
35. http://wiki.fsfe.org/PDFreadersTranslations
Cordialement,
Matthias Kirschner
(Aidez-nous à atteindre un plus grand nombre de personnes dans leur langue
maternelle. Rejoignez notre équipe de traducteurs
http://fsfe.org/contribute/translators/.)
= FSFE Newsletter - March 2011 =
[Read online: http://fsfe.org/news/nl/nl-201103.fr.html ]
== Revolution failed: Facebook not available in Egypt ==
"On 27th January facebook was shut down in Egypt. For the moment this
stopped the protests. Media assumes that this is due to the influence of
Mubarak's granddaughter who is Mark Zuckerberg's girl-friend." Of course
this is not true. But with software which is controlled by one company,
something like this can happen. What if the owner of the social network
would have been an Egypt company? Would this company have been able to
resist state pressure?
For a long time dedicated people have been working on decentralised Free
Software solutions, to make sure there is no vulnerable single point of
control. We as citiziens should be in control of our tools, and as most of
those tools today are comprised of software we do need decentralised
software. That's why FSFE organised a related track at FSCONS[1] , and
our staff as well as dedicated volunteers like Torsten Grote gather
information[2] , give talks[3] or interviews[4] .
1. http://www.fscons.org/divide
2. http://wiki.fsfe.org/CloudComputing
3. http://wiki.fsfe.org/CloudComputing#Video
4. http://wiki.fsfe.org/CloudComputing#Audio
Karsten Gerloff gave a talk on "Power Software Freedom"[5] (there is a
good summary by Brian Gough[6] ) at FOSDEM this month, and one of the
event's keynotes "Why Political Liberty Depends on Software Freedom More
Than Ever"[7] by Eben Moglen targetted this topic as well, especially the
so-called "Freedom Box"[8] which started to receive good media coverage
in turn, and will hopefully push this topic even further.
5.
http://blogs.fsfe.org/gerloff/2011/02/05/fosdem-talk-on-power-software-free…
6.
http://blogs.fsfe.org/bjg/2011/02/decentralised-systems-and-the-tendency-to…
7. http://mirrors.dotsrc.org/fosdem/2011/maintracks/political.xvid.avi
8. http://wiki.fsfe.org/CloudComputing#Freedom_Boxes
== Lawyered! - FSFE's legal workshop ==
More than 75 lawyers, for 2 days, in 1 room -- and all of this organised
by the FSFE. What is it about? We do this to ensure that the best possible
legal knowledge about Free Software is shared between everyone, no matter
whether individuals, businesses or initiatives.
As part of this, FSFE facilitates an annual event called European Legal
Network Conference[9] to allow legal experts to discuss the future of
Free Software law and governance. This has become the world's premier
event for debating, discussing and sharing knowledge around Free Software
legal affairs.
9. http://fsfe.org/projects/ftf/legal-conference.fr.html
This year it will be held at the NH Barbizon Palace, Amsterdam, between
the 7th and 8th of April, and will feature speakers like Carlo Piana from
FSFE, Mark Shuttleworth from Canonical, Eben Moglen from SFLC, and Harald
Welte from gpl-violations.org.
== Something completely different ==
- Leaked documents highlight Germany's Foreign Office move back to non-
free software: This move is intransparent, and the more we find out the
more questions we have. See
- Foreign Office: Will it switch off the Free Software beacon?[10]
- Leaked Documents: Change of strategy in the Foreign Office against
recommodations.[11]
- "One study after the other"[12] . Interview from the German Newspaper TAZ
with your editor
- Without Free Software in the Foreign Office[13] - Dradio interview with
Bernhard Reiter.
10. http://fsfe.org/news/2011/news-20110202-02.fr.html
11. http://mail.fsfeurope.org/pipermail/press-release-de/2011q1/000182.html
12.
http://www.taz.de/1/netz/netzoekonomie/artikel/1/eine-studie-nach-der-ander…
13.
http://ondemand-mp3.dradio.de/file/dradio/2011/02/28/drw_201102281034_netzp…
- "Love love love": The Beatles sing about it, we wanted to have some for
Free Software activists at Valentine's Day. As last year we run a
campaign animating people to show their love for Free Software[14] . See
Maëlle's blog post for this years summary[15] and mark February 14th for
2012.
- Fellowship Interview with Italy's PDFreaders heart[16] : While your
editor can inform more people about our our pdfreaders campaign[17] like
in a FOSDEM talk[18] this campaign would not be such successfull without
many dedicated volunteers. This month Fellowship interview is with
Massimo Babieri, IT manager at the Earth Science Department, of the
University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, leader of the band The
Radiostars, and "Mr PDFreader" in Italy.
- What happens with your code "when you’re no longer coding. When your
uplink is permanently disconnected. When you’re dead." Armijn Hemmel
wrote an article why the Fiduciary Licence Agreement is an important
tool][19] .
- New editions of Matija Suklje's "Free Software and law related links"
are available for 29.1.-4.2.2011[20] , 5.2.-11.2.2011[21] , and
12.2.-18.2.2011[22] .
- At GoOpen 2011[23] the 22-23rd of March in Oslo, Norway, the Swedish
FSFE team is helping to organise a special FSCONS[24] track. The track
takes some inspiration from previous FSCONS conferences in Sweden and
introduces speakers on Free Software and Free Society.
14. http://fsfe.org/campaigns/valentine/2011/valentine-2011.fr.html
15. http://blogs.fsfe.org/maelle/?p=228
16. http://blogs.fsfe.org/fellowship-interviews/?p=257
17. http://fsfe.org/campaigns/pdfreaders/pdfreaders.fr.html
18. http://blog.isabel-drost.de/index.php/archives/310/fosdem-saturday
19. http://blogs.fsfe.org/adridg/?p=1094
20. http://matija.suklje.name/?q=node/226
21. http://matija.suklje.name/?q=node/228
22. http://matija.suklje.name/?q=node/230
23. http://www.goopen.no/program/
24. http://www.fscons.org
== Get active - Activities for Document Freedom ==
Document Freedom Day (DFD)[25] is a global day for document liberation.
March 30th will be a day of grassroots effort to educate the public about
the importance of Free Document Formats and Open Standards[26] in general.
This is how you can help:
25. http://www.documentfreedom.org
26. http://fsfe.org/projects/os/os.fr.html
- Join and help a team![27]
- Blog about it, and link to our campaign!
- Donate money to DFD![28]
- Sponsor the campaign![29]
- Put a banner on your website with our Artwork"[30]
- Use !dfd group on Identi.ca and #dfd2011 tag on Identi.ca and Twitter
27. http://documentfreedom.org/2011/teams.en.html
28. http://documentfreedom.org/2011/support.en.html
29. http://documentfreedom.org/2011/sponsors.en.html
30. http://documentfreedom.org/2011/artwork.en.html
Cordialement,
Matthias Kirschner
--
Free Software Foundation Europe <http://www.fsfe.org>
Nouvelles de la FSFE <http://fsfe.org/news/news.fr.rss>
Prochains événements <http://fsfe.org/events/events.fr.rss>
Aggrégation de blogs des fellows <http://planet.fsfe.org/fr/rss20.xml>
Discussions sur le logiciel libre
<http://fsfe.org/contact/community.fr.html>
(Aidez-nous à atteindre un plus grand nombre de personnes dans leur
langue maternelle. Rejoignez notre équipe de traducteurs
http://fsfe.org/contribute/translators/.)
= Déclarez votre amour pour les Logiciels Libres ! =
[Voir version en ligne :
http://fsfe.org/news/2011/news-20110214-01.fr.html ]
Pourquoi ne pas faire de ce 14 Février une St Valentin très spéciale ?
Pour la St Valentin, la FSFE en appelle aux utilisateurs de Logiciels
Libres à travers le monde pour démontrer leur amour pour les Logiciels
Libres[1] . c'est l'occasion rêvée pour déclarer votre amour pour les
Logiciels Libres et la possibilité d'utiliser les ordinateurs pour
pr´eserver nos libertés.
Sur sa page de campagne[2] , la FSFE donne aux utilisateurs des idées
pour montrer qu'ils apprécient les Logiciels Libres. Simplement envoyer
un mail à un développeur pour lui dire «merci», prendre une photo
illustrant votre amour pour les Logiciels Libres, déclarer votre flamme
par microblogging[3] avec le tag #ilovefs ou faire un don à un proejt de
Logiciels Libres[4] font partie des options.
Derrière chaque initiative de Logiciels Libres et derrière chaque
organisations, il y a des réelles personnes qui travaillent dur. Juste
pour une journée, le jour de la St Valentin, la FSFE invite tous les
activistes de Logiciels Libres à travers le monde à envoyer un message
de remerciement aux personnes qui travaillent pour faire que les Logiciels
Libres soient une réalité.
"Sans Logiciels Libres, il n'y aurait pas de KDE. Les Logiciels Libres
donnent vie à KDE. KDE aime les Logiciels Libres" déclare Cornelius
Schumacher, Président de KDE e.V. "aucun projet de Culture Libre ne
pourraient profiter pleinement des libertés sans l'infrastructure créée
par les projets de Logiciels Libres […]. A toutes les personnes engagés
dans le soutien à cette infrastructure : Merci ! Nous vous aimons ! ",
ajoute Jonas Öberg de la Society for Free Culture and Software
(Föreningen fri kultur och programvara)[5]
Vous pouvez voir ce que d'autres ont déjà posté :
http://identi.ca/ilovefs[6]. Ajoutez-y votre propre déclaration !
1. http://fsfe.org/campaigns/valentine/2011/valentine-2011.html
2. http://fsfe.org/campaigns/valentine/2011/valentine-2011.html
3. http://identi.ca/
4. https://wiki.fsfe.org/DonateToFreeSoftwareProjects
5. http://www.ffkp.se/
6. http://identi.ca/tag/ilovefs
--
Free Software Foundation Europe <http://www.fsfe.org>
Nouvelles de la FSFE <http://fsfe.org/news/news.fr.rss>
Prochains événements <http://fsfe.org/events/events.fr.rss>
Aggrégation de blogs des fellows <http://planet.fsfe.org/fr/rss20.xml>
Discussions sur le logiciel libre
<http://fsfe.org/contact/community.fr.html>
(Aidez-nous à atteindre un plus grand nombre de personnes dans leur
langue
maternelle. Rejoignez notre équipe de traducteurs
http://fsfe.org/contribute/translators/.)
= European Patent: FSFE urges European Parliament to wait for legal advice =
[Permanent URL: http://fsfe.org/news/2011/news-20110209-01.fr.html ]
Free Software Foundation Europe is asking the Members of the European
Parliament to wait for legal advice before voting on a unitary patent for
Europe. While a proposal is on the Parliament's agenda for the coming
week, a legal opinion by the European Court of Justice is expected later
this month.
"Software patents hurt innovation and are an unnecessary burden on
European software developers," says Karsten Gerloff, President of the Free
Software Foundation Europe. "Legislators need to take charge and make sure
the patent system contributes to the public good. As the European Patent
Organisation has acknowledged, this is a decision that cannot be left to
bureaucrats and the judiciary."
FSFE is concerned that the European Parliament will lose legislative
competence regarding patents, which will then be controlled by the
European Patent Organisation. This clearly creates a conflict of interest,
as the EPO will be responsible both for awarding patents and for defining
what is patentable. The EPO's expansionist record in this regard gives
cause to worry that this will lead to software patents being validated.
The European Court of Justice is expected to publish its opinion about the
proposed "enhanced cooperation" of EU member states towards creating a
single patent system for Europe. Documents published so far indicate that
the Court will find the proposal in conflict with the EU treaties.
Resolving these will require fundamental changes to the proposal. The
Parliament's vote should take place after these changes so that the
Parliament can review the actual proposal.
FSFE hopes that the vote will be delayed until the Parliament can read the
Court of Justice's opinion and has had time to analyse this proposal.
== Contacts ==
Free Software Foundation Europe
E-Mail: press at fsfeurope.org
Karsten Gerloff, President
+49-176-96904298
More contact information[1]
1. http://fsfe.org/contact/
== 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 issue of the FSFE.
Cordialement,
Karsten Gerloff
--
Free Software Foundation Europe <http://www.fsfe.org>
Nouvelles de la FSFE <http://fsfe.org/news/news.fr.rss>
Prochains événements <http://fsfe.org/events/events.fr.rss>
Aggrégation de blogs des fellows <http://planet.fsfe.org/fr/rss20.xml>
Discussions sur le logiciel libre
<http://fsfe.org/contact/community.fr.html>
(Aidez-nous à atteindre un plus grand nombre de personnes dans leur langue
maternelle. Rejoignez notre équipe de traducteurs
http://fsfe.org/contribute/translators/.)
= Freedom to Read, Freedom to Write: Celebrating Document Freedom Day 2011 =
[Permanent URL: http://fsfe.org/news/2011/news-20110202-01.fr.html ]
Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE) invites individuals, community
groups and institutions to celebrate the Document Freedom Day (DFD) on
March 30th. DFD is a global day to celebrate Open Standards and open
document formats and its importance. Open Standards ensure the freedom to
access your data, and the freedom to build Free Software to write and read
data in specific formats.
You can participate by organizing activities in your home town.
Distributing fliers, organizing talks, adding a banner on your blog,
donating money: there are many ways you can help spread awareness about
Open Standards.
We would like at least 25 cities to take part in Document Freedom Day
2011. Help us to make this event a global success!
For more information about the event, please have a look at
documentfreedom.org[1] .
1. http://documentfreedom.org
Find out how to get involved[2] .
2. http://documentfreedom.org/2011/getinvolved.en.html
== Why Document Freedom Day? ==
An ever greater part of our communication moves into the digital world. In
the digital society, Open Standards and open document formats provide us
with the freedom to read and write. They are crucial to ensure our ability
to exchange information, remain independent of software vendors, and keep
our data accessible in the long term. Open Standards also make sure that
we are able to communicate and work using Free Software.
== What are Open Standards? ==
Open Standards are a common language that all computers can speak. They
enable us to work and communicate using Free Software. They make it
possible for developers to write Free Software applications that are
compatible with other solutions, and allow users to migrate to Free
Software solutions without losing access to their data.
== What is the aim of the Campaign? ==
The campaign brings a message about Open Standards and document formats to
a non-technical audience. Open Standards are a basic condition for freedom
and choice in software. Document Freedom Day raises awareness for Open
Standards and lets everyone contribute to a better information society.
It's easy and fun to participate in Document Freedom Day, whether as a
group or as an individual.
Document Freedom Day is coordinated by the Free Software Foundation
Europe[3] .
3. http://fsfe.org
== Contacts ==
Fernanda Weiden
DFD Campaign Coordinator
Vice President, Free
Software Foundation Europe
Email: weiden - at - fsfeurope - dot -
org
Tel. +41 76 402 1866
Loimar Vianna
DFD Campaign PR Coordinator
Email: vianna - at -
fsfeurope - dot - org
Tel. +353 86 234 1911
Karsten Gerloff
President, Free Software Foundation Europe
Email: gerloff - at - fsfeurope - dot – org
Tel. +49 176 9690
4298
Cordialement,
Fernanda Weiden
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= FSFE Newsletter - January 2011 =
[Permanent URL: http://fsfe.org/news/nl/nl-201101.fr.html ]
== Robots, Football, and Education ==
Their mission is to bring Free Software into schools and universities.
Their new task is to gather information about [1]their stakeholders,
and [2]create targeted leaflets. And I am sure the favourite colour of
the coordinators [3]Thomas Jensch and [4]Guido Arnold is [5]Fellowship
green. That's [6]our education team.
Can robots help with that? We think they can. Our education team had
[7]a first meeting to get trained in giving programming workshops
using freedroidz robots. We want to teach pupils how to program, show
them that it's good to share and co-operate, and explain Free Software
to their teachers, parents, and politicians.
And what about football? Regular readers might remember that Guido
Arnold is running a parallel tournament to the football championship
in Europe 2012 where the discipline is Free Software usage in
government. So every time there is a football match, Guido starts a
Free Software match between them, while a huge part is of course the
government's education policy. Read [8]Guido's blog to find out why
Russia is a hot candidate for the European champion, but why we need
more information on Eastern European countries.
== Public institutions - hares or snails? ==
Already, 203 public institutions have removed advertisements for
proprietary PDF readers from their websites. Particularly outstanding
were the responses from Croatia, Russia and Slovenia. In Croatia all
except one reported institution deleted the advertisement. Half of
those contacted in Russia and Slovenia fulfilled FSFE's request.
Amongst the public institutions are ministries, parliaments, law
enforcement agencies, local governments, and other administrations.
With [9]our PDFreaders campaign we will continue to follow-up with the
[10]reported institutions and you can still encourage friends [11]to
sign the corresponding petition.
== Something completely different ==
- You think your old C64 was slow? Working on the United Nations
level will change your mind. Karsten Gerloff wrote an article
about FSFE's UN work: [12]"WIPO CDIP/6: Moving the glacier".
- Open Standards in Europe: The European Commission published the
new version of the European Interoperability Framework (EIF). We
at FSFE have been [13]working on this document for a long time.
Read [14]our press release and an [15]article by Karsten assessing
the new EIF.
- Current developments at Nokia, the transformative power of Free
Software, and the potential dangers posed by the use of Free
Software by large organisations. Those are the topics of the
[16]current Fellowship interview with Alexander Kahl, Fedora
packager, Lisp, JavaScript and Perl programmer, and active FSFE
volunteer.
- While Torsten Grote [17]gave a radio interview (German) about
risks of cloud computing and chances of distributed Free Software,
Björn Schiessle [18]writes about how he wants to install
distributed software at home.
== Get active: Help with Euro 2012 championship ==
Help us gathering information about government's Free Software usage.
This information helps us to evaluate the current situation and of
course it will decide who will be the European Free Software champion
in 2012. [19]Add the information on our website before March 25 and it
will influence the next matches, add information continuously and it
will help Free Software activists all over the world.
Cordialement,
Matthias Kirschner
1. http://wiki.fsfe.org/Education#stakeholders
2. http://fsfe.org/about/printable/printable.fr.html
3. http://blogs.fsfe.org/riepernet/
4. http://blogs.fsfe.org/guido
5. http://fellowship.fsfe.org/
6. http://fsfe.org/projects/education/education.fr.html
7. http://blogs.fsfe.org/guido/2010/12/freedroidz-workshop-with-tarent/
8. http://blogs.fsfe.org/guido/category/euro2012/
9. http://fsfe.org/campaigns/pdfreaders/pdfreaders.fr.html
10. http://fsfe.org/campaigns/pdfreaders/buglist.fr.html
11. http://fsfe.org/campaigns/pdfreaders/petition.fr.html
12. http://blogs.fsfe.org/gerloff/?p=434
13. http://fsfe.org/projects/os/eifv2.fr.html
14. http://fsfe.org/news/2010/news-20101216-01.fr.html
15.
http://blogs.fsfe.org/gerloff/2010/12/17/assessing-the-new-european-interop…
16. http://blogs.fsfe.org/fellowship-interviews/?p=198
17. http://blogs.fsfe.org/mk/?p=698
18. http://blog.schiessle.org/2010/12/19/a-new-toy-arrived/
19. http://wiki.fsfe.org/Free_Software_usage_in_public_administration
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= 172 institutions publiques ont arrêté la publicité pour des logiciels
non-libres =
[URL permanente : www.fsfe.org/news/2010/news-20101217-01.fr.html]
Un mois après l'envoi des lettres pour la campagne PDFreaders, 172
institutions publiques ont arrêté la publicité pour des lecteurs
PDF propriétaires sur leurs sites internet. Les réponses de la Croatie
[1], de la Russie [2] et de la Slovénie [3] ont été particulièrement
remarquables. En Croatie, presque toutes les institutions signalées ont
retiré les publicités. La moitié de celles signalées en Russie et en
Slovénie se sont pliées aux demandes de la FSFE.
«Plusieurs institutions ont répondu en déclarant qu'elles étaient
d'accord avec nos remarques [4], et qu'elles allaient modifier leurs
sites web», a déclaré Matthias Kirschner, responsable de la campagne.
Parmi celles-ci, il y a bon nombre de ministères, parlements, tribunaux
et la chancellerie du Premier Ministre de Belgique.
De telles campagnes ne sont possibles que grâce à une communauté de
bénévoles [5], et des contributeurs financiers [6]. La FSFE poursuit son
travail avec les organisations restantes [7] afin d'obtenir le retrait
des publicités restantes.
1. http://www.fsfe.org/campaigns/pdfreaders/buglist.html#HR
2. http://www.fsfe.org/campaigns/pdfreaders/buglist.html#RU
3. http://www.fsfe.org/campaigns/pdfreaders/buglist.html#SI
4. http://www.fsfe.org/campaigns/pdfreaders/letter.html
5. http://www.fsfe.org/contribute/index.html
6. http://www.fsfe.org/donate/donate.html
7. http://www.fsfe.or/campaigns/pdfreaders/buglist.html
= À propos de la campagne PDFreaders =
Que penseriez-vous d'un panneau au bord de l'autoroute proclamant «
vous avez besoin d'une Peugeot pour rouler sur cette autoroute.
Contactez la concession Peugeot la plus proche pour un essai gratuit
- Votre Gouvernement » ? C'est pourtant exactement ce que font les
gouvernements tous les jours, aux quatre coins du monde, en proposant
des lecteurs PDF propriétaires. Avec la campagne PDFreaders, nous
avons mis les institutions publiques sous les projecteurs en
dévoilant la fréquence à laquelle ils font de la publicité pour des
logiciels propriétaires. Avec l'aide d'activistes de toute l'Europe,
la FSFE est en train de contacter ces institutions afin de leur
expliquer comment elles peuvent améliorer leurs sites web afin de
respecter notre liberté.
À propos de la Free Software Foundation Europe
La Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE - Fondation Européenne pour
le Logiciel Libre) est une organisation non gouvernementale à but non
lucratif, active dans de nombreux pays européens et impliquée dans de
nombreuses activités internationales. L'accès au logiciel est
déterminant dans la participation à la société numérique. Afin
d'assurer un accès égalitaire à l'ère de l'information ainsi que la
libre concurrence, la FSFE se dévoue au développement des Logiciels
Libres, qui se caractérisent par les droits d'exécution, d'étude, de
modification et de copie. Sensibiliser le public à ces problèmes,
sécuriser l'environnement politique et juridique du Logiciel Libre,
et rendre la liberté aux personnes en soutenant le développement de
Logiciels Libres sont les activités centrales de la FSFE depuis sa
création en 2001.
http://fsfe.org
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= FSFE welcomes revised European Interoperability Framework =
[permanent URL: www.fsfe.org/news/2010/news-20101216-01.en.html]
The European Commission today published its long-awaited revision of
the European Interoperability Framework [1]. This document aims at
promoting interoperability in the European public sector. The document
is the result of a prolonged and hard-fought process. Free Software
Foundation Europe accompanied this process and offered input to the
European Commission at various stages [2].
"During the history of the EIF, we had reason to worry that Free
Software would effectively be shut out of the European public sector.
FSFE has worked hard to prevent this, and we have succeeded," says
Karsten Gerloff, FSFE's President. "With this document, the Commission
shows that it is willing to lead. We will support and accompany the EC
in this effort."
We are happy that the effort which FSFE has invested in the EIF revision
process has brought results. The document has improved markedly over
previous versions [4] from a Free Software point of view:
- The document explicitly states that Open Standards [5] (called "open
specifications") must be implementable in Free Software.
- The document states that public administrations should prefer Open
Standards.
- The document calls on public administrations to reuse and share
solutions. Free Software is by far the most practical way to achieve this.
Some points of the document could be improved. There is considerable
wriggle room for public bodies to avoid making changes to inefficient IT
systems and practices.
The document's definition of "open specifications" demands that such
standards must be implementable in Free Software, but allows the patents
in those standards to be licensed under so-called FRAND conditions. Such
FRAND conditions normally make it impossible to implement a standard in
Free Software [6]. FSFE will closely accompany the European Commission
in reconciling this apparent conflict.
"While FSFE would have wished for a more forceful push for Open
Standards and Free Software, we congratulate the EC on producing a
useful document out of a heated debate", says Gerloff.
This document ties in with the Commission's eGovernment Action Plan,
announced yesterday, which makes Open Standards a political priority for
European Member States and defines clear actions and deadlines. As a key
action, national governments are expected to align their national
interoperability frameworks with the EIF by 2013.
FSFE has visualised the changes among the various versions of the
document [4]. This has been a key tool for many people's work on EIFv2.
The table is currently being updated to reflect the final version of the
document.
1.
http://ec.europa.eu/isa/strategy/doc/20101216_iop_communication_annex_eis.p…
2. http://www.fsfe.org/news/2009/news-20091127-01.en.html
3. http://www.fsfe.org/projects/os/bsa-letter-analysis.en.html
4. http://fsfe.org/projects/os/eifv2.en.html
5. http://fsfe.org/projects/os/def.en.html
6. http://www.fsfe.org/projects/os/bsa-letter-analysis.en.html#3
== 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/
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Free Software Foundation Europe <http://www.fsfe.org>
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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>
= European Commission's software contract is a rough deal for Europe =
[permanent URL : http://www.fsfe.org/news/2010/news-20101207-01.en.html]
The European Commission will spend EUR 189 million on proprietary
software over the next six years, in direct contradiction to its own
decisions and guidelines. The Commission last week announced a
six-year framework contract to acquire a wide range of mostly
proprietary software and related services [1].
"This is a rough deal for Europe", says Karsten Gerloff, President of
Free Software Foundation Europe. "Instead of coming up with a strategy
to take advantage of Free Software and become independent from
vendors, the Commission is digging itself deeper into the vendor
lock-in hole."
Last week's contract goes against the stated intentions of several
Commission documents. European procurement rules say that public
sector buying practices should "avoid discrimination and open up
public procurement to competition."
The Digital Agenda, published in May 2010, calls for "ICT products and
services" to be "open and interoperable" [2]. A guideline issued by the
EC's OSOR project cites European procurement rules to say that "calls
for tender [...] should be based on functional requirements, not on
specific products or vendors" [3], while last week's contract comes with
a long list of specific products which the Commission wants to buy.
In the Malmö and Granada declarations of 2009 and 2010, the European
Union's member states called on the EC to "pay particular attention to
the benefits resulting from the use of open specifications in order to
deliver services in the most cost-effective manner", and to "[e]mbed
innovation and cost effectiveness into eGovernment through the
systematic promotion of open standards and interoperable systems" [4].
The procurement process was conducted by the Directorate General for
Informatics (DIGIT). This department is also leading the process to
revise the European Interoperability Framework. FSFE has strongly
criticised [5] previous drafts [6] for falling behind the original
version in their support of Open Standards [7] and Free Software [8].
"European citizens expect the Commission to keep its costs low, to
spend their tax money in ways that promote Europe's development, and
to stick to its own policies," comments Gerloff. "This behaviour by
DIGIT fails Europeans on all three counts. It damages the Commission's
credibility."
== Links ==
[1]
http://www.computerweekly.com/Articles/2010/12/03/244307/European-Commissio…
[2] Digital Agenda for Europe:
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CELEX:52010DC0245%280…
[3] OSOR Procurement Guideline:
http://www.osor.eu/idabc-studies/OSS-procurement-guideline%20-final.pdf
[4] Malmö declaration : http://www.epractice.eu/en/library/299149 and
Granada declaration http://www.epractice.eu/en/news/316468
[5] http://fsfe.org/news/2010/news-20100330-01.en.html
[6] Comparison of different EIF versions:
http://www.fsfe.org/projects/os/eifv2.en.html
[7] Definition of Open Standards: http://www.fsfe.org/projects/os/def.html
[8] What is Free Software?
http://www.fsfe.org/about/basics/freesoftware.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/