= Finnish activist, Danish hacker share Nordic Free Software Award 2012
=
[Read online: http://fsfe.org/news/2012/news-20121112-01.html ]
Finnish Free Software activist Otto Kekäläinen and Danish hacker Ole
Tange are the recipients of the 2012 Nordic Free Software Award. With
the Nordic Free Software award, given out for the 6th time this year,
the Swedish Association for Free Software and Free Culture (FFKP,
Föreningen Fri Kultur och Programvara)[1]honours people and projects
who have made important contributions to software freedom.
1. http://ffkp.se
This year, the awards committee decided to honour two people who have
worked long and hard to promote Free Software in Finland and Denmark.
Otto Kekäläinen is a Free Software campaigner based in Tampere,
Finland. As the coordinator of FSFE's Finnish country team, he leads the
organisations campaigning and advocacy work in Finland. He is educating
Finland's public bodies on correct practices in software procurement,
and has spearheaded the Free Software community's criticism of
Helsinki's city government for hesitating to adopt Free Software. As the
project lead for the VALO-CD project[2], which publishes a collection of
Free Software for Windows, he has introduced many users of this platform
to programs that they can use, study, share and improve.
2. http://www.valo-cd.net
"Ole is director of IT-Politisk Forening[3], a non-governmental
organisation that has succeeded in bringing Free Software to Denmark's
public sector in Denmark. A long-time Free Software developer, he is
most recently working on the GNU Parallel project. Ole played an
important role in the fights against software patents, creating campaign
ideas such as the original"Patented Webshop"[4].
3. http://www.itpol.dk
4. http://ole.tange.dk/swpat
"Otto embodies a rare and precious combination of talents: Deep
knowledge of technology, a passion for Free Software, and a knack for
campaigning" says Karsten Gerloff, President of the Free Software
Foundation Europe (FSFE)[5]. "Energetic, patient and extremely
persistent, he is really taking software freedom forward in Finland." .
5. http://fsfe.org
"Ole's enthusiasm and commitment has been an inspiration to everyone. We
are proud and eternally gratefulto be able to award him this prestigious
price for advancing Free Software in the Nordic countries," says Jonas
Öberg, Executive Director of the Swedish Association for Free Software
and Free Culture.
Previous recipients of the award include software patent campaigner Erik
Josefsson (2011), Icelandic software developer Bjarni Runar Einarsson
(2010), Swedish hackers Simon Josefsson and Daniel Stenberg (2009),
Swedish IT strategist Mats Östling (2008) and the SkoleLinux project
(2007).
== 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/
= Finnish activist, Danish hacker share Nordic Free Software Award 2012
=
[Read online: http://fsfe.org/news/2012/news-20121112-01.html ]
Finnish Free Software activist Otto Kekäläinen and Danish hacker Ole
Tange are the recipients of the 2012 Nordic Free Software Award. With
the Nordic Free Software award, given out for the 6th time this year,
the Swedish Association for Free Software and Free Culture (FFKP,
Föreningen Fri Kultur och Programvara)[1]honours people and projects
who have made important contributions to software freedom.
1. http://ffkp.se
This year, the awards committee decided to honour two people who have
worked long and hard to promote Free Software in Finland and Denmark.
Otto Kekäläinen is a Free Software campaigner based in Tampere,
Finland. As the coordinator of FSFE's Finnish country team, he leads the
organisations campaigning and advocacy work in Finland. He is educating
Finland's public bodies on correct practices in software procurement,
and has spearheaded the Free Software community's criticism of
Helsinki's city government for hesitating to adopt Free Software. As the
project lead for the VALO-CD project[2], which publishes a collection of
Free Software for Windows, he has introduced many users of this platform
to programs that they can use, study, share and improve.
2. http://www.valo-cd.net
"Ole is director of IT-Politisk Forening[3], a non-governmental
organisation that has succeeded in bringing Free Software to Denmark's
public sector in Denmark. A long-time Free Software developer, he is
most recently working on the GNU Parallel project. Ole played an
important role in the fights against software patents, creating campaign
ideas such as the original"Patented Webshop"[4].
3. http://www.itpol.dk
4. http://ole.tange.dk/swpat
"Otto embodies a rare and precious combination of talents: Deep
knowledge of technology, a passion for Free Software, and a knack for
campaigning" says Karsten Gerloff, President of the Free Software
Foundation Europe (FSFE)[5]. "Energetic, patient and extremely
persistent, he is really taking software freedom forward in Finland." .
5. http://fsfe.org
"Ole's enthusiasm and commitment has been an inspiration to everyone. We
are proud and eternally gratefulto be able to award him this prestigious
price for advancing Free Software in the Nordic countries," says Jonas
Öberg, Executive Director of the Swedish Association for Free Software
and Free Culture.
Previous recipients of the award include software patent campaigner Erik
Josefsson (2011), Icelandic software developer Bjarni Runar Einarsson
(2010), Swedish hackers Simon Josefsson and Daniel Stenberg (2009),
Swedish IT strategist Mats Östling (2008) and the SkoleLinux project
(2007).
== 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/
= UK takes major step towards competition, innovation in software market =
[Read online: http://fsfe.org/news/2012/news-20121101-02.en.html]
The UK government has released a new Open Standards policy. FSFE
welcomes this document as a major step towards more competition and
innovation in the UK software market.
"With this policy, and in particular with its strong definition of Open
Standards, the UK government sets an example that governments elsewhere
should aspire to", says Karsten Gerloff, President of the Free Software
Foundation Europe. Under the new policy, effective immediately, patents
that are essential to implementing a standard must be licensed without
royalties or restrictions that would prevent their implementation in
Free Software.
Exit costs are another issue where the policy represents significant
progress. In future, when UK government bodies buy a software solution,
they have to include in the price a calculation of what it will cost
them to get out of this solution in the future. This is perhaps the
first time that a government has made this long-standing demand of FSFE
an explicit policy. It means that government bodies cannot simply avoid
buying Free Software solutions because they are locked into one
particular vendor's proprietary file formats.
"Open Standards are really a choice between free competition on the
one hand, and leaving the market to a few big players on the other hand.
It's great to see that the UK government puts the country's interests
first, and refuses to be constrained by the bad old ways of doing
things", says Gerloff. "This policy will open up the market and remove
barriers to entry, promoting innovation and competition".
Experience in other countries shows that achieving real change in the
way the public sector buys software will be hard. FSFE therefore believe
that the UK government would do well to take advantage of this
opportunity and put even greater emphasis on increasing the use of Free
Software in the country's public sector. This is an area where the UK
still lags behind many other countries by a long margin, and much effort
will be required to catch up.
Further analysis by FSFE: - The UK's new Open Standards policy:
http://blogs.fsfe.org/gerloff/2012/11/01/the-uks-new-open-standards-policy
- FSFE Open Standard definition:
http://fsfe.org/activities/os/def.en.html
- FSFE submission to UK Open Standards consultation:
http://fsfe.org/activities/os/2012-06-uk-consultation-os.en.html
Find more about the UK Government Open Standards policy
- UK Government: Open Standards Consultation documents:
http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/resource-library/open-standards-consultatio…
- UK Government: Open Standards Principles:
http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/sites/default/files/resources/Open-Standard…
- UK Government: Open Standards Consultation: The Government response:
http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/sites/default/files/resources/Government-Re…
== Contact ==
Ana Galán Herranz
Free Software Foundation Europe
E-Mail: anaghz(a)fsfe.org
Phone: +49 30 27 59 52 90
Karsten Gerloff
President, Free Software Foundation Europe
E-Mail: gerloff(a)fsfeurope.org
Phone: +49 176 9690 4298
== 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/