Introducing Wilhelm Tux, the new FSFE associate
The Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE) and Wilhelm Tux proudly
declare that Wilhelm Tux, a Swiss Free Software organisation, has
officially become associate organisation of the FSFE.
Becoming part of the network and competence centre for Free Software
is something that the Swiss Free Software enthusiasts had planned for
some time now: "This is indeed great news for all members and friends
of Wilhelm Tux, as this adds a new brick to the road ahead promoting
Free Software in Switzerland. We are eager to continue raising the
interest for Free Software in a Free Society, especially in Switzerland
universally known as a land of Freedom", says Myriam Schweingruber,
president of Wilhelm Tux. Her colleague Alex Schröder adds:
"Our active members and friends are working in all parts of Switzerland,
beyond geographical or lingustic barriers, be it in the German, the
French or the Italian, not to forget the Romansh part of the country to
raise the interest in Free Software and also the philosophical, social
and economical issues related to it."
The collaboration with the FSFE is of great importance as its work
has always been an example to Wilhelmtux and "of course we hope
to contribute with our work in the construction of a Free Society",
Myriam Schweingruber concludes.
"We are very happy to have taken our co-operation with Wilhelm Tux to
the next level," Georg Greve, president of FSFE comments. "We had
very good co-operation and contact before, so this was a rather easy
and joyful decision for us. We are very much looking forward to
working with our Swiss friends for more Freedom."
About the Free Software Foundation Europe
The Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE) is a charitable
non-governmental organization dedicated to all aspects of Free
Software in Europe. Access to software determines who may participate
in a digital society. Therefore the Freedoms to use, copy, modify and
redistribute software - as described in the Free Software definition -
allow equal participation in the information age. 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, which was founded in 2001 as the
European sister organization of the Free Software Foundation in the
United States.
Further information: http://www.fsfeurope.org
--
Joachim Jakobs <jj(a)office.fsfeurope.org>
Press Speaker - FSF Europe (http://fsfeurope.org)
In der Roede 24, 64367 Mühltal (Tel: +49-179-6919565)
1. FSFE supporting European Commission in their case against Microsoft
2. Widely noticed interview in "Die Zeit"
3. Writing new licenses often counterproductive
4. RSS feeds for FSFE news and events available
5. FSFE supports the declaration of Caceres
6. Investigations on the impact of Free Software on companies
1. FSFE supporting European Commission in their case against Microsoft
In 2001 the European Union, through the DG Competition of the European
Commission (lead by Prof. Monti), started investigating Microsoft's
dominant position in the desktop operating systems market. The Free
Software Foundation Europe was invited by the EC to represent the
interests of the Free Software movement.
Together with the Samba team, which the FSFE involved in the case and
with which it cooperated closely, we were able to provide much of the
arguments that the European Commission based its decision upon.
Microsoft recently appealed against the antitrust decision and the DG
Competition called upon FSFE in cooperation with the Samba team again
to now join the efforts of the Commission to defend that decision.
FSFE, representing itself and the Samba team as well as the interests
of the Free Software Community, has participated in the preliminary
hearing held in Luxembourg on 27th of July.
Sun, which originally started the antitrust trial in Europe, declined
to participate to the appeal, so the list of the supporters of the
Commission are: Novell, RealNetworks, CCIA (Computer & Communication
Industry Association), SIIA (Software and Information Industry
Association) and FSFE.
In the course of the upcoming months, FSFE will read and comment on
all the documentation submitted by Microsoft to sustain the idea that
"disclosing documentation on interfaces and protocols is harmful" for
their business and for consumers.
These will be busy months, so if you know anybody that values being
able to use SAMBA and could support our efforts, please tell them to
support our work with their donation.
<http://www.fsfeurope.org/help/donate.en.html>
2. Widely noticed interview in "DIE ZEIT"
"DIE ZEIT", a well-respected German newspaper, has printed an
interview with Georg Greve that has been cited in several other
newspapers and news services. Georg Greve explains why software
patents are job- and economy-killers: "Many companies are facing a low
liquitidy and can spend their money only once: either on software
patents, or on innovation."
3. Writing new licenses often counterproductive
There seems to be a trend that more and more projects create new
licenses for Free Software instead of using the well established ones
used by thousands of existing projects. The FSFE emphasises that the
GNU GPL, the GNU LGPL and the BSD-style license are excellent for most
- if not all - projects. Claims that the GPL is not fully applicable
outside the U.S. have been proven wrong by a recent court decision in
Germany.
4. RSS feeds for FSFE news and events available
Our web team has created automatic RSS feeds for news and upcoming
events. Feeds are focus and language dependent. The URL for the news
feed is:
http://www.<focus>.fsfeurope.org/news/news.<language>.rss
while you find the event feed at:
http://www.<focus>.fsfeurope.org/events/events.<language>.rss
For example, for German speaking news and the German focus, you would
choose http://www.germany.fsfeurope.org/news/news.de.rss as the URL.
For your convenience, the news and event pages contain links to the RSS
feed URLs.
5. FSFE supports the "Declaration of Caceres"
During the Free Software Summer Event of the University of Extremadura
in Caceres, Spain, Georg Greve gave a presentation on the Free
Software Foundation Europe and participated in a panel discussion
about software patents.
As closing highlight of the university course, the participants made
the "Declaration of Caceres" against software patents drafted by
Hispalinux, which was read out in Portuguese by Marcelo D'Elia Branco,
German by Georg Greve, English by Maureen O'Sullivan and finally
Spanish by the vice-rector of the University, Fernando Sanchez
Figueroa.
The FSFE officially supports this declaration, which reads:
"Freedom, equality and fraternity, the old Europe's values applied
to technology, have achieved the biggest innovative space ever
imagined. Software Patents are the countermeasure that augments
costs, bureaucracy and legal costs to stop European progress."
6. Investigations on the impact of Free Software on companies
The University Bocconi in Milan, Italy held a conference to discuss
the impact Free Software has on Italian companies. Stefano Maffulli
was invited to hold a speech in the name of the FSFE.
You can find a list of all FSF Europe newsletters on
http://www.fsfeurope.org/news/newsletter.en.html
Essen, Aug 5th 2004
In reaction to the decision by the City of Munich to re-evaluate its
migration plans to Free Software, the Free Software Foundation Europe
points out that software patents are equally a significant problem for
both Free Software and proprietary software alike.
"Without doubt, software patents are a roadblock to innovation.
They will extort a high price that has to be paid by all European
citizens through loss of competitiveness, and also jobs", says Georg
Greve, President of the FSFE.
Software patents can not be a reason to stop migration from non-free to
Free Software. While Free Software is going to suffer along with all of
industry and society, there is no need to fear for its existence or
legal safety any more than there is need to fear such legal insecurity
with regard to proprietary software.
"Therefore, the FSFE encourages the municipality of Munich to not allow
being stopped on its way to freedom by tactics of spreading Fear,
Uncertainty and Doubt", says Georg Greve. He also adds: "As a related,
but different issue we also suggest them to increase the pressure on the
German government to refuse software patents once and for all."
About the Free Software Foundation Europe
The Free Software Foundation Europe (FSF Europe) is a charitable
non-governmental organization dedicated to all aspects of Free
Software in Europe. Access to software determines who may participate
in a digital society. Therefore the freedoms to use, copy, modify and
redistribute software - as described in the Free Software definition-
allow equal participation in the information age. 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 FSF Europe, which was founded in 2001 as the
European sister organization of the Free Software Foundation in the
United States.
Further information: http://www.fsfeurope.org
Contact:
Georg C. F. Greve <greve at fsfeurope.org>
Tel: +49-40-23809080
Fax: +49-40-23809081