Karlsruhe, 28 March 2012 - 1&1, GMX and WEB.DE + receive the German Document Freedom Award for the use of Open Standards. + The prize is awarded by the Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE) and the + Foundation for a Free Information Infrastructure e.V. (FFII) for + automatically addition to their e-mail addresses.The prize is awarded + annually on the occasion of Document Freedom Day for the promotion of Open + Standards. Last years winners include tagesschau.de, Deutschland Radio, and the German + Foreign + Office.
+ +In Karlsruhe FSFE and FFII handed over a certificate and the Document + Freedom Award- cake to Jan Oetjen, CEO Portals from 1&1, and Tino Anic + and his team, who are responsible for this functionality. "The Extensible + Messaging and Presence Protocol (XMPP, previously called Jabber) is an Open Standard communication protocol + used for chatting. A + variety of chat programs support this protocol, and it is also used + in VoIP applications. + Every e-mail users of 1&1, GMX and Web.de get such an XMPP account by + default, which has the same name as the e-mail address.
+ +"Unlike closed services such as Facebook and Skype, 1&1 has provided + open connectivity with the rest of the Jabber/XMPP network for many years. + They are to be commended for supporting truly free communication using + Internet standards." says Peter Saint-Andre, Executive Director XMPP + Foundation.
+ +Like 1&1, everyone can set up an XMPP server and enable it to + connect with other XMPP standard compliant servers around the world. People + having an account from 1&1 are able to chat with other contacts, within + or outside the 1&1 network, using any XMPP supporting client they want. + They can chat with customers from other XMPP supporting companies like + Google (with Google Talk), with people who set up their own Free Software + XMPP server, and with all of FSFE's supporters, which also automatically + get an XMPP account. When using Skype, ICQ, Facebook, Yahoo messenger or + Microsoft Network (MSN), all the people who want to chat with each other + have to use the same provider.
+ +"Facebook and Microsoft Network (MSN) also use XMPP for their chat + functionality. But they disabled the XMPP server feature to connect with + other XMPP servers. This way Facebook and MSN are restricting their users + to their own service: You are only allowed to talk with people who also + have an account at their service and surrendered their data. Use XMPP and + give your friends the freedom to decide which software and which provider + they want to use and trust!", says Matthias Kirschner, FSFE's German + Coordinator.
+ +"We are very honoured to receive this award. It confirms our decision to + use the open standard XMPP for our online chat within WEB.DE, GMX and + 1&1 mailboxes. It allows our users to chat without technical barriers + across the web.", says Jan Oetjen, CEO 1&1 Internet Portals.
+ +Stephan Uhlmann, FFII board member, adds: "We're inspired by companies + like 1&1 Internet AG who not only base their business on Internet open + standards, like email and the web, but also keep these services + interoperable and do not rely on lock-in effects to convince their + customers."
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