103 lines
4.5 KiB
HTML
103 lines
4.5 KiB
HTML
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
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<html newsdate="2010-04-28">
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<version>1</version>
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<head>
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<title>FSFE founder Georg Greve awarded German Cross of Merit</title>
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</head>
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<body>
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<h1>FSFE founder Georg Greve awarded German Cross of Merit</h1>
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<p>Berlin 28. April 2010. Georg Greve, founding
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president of the Free Software Foundation Europe, has received the Cross
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of Merit on ribbon of the Federal Republic of Germany (Verdienstkreuz am
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Bande). Georg received this high award from the German President for his
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work on Free Software and Open Standards.</p>
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<p>"FSFE is very proud to have a 'knight' among its team," says FSFE's
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president Karsten Gerloff. "Georg's tremendous dedication to freedom in
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technology has been a driving force for Free Software in Europe and
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around the world. He has put Free Software on the political agenda, and
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has created the structures to harness the community's energy towards our
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common goals. His hard work over more than a decade has brought enormous
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progress for Free Software."</p>
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<p> With FSFE, Georg worked hard to create the understanding of Free
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Software as a cultural technique. He gave Free Software a <a
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href="/activities/policy.html">voice at the United
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Nations</a>, including the "World Intellectual Property Organization"
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(WIPO) and the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS). With
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FSFE's Freedom Task Force, he was the architect for a centre of
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expertise on legal aspects of Free Software, and drove the concept of <a
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href="/activities/ftf/fla.html">legal
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maintainability</a> for Free Software projects. He <a
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href="http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20061208135621706">initiated</a>
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the community resistance against Microsoft's OOXML format, and worked on
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some of the first EU-funded projects for Free Software. Under Georg's
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leadership, FSFE was also a key player in averting the threat of
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software patents in Europe. </p>
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<p>"I'm deeply grateful for the official recognition that Free Software
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and Open Standards receive with this award", says Georg Greve. "Around
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2000, I decided to dedicate myself fully to this cause out of a sense of
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necessity: I felt that I had glimpsed how software shapes our society.
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But I also saw that society had not yet understood how much it is shaped
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by software. It is my hope that this award will help to make people
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aware of these questions, and bring support for the work of FSFE, which
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is more important than ever."</p>
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<h2>About Georg Greve</h2>
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<p>Born on 10 March 1973 on the German island of Heligoland, Georg Greve
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has a classic scientific background as a physicist. He gained his
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interdisciplinary diploma in the field of nanotechnology at the computer
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science faculty of the University of Hamburg.</p>
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<p> He has been developing software since he was 12 years old. Besides a
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first publication of a program in a professional journal in 1991, coding
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partly paid for his studies when he managed the software development to
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evaluate SQUID-sensor data in the biomagnetometic laboratory in the
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University hospital of Eppendorf (UKE) in Hamburg, Germany. </p>
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<p> In 1993 he came in contact with Free Software and GNU/Linux. In
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1998, Georg Greve became the European speaker for the GNU project. At this
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time, he also started writing the "Brave GNU World," a monthly column on
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Free Software published in the German Linux-Magazin and other magazines
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worldwide, as well as online in up to 10 languages. </p>
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<p>In early 2001, together with a group of dedicated people he
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initiated the Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE), the first Free
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Software Foundation outside the United States of America and the largest
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transnational Free Software Foundation so far. Building and coordinating
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FSFE as a European non-governmental organisation was the focus of his
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work for most of the past decade.</p>
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<p> Having led FSFE for eight years, Georg Greve is now CEO of Kolab
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Systems, a Free Software business providing services around the Kolab
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Groupware Solution. He continues to be active amongst FSFE members and
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European core team. Happily married, he lives with his wife Ava in
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Küsnacht near Zürich.</p>
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<p>(See also Georg Greve's <a
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href="/about/people/greve/">profile</a> on FSFE's website, a
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<a href="https://blogs.fsfe.org/fellowship-interviews/?p=27">detailed
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interview with him</a>, and his <a
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href="https://blogs.fsfe.org/greve/?p=403">personal statement</a> about
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having been decorated with the Cross of Merit.) </p>
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</body>
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<translator> </translator>
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<tags>
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<tag key="de"/>
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</tags>
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</html>
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