|
|
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?> |
|
|
|
|
|
<html newsdate="2012-03-04" type="newsletter"> |
|
|
<version>1</version> |
|
|
|
|
|
<head> |
|
|
<title>FSFE Newsletter - March 2012</title> |
|
|
</head> |
|
|
<body> |
|
|
|
|
|
<h1>FSFE Newsletter - March 2012</h1> |
|
|
|
|
|
<h2>Subway information screen: Good or bad?</h2> |
|
|
|
|
|
<p>"7500 dead people in the last year, daily up to 100." That is what your |
|
|
editor read on the subway news screen in Berlin. While discussing with <a |
|
|
href="http://documentfreedom.org/contact.en.html">DFD volunteer Julia |
|
|
Fuchs</a> what is wrong -- your editors reading skills, his basic |
|
|
mathematical skills, or the news agency -- something else popped up: our <a |
|
|
href="/activities/android/android.html">FreeYourAndroid.org campaign</a>! |
|
|
Unfortunately your editor was too slow to make a picture of that. But as the |
|
|
German news agency DPA covered the <a |
|
|
href="/news/2012/news-20120228-01.html">official campaign start</a>, we had a |
|
|
very good press coverage, so a lot of people read about how you can use Free |
|
|
Software on mobile phones. The campaign manager Torsten Grote is currently |
|
|
gathering all the press coverage, please send news and blog stories about |
|
|
#FreeYourAndroid to <a |
|
|
href="mailto:press@fsfe.org">press@fsfe.org</a>.</p> |
|
|
|
|
|
<h2>The Why in Free SoftWare!</h2> |
|
|
|
|
|
<p>On February 14th many people in the Free Software community celebrated the |
|
|
<a href="/activities/ilovefs/">"I love Free Software day"</a>. You |
|
|
can read the <a href="/news/2012/news-20120223-01.html">full report with nice |
|
|
pictures</a>. In case you sometimes feel frustrated or demotivated in future, |
|
|
you can read <a href="/activities/ilovefs/index.html"> why others love |
|
|
Free Software</a>. Here is one love declaration by Dr. Stefano Zacchiroli, |
|
|
Debian Project Leader, Scientist and Free Software Developer:</p> |
|
|
|
|
|
<blockquote><p>"I love Free Software because we depend more and more upon |
|
|
software, in every moment of our lives. It is software that handles our email |
|
|
and social network activities when we communicate; it is software that |
|
|
controls our ovens and fridges when to prepare our meals; it is software that |
|
|
drives cars and airplanes when we travel around the world; it is software |
|
|
that keeps many of us alive when we need hospital equipment or bio-medical |
|
|
devices like pacemakers. A world without Free Software means being held |
|
|
hostage by proprietary software authors that run our lives. I love Free |
|
|
Software because it can set us free."</p></blockquote> |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
<h2>More motivation: FOSDEM!</h2> |
|
|
|
|
|
<p>If you still need more motivation for writing, documenting, or promoting Free |
|
|
Software, you probably have not been at FOSDEM. This event is always a challenge |
|
|
for FSFE's team but also one of the events which <a |
|
|
href="https://blogs.fsfe.org/samtuke/?p=263">increases our motivation</a>. |
|
|
Long talks with other Free Software activists from all over the world, |
|
|
answering questions about <a href="/activities/activities.html">our current work</a> |
|
|
and <a href="/activities/activities.html">our campaigns</a>, making sure all |
|
|
people who want <a href="/order/order.html">a FSFE T-shirt</a> get |
|
|
one, coordinating work with <a |
|
|
href="https://wiki.fsfe.org/CategoryFellowshipGroup">Fellowship groups</a> all |
|
|
over Europe, and having some time to socialise (=drinking Belgium beer). Beside |
|
|
that in the Legal and Policy Issue DevRoom <a |
|
|
href="https://blogs.fsfe.org/hugo/2012/02/fosdem-2012-panel-on-application-stores/"> |
|
|
Hugo Roy participated in a panel discussion about application stores</a>, and |
|
|
our sister organisation's Executive Director John Sullivan gave a talk entitled |
|
|
"Is Copyleft Being Framed?", which is also discussed in the <a |
|
|
href="http://faif.us/cast/2012/feb/28/0x23/">current FaiF OggCast</a>.</p> |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
<h2>Comics and Free Software</h2> |
|
|
|
|
|
<p>When you see computers attached to human brains, makerbots scanning your |
|
|
body, creating perfectly fitting clothes for you (unless they are on drugs), |
|
|
you realise that Free Software will be even more important in future. At the |
|
|
moment this stuff happens e.g. in <a |
|
|
href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transmetropolitan">Transmetropolitan</a>, |
|
|
one of your editor's favourite comics. Lots of comic-related things have happened during the last weeks: |
|
|
Fellow Thomas Leske started translating the web |
|
|
comic Mimi and Eunice into German, read e.g. <a |
|
|
href="http://mimiandeunice.com/2010/07/31/a-world-without-poop/">"A World |
|
|
Without Poop"</a> (<a |
|
|
href="http://mimiandeunice.minimalstaat.de/content/eine-welt-ohne-h%C3%A4ufchen">or |
|
|
the German version</a>) connected with the article <a |
|
|
href="https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/not-ipr.html">"Did You Say “Intellectual |
|
|
Property”? It's a Seductive Mirage" by Richard Stallman</a>; there was a good |
|
|
<a href="http://my.pages.de/dsn-vn/">"Faceboogle Comic" on distributed |
|
|
systems</a>; our sister FSF is starting a <a |
|
|
href="https://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/enter-the-restricted-boot-comic-contest-defend-user-freedom-on-tablets-and-smartphones">webcomic |
|
|
contest about Restricted Boot</a>; and at the time of writing this our |
|
|
intern Erik ordered <a |
|
|
href="https://download.fsfe.org/advocacy/leaflets/fellowship-leaflet-nyr2.en.pdf">5000 |
|
|
"Join the Fellowship" comic version leaflets</a>.</p> |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
<h2>Something completely different</h2> |
|
|
|
|
|
<ul> |
|
|
|
|
|
<li>Last minute inclusion: Congratulations to <a |
|
|
href="https://wiki.fsfe.org/FellowshipElection_2012">Nikos Roussos</a> who |
|
|
is the winner of the Fellowship election 2012. The election results are |
|
|
available on <a |
|
|
href="http://www.cs.cornell.edu/w8/~andru/cgi-perl/civs/results.pl?id=E_491367a425d39945">the |
|
|
voting platform</a>, more information on this will |
|
|
f<strong>e</strong>llow soon.</li> |
|
|
|
|
|
<li>"When elephants dance, the smaller wildlife gets crushed." Read our press |
|
|
release <a href="/news/2012/news-20120214-01.html">"Google/Motorola deals |
|
|
create balance of terror on software patents"</a> to find out why our |
|
|
president talks about animals.</li> |
|
|
|
|
|
<li>We asked you <a href="/news/2012/news-20120210-01.html">to join the |
|
|
ACTA protests</a>, like your editor several <a |
|
|
href="https://blogs.fsfe.org/fast_edi/?p=279">Fellows joined the |
|
|
protests</a>, and it was also a topic on <a |
|
|
href="https://planet.fsfe.org">FSFE's planet aggregation</a>, like Karsten's |
|
|
<a |
|
|
href="https://blogs.fsfe.org/gerloff/2012/03/01/acta-first-do-no-harm/">"ACTA, |
|
|
First, do no harm"</a> blog entry.</li> |
|
|
|
|
|
<li>Our Fellows continuously update the <a |
|
|
href="https://wiki.fsfe.org/WindowsTaxRefund">Windows Tax Refund wiki |
|
|
page</a>. Now it also covers the new <a |
|
|
href="http://www.techworld.com.au/article/414500/lenovo_ordered_pay_1920_making_french_laptop_buyer_pay_windows_too">decision |
|
|
by a French court</a>, according to which Lenovo has to pay €1920 for |
|
|
forcing French |
|
|
laptop buyer to pay for Windows operating system.</li> |
|
|
|
|
|
<li>As an organisation which <a href="https://my.fsfe.org/donate">depends on |
|
|
donations</a> FSFE felt <a href="/news/2012/news-20120204-01.html">honored |
|
|
and happy to receive the Mozilla grant</a>. Thanks a lot to Mozilla for |
|
|
this support.</li> |
|
|
|
|
|
<li>FSF announced they will work on <a |
|
|
href="https://www.fsf.org/news/announcing-js-labels">"JavaScript License |
|
|
Web Labels"</a>, so it will be easier for you in future to only allow Free |
|
|
Software JavaScript code running in your browser.</li> |
|
|
|
|
|
<li>A selection from the <a href="https://planet.fsfe.org">Fellowship |
|
|
planet aggregation</a>: |
|
|
|
|
|
<ul> |
|
|
|
|
|
<li>Can you imagine: being prevented from copy-pasting something from a |
|
|
webpage! <a |
|
|
href="https://blogs.fsfe.org/hugo/2012/02/%E2%80%9Cunethical%E2%80%9D-html5-content-restriction-proposal-aka-drm/"> |
|
|
Unethical HTML5 content-restriction proposal (aka DRM)</a>.</li> |
|
|
|
|
|
<li>Heiki is <a |
|
|
href="https://blogs.fsfe.org/repentinus/english/2012/02/13/call-for-fsfe-fellowship-quotes/"> |
|
|
asking you to give him quotes</a> so our <a |
|
|
href="/contribute/web/web.html">web team</a> can use them to pimp our |
|
|
website.</li> |
|
|
|
|
|
<li>Find out what Mark Lindhout, the author of new <a |
|
|
href="https://blogs.fsfe.org/blog/2012/02/05/new-blog-theme-pome/">Fellowship |
|
|
blog theme pome,</a> suggests to do with politicians <a |
|
|
href="https://blogs.fsfe.org/marklindhout/2012/02/the-threat-of-digital-incompetence-%E2%80%94-censorship-codified-into-law/">who |
|
|
refuse to gain a basic understanding of the mechanisms they try to |
|
|
mandate</a>.</li> |
|
|
|
|
|
<li>Matija Šuklje wrote about <a |
|
|
href="http://matija.suklje.name/?q=node/256">"We, the Web kids & |
|
|
faith restored in our youth"</a>.</li> |
|
|
|
|
|
<li>And we have Hugo Roy's article <a |
|
|
href="http://blog.hugoroy.eu/2012/02/23/free-software-v-open-source-community/">"Free |
|
|
Software v. “Open Source” community?"</a>, which -- like all the other |
|
|
topics -- you can discuss on our <a href="/contact/community.html">public |
|
|
mailing lists</a>.</li> |
|
|
|
|
|
</ul> |
|
|
</li> |
|
|
|
|
|
</ul> |
|
|
|
|
|
<h2>Get Active: Be like the European Commission!</h2> |
|
|
|
|
|
<p>While <a |
|
|
href="http://www.computerweekly.com/blogs/public-sector/2012/01/microsoft-hustled-uk-retreat-o.html">Open |
|
|
Standards are threatened in the UK</a>, we are <a |
|
|
href="https://blogs.fsfe.org/samtuke/?p=309">working hard</a> to counter such |
|
|
relapses. The latest success is that the European Commission confirmed to take |
|
|
part in <a |
|
|
href="http://erikjosefsson.eu/sites/default/files/global_dfd_invite.html">the |
|
|
DFD event in Brussels</a>.</p> |
|
|
|
|
|
<p>In this regard we ask you to be like the EC: join <a |
|
|
href="http://documentfreedom.org/2012/events/events.en.html">DFD 2012 |
|
|
activities</a>. In the next days we will have the official call for |
|
|
activities, but you can already <a |
|
|
href="http://documentfreedom.org/contact.en.html">write the campaign team an |
|
|
e-mail</a> to get your activity on the website. If you still need |
|
|
inspirations for your own event take a look at <a |
|
|
href="http://documentfreedom.org/getinvolved.en.html">proposed |
|
|
activities</a>.</p> |
|
|
|
|
|
<p>Thanks to all the <a href="https://my.fsfe.org/donate">Fellows</a> and |
|
|
<a href="donate/thankgnus.html">donors</a> who enable our work,<br/> |
|
|
<a href="/about/people/kirschner">Matthias Kirschner </a> - <a href="/">FSFE</a></p> |
|
|
|
|
|
<p>-- <br /> |
|
|
<a href="/index.html">Free Software Foundation Europe</a><br /> |
|
|
<a href="/news/news.rss">FSFE News</a><br /> |
|
|
<a href="/events/events.rss">Upcoming FSFE Events</a><br /> |
|
|
<a href="https://planet.fsfe.org/en/rss20.xml">Fellowship Blog Aggregation</a><br /> |
|
|
<a href="/contact/community.html">Free Software Discussions</a> </p> |
|
|
|
|
|
</body> |
|
|
|
|
|
<tags> |
|
|
<tag key="newsletter"/> |
|
|
</tags> |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
</html> |
|
|
<!-- |
|
|
Local Variables: *** |
|
|
mode: xml *** |
|
|
End: *** |
|
|
-->
|
|
|
|
