114 lines
4.1 KiB
HTML
114 lines
4.1 KiB
HTML
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="iso-8859-1" ?>
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<!DOCTYPE html
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PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN"
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"http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">
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<html lang="en">
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<head>
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<title>FSF Europe - Preamble</title>
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</head>
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<body>
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<div> <!-- The header will be inserted here -->
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<!-- Begin page content -->
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<div align="center">
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<h2>Preamble of the Free Software Foundation Europe</h2>
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Georg C. F. Greve <<a href="mailto:greve@gnu.org">greve@gnu.org</a>>
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<br/>
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</div>
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<p>
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Upon entering the digital age, in which real and virtual space will
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equally determine the social, cultural and scientific development of
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mankind, the Free Software Foundation Europe has the long-term goal to
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raise and work on the questions this will necessarily raise.
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</p>
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<p>
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In this regard the direct function is the unselfish promotion of
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Free Software as well as creating and propagating the awareness of the
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related philosophical and social questions.
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</p>
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<p>
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As its acknowledged sister organization, the FSF Europe will join
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forces with the Free Software Foundation founded by Richard
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M. Stallman in the United States of America. The latter, recognized
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tax-exempt charitable organization in the USA, has been dedicating
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itself since 1984 to the promotion and distribution of Free software
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and in particular the GNU-System, a Unix-like operating system. This
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system is mostly known by one of its variants, GNU/Linux, which since
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1993 has been used successfully on many computers.
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</p>
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<p>
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The term Free Software in the sense of the FSF Europe does not refer
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to the price, but rather to the following four freedoms:
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</p>
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<ul>
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<li> 1. freedom: the freedom to use a program for any purpose</li>
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<li> 2. freedom: the freedom to study the program and adapt it to your
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own needs. </li>
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<li> 3. freedom: the freedom to make copies for others.</li>
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<li> 4. freedom: the freedom to improve a program and make these
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improvements available to others, so that the whole community
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benefits. </li>
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</ul>
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<p>
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This definition of Free Software goes back to the idea of freely
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exchanging knowledge and ideas that can traditionally be found in
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scientific fields. Like thoughts, software is non-tangible and
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duplicable without loss. Passing feeds an evolutionary process,
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advancing thoughts and software.
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</p>
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<p>
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Only Free Software preserves the possibility to comprehend and build
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upon scientific results. For scientists, it is the only kind of
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software which corresponds to the ideals of a free
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science. Accordingly, the promotion of free software is also a
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promotion of science.
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</p>
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<p>
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The distribution of information and the forming of an opinion are done
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increasingly by digital media, and the trend is to foster the use of
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those means for a direct citizen participation to
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democracy. Therefore, a central task of the FSF Europe is to train
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proficient citizens in these media, thereby promoting democracy.
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</p>
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<p>
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Digital space ("Cyberspace"), with software as its medium and its
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language has an enormous potential for the promotion of all mental and
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cultural aspects of mankind. By making it commonly available and
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opening up the medium, Free Software grants equal chances and
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protection of privacy.
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</p>
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<p>
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Coining the awareness for the problems related to the digital age in
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all parts of society is long-term goal and a core aspect of the work
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of the FSF Europe.
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</p>
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<p>
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Therefore the FSF Europe will seek to increase the use of Free
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Software in schools and universities in order to parallelize the
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education in real space matters with the creation of understanding and
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awareness of problems in virtual space.
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</p>
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<p>
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Free Software guarantees traceable results and decision-making
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processes in science and public life as well as the individual rights
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to free development of personality and liberty of opinion. It is the
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job of the FSF Europe to carry Free Software into all areas that touch
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public life or "informational human rights" of citizens.
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</p>
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<!-- End page content -->
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</div> <!-- The footer will be inserted here -->
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Last update:
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<!-- timestamp start -->
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$Date$ $Author$
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<!-- timestamp end -->
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</body>
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</html>
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