144 lines
5.7 KiB
HTML
144 lines
5.7 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>Free Software Foundation Europe - Frequently Answered Questions (FAQ)</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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<center>
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<h1>Free Software Foundation Europe</h1>
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<h2>Frequently Answered Questions (FAQ)</h2>
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</center>
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<ul>
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<li><a name="help"></a><b>Q: How can I help you?</b>
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<p>Being a non-profit, in many areas volunteer-driven Non-Governmental
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Organisation (NGO), our resources — and hence our capabilities
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to do our work — largely depend on volunteer contribution and
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donations.</p>
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<p>So if you would like us to do more or simply enable us to keep
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working, please help us either with your <a
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href="/help/help.html">volunteer work</a>, a <a
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href="/help/donate.html">donation</a> or both.</p></li>
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<li><a name="associatemembership"></a><b>Q: Why do you not have an
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"associate membership" like the FSF North America?</b><p>A: FSF
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Europe has considered this in the past - in fact we have been
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receiving requests for something like this as since 2001. We did
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consider it, but have decided against it for the FSF
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Europe.</p><p>Our main reason for deciding against associate membership was that we
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felt it was problematic to call normal donors "members" if they do not
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get the right to vote. This is not so unusual in the United States,
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especially for U.S. book clubs and such, but for a European
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organisation working in the political field it did not seem
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fitting.</p><p>We are considering other possible alternatives to
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give people some goodies for supporting the FSF Europe,
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though.</p><p>The <a href="/about/graphics/sponsoring/">sponsoring
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buttons</a> were a first step, but there will be more.</p></li>
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<li><a name="who"></a><b>Q: Who are the members that make up FSF
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Europe?</b><p>A: People from different European countries, usually with a
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long history in Free Software. A list of members is available <a
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href="members.html">here</a>.</p></li>
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<li><a name="member"></a><b>Q: How can I become member of the FSF
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Europe?</b>
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<p>A: Warning: It is possible that the question you really meant to
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ask is "<a href="#getinvolved">How can I get involved in the FSF
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Europe?</a>" -- please read on to decide for yourself.</p>
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<p>As the major Free Software Foundations (such as the FSF Europe)
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maintain the legal aspects of the GNU Project including maintaining
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the GPL, LGPL, GFDL licenses or legal documents such as the <a
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href="/projects/fla/">Fiduciary Licence Agreement (FLA)</a>,
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membership in the FSF cannot be entirely open. Otherwise we'd
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jeopardize our ability to defend these against hostile takeover.</p>
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<p>Also because of the often highly political and legal nature of our
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work, we sometimes need to find a compromise that we may not
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be entirely happy with, but that our members are then bound to.</p>
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<p>Consequently, membership in the FSF Europe requires a high level of
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personal dedication and willingness to rate the needs of Free Software
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above personal interests. Not everyone is willing to or capable of
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making that commitment.</p>
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<p>When people are willing to make such a commitment, new members are
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appointed by act of the general assembly when 3/4 of all existing
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members are convinced the applicant understand the long term issues of
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Free Software and wants to devote a large part of his or her life to
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this task. We hope to have 3-4 members (but not much more) from each
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European country at some point.</p>
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<p>Should you consider this for yourself, we recommend starting to
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work with us so we can get to know each other.</p>
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<p>So regardless of whether you really meant to ask this question or
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whether you just wanted to know how to get involved, it might be
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useful to read on at "<a href="#getinvolved">How can I get involved in
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the FSF Europe?</a>"</p>
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</li>
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<li><a name="getinvolved"></a><b>Q: How can I get involved in the FSF
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Europe?</b>
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<p>
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A: There are several ways to get involved in the activities of the FSF
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Europe. If you just wish to get active doing some things, you might
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have a look at the <a href="/help/help.html">Help Section</a>.</p>
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<p>If you wish to work with us, you could either seek direct <a
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href="/contact/contact.html">contact</a> or get involved in the FSF
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Europe through working in the <a href="/associates/">Associate
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Organisations</a>.</p>
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<p>There is no limit but your engagement on how involved you can
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become in the internal workings of the FSF Europe once we get to know
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each other.</p>
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</li>
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<li><a name="volunteers"></a><b>Q: Someone claimed to be working for
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you, is this true?</b><p>A: We have many people who work with and for
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us on a regular basis, so even if you get contacted by someone with an
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email address that does not seem related, this person may be working
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in our name. Chances are you will find that person on our list of <a
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href="volunteers.html">Permanent Volunteers</a>. Otherwise please <a
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href="/contact/contact.html">ask us</a> if you want to be
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sure.</p></li>
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<li><a name="legal"></a><b>Q: What is your legal status/structure?</b><p>A:
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As Europe is still quite a way from being legally united, a modular
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solution had to be found. You can find more information <a
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href="/about/legal/">here</a>.</p></li>
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<li><a name="graphics"></a><b>Q: Where do I find the FSF Europe Logo
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and other Artwork?</b><p>A: They are online <a
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href="graphics/graphics.html">here</a>.</p></li>
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</ul>
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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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</body>
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</html>
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