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313 lines
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<head>
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<title>FSFE's year 2010 - a letter from the President</title>
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</head>
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<body>
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<h1>FSFE's year 2010 - a letter from the President</h1>
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<div id="introduction">
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<p>
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We have had an eventful year, and a good one. In the following
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text you will find background links to our various activities.
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Please take this opportunity to get a much more complete
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picture of our present and future work for Free Software.
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</p>
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</div>
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<h2>Awards and recognition for FSFE's work</h2>
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<p>
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We celebrated not one, but two awards this year. In May, <a href="/news/2010/news-20100126-01.html">FSFE received
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the Theodor Heuss Medal</a>. During a grand ceremony with numerous German
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political luminaries in Stuttgart in May, Ludwig Heuss, Director of
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the Theodor Heuss Foundation, praised FSFE's work for freedom in the
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information society:
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</p>
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<p>
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"Free Software Foundation Europe receives the Theodor Heuss Medal
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2010 because it competently contributes to creating new rules for
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social, political and legal conditions for digital freedom through
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Free Software."
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</p>
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<p>
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A week earlier, on the 28th of April, FSFE's founding President <a href="/news/2010/news-20100428-01.html">
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Georg Greve was awarded the
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German Federal Cross of Merit</a> (Bundesverdienstkreuz) in recognition of
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his great achievements in promoting Free Software with FSFE. To our
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knowledge, this is the first time that any country in the world
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bestows such an honour on any Free Software activist. This is a
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well-deserved reward for many years of hard work. Congratulations,
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Georg!
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</p>
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<h2>Divide and re-conquer</h2>
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<p>
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Such recognition is of course a huge motivation. But there is no time
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to rest on our laurels. Technology evolves, and Free Software
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advocates everywhere need to face up to new challenges. Many people
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are coming to rely more and more on web services, software as a
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service and "cloud computing" for different purposes, such as email,
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online data storage, or social networking. The freedoms that define
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Free Software -- to use, study, share and improve a program -- are
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tailored towards programs running on computers we control. Can we find
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a way to defend those freedoms in a world where much of our computing
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happens on machines controlled by others? How can we win those
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freedoms back where they've already been lost?
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</p>
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<p>
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The best bet for an answer to these questions are decentralised
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systems; systems which provide the services that users are looking
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for, but which have no central controlling node. What exactly would
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such systems need to look like to preserve our freedoms, and how can
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they be built? To inspire users and developers to think about these
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questions, we gave <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hNhlOlGInHE">talks</a>
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at different events across Europe and even as
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far afield as the FISL event in Porto Alegre, Brazil. At the Free
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Society Conference (<a href="http://fscons.org/">FSCONS</a>)
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in Gothenburg in November we organised a
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whole track on the topic, under the title <a href="http://fscons.org/divide">"Divide and
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re-conquer"</a>. Here we brought together people who are working on
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projects that break up the central point of control and replace it
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with decentralised systems, such as Appleseed's Michael Chisari,
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Benjamin Bayart of the user-owned ISP French Data Network, and FSFE's
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Torsten Grote, who explained why the concentration of power and data
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in the hands of a few companies is a problem, and how decentralised
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systems can help us to re-conquer our freedoms.
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</p>
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<h2>Campaigning for Free Software and Open Standards</h2>
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<p>
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<a href="/activities/os/os.html">Open Standards</a> are essential for Free
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Software. Free Software relies
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on Open Standards to interoperate with other programs. If public
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sector organisations and businesses use Open Standards, citizens are
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not forced to use proprietary software to communicate with them, while
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the organisations themselves can throw off the shackles of dependence
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on a single software vendor.
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</p>
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<p>
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For these reasons, we continued to invest a lot of time and effort
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into Open Standards this year. The <a href="http://documentfreedom.org/2010/summary-2010">Document
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Freedom Day</a> campaign saw
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groups around the world celebrating Open Standards and open document
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formats on March 31, with events taking place from Argentina to
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Vietnam and in many European countries.
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</p>
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<p>
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The European Commission is currently finishing its long-awaited
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revision of the European Interoperability Framework, a recommendation
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to public bodies across Europe on how to make their IT systems talk to
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each other. The original version from 2004 strongly backed Open
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Standards and was very influential. The revised version, which we
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expect to be published shortly, is likely to be
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<a href="/activities/os/eifv2.html">heavily watered down</a>
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in this regard.
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</p>
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<p>
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As we <a href="/news/2010/news-20101016-01.html">fought tooth and nail</a>
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to retain at least a mention of Open
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Standards in the document, we raised a lot of attention for the topic
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within the European Commission and the European public sector. We also
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<a href="http://blogs.fsfe.org/gerloff/?p=426">participated in the reform
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of the European standardisation system</a> that
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is currently underway, with FSFE's President Karsten Gerloff setting
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out the key issues for Free Software in standardisation at a
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conference organised by the European Commission and the European
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Patent Office in November.
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</p>
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<p>
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If the public sector asks for software based on Open Standards, Free
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Software companies can bid for contracts, and will have more money to
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invest in development. We have been monitoring public procurement
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around Europe. When the Italian region of South Tyrol extended a
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contract for proprietary software licenses without a tender, we raised
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<a href="/news/2010/news-20100702-01.html">a very public alarm</a>.
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But rather than just criticising the province, we
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offered the administration help to do better next time. This resulted
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in a Round Table with local Free Software experts which is now making
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real, long-term progress in developing fairer procurement
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practices. We hope to create an example here for other public
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administrations to follow.
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</p>
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<p>
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Our <a href="/campaigns/pdfreaders/pdfreaders.html">pdfreaders campaign</a>
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has convinced dozens of public bodies across
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Europe to advertise <a href="http://pdfreaders.org">Free Software PDF readers</a>.
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Supported by hundreds
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of volunteers across Europe, we contacted public bodies in 33
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countries, told them about Free Software and Open Standards, and asked
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them to replace or complement their advertisements for proprietary PDF
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readers with links to free ones.
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</p>
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<p>
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At the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO), <a href="/activities/wipo/wipo.html">
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our persistent work</a> is bearing fruit. Though change in this international
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organisation is slow, it is visible. We
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<a href="http://www.wipo.int/meetings/en/details.jsp?meeting_id=19684">analysed the risks of software
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patents and the benefits of Open Standards</a> for delegates from patent
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offices around the world. We also had productive discussion with
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member states and WIPO staff on how Free Software can become a
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permanent element in the organisation's activities. The organisation
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is still far from becoming the World Intellectual Wealth Organisation
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that we called for six years ago, but it is slowly opening up to the
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ideas of Free Software and knowledge sharing. WIPO has commissioned a
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number of studies on these subjects, which it used to ignore. Once the
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results are in, we will push for the organisation to make these
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topics a regular part of its work.
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</p>
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<p>
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After the departure of FTF coordinator Adriaan de Groot in April,
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we focused the work of our legal department on core tasks. The
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<a href="/activities/ftf/network.html">European Legal Network</a> has grown to become the world's largest network
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of Free Software specialists from the legal profession. The
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invite-only environment provides a protected space for sensitive
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discussions and an open, honest exchange of views. The network's
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yearly workshop in Amsterdam was a resounding success. The network
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also <a href="https://wiki.fsfe.org/EuropeanLegalNetwork/LinkingDocument">
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produced a document on interactions between different software
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components</a>, delivering a structured set of views on a complex and
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obscure domain. We maintain our <a href="/activities/ftf/fiduciary.html">copyright
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assignment tool</a> for projects
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that wish to use it, and answer a steady stream of legal and licensing
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questions from the community.
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</p>
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<h2>Behind the scenes</h2>
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<p>
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Internally, there was housekeeping to do. Our infrastructure, both
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software and hardware, is getting a makeover. The volunteer web team
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is progressively making the website more informative, while our system
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administrators make sure that our servers are stable and secure. We
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are making our internal processes more efficient, so that we can focus
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on working for Free Software.
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</p>
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<p>
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As always, a lot of our work is being done by volunteers. They make it
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possible for FSFE to connect to Free Software activists across Europe,
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and to be present at dozens of events in many countries every
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year. Besides the usual Free Software conferences, we also branched
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out into events for a broader audience such as the German Kirchentag,
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attended by 130,000 people, where we had a successful
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booth. Volunteers also maintain our website and make it available in
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up to 30 different languages. Volunteers have launched a new country
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team in France and a very active Fellowship group in Slovenia. Most
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importantly, they carry the Free Software message into their
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workplaces, their universities, and their circle of friends. This is
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the time to send all of them a big "thank you!".
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</p>
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<p>
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All of our activities were supported by FSFE's interns. This year,
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four talented young people worked with us, diving headlong into the
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Free Software world and doing much of the legwork required to make
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campaigns, events and policy work happen.
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</p>
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<h2>Looking into 2011</h2>
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<p>
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In 2011, FSFE will turn ten years old. We have come far, as your
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support and the hard work of many committed people have turned us into
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Europe's most respected Free Software advocacy organisation. But we
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have so much further yet to go.
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</p>
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<p>
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We want to help the community build systems that respect our freedom,
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as computing moves increasingly into the network. Building on the
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awareness we have raised for distributed systems, we will bring
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together people working in this field and look for ways to let them
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join forces and make them stronger.
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</p>
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<p>
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It's a safe bet that Open Standards and standardisation reform will
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keep us busy in 2011. Preparations are already well underway for
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Document Freedom Day on March 30. We will continue to push for a
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market that is open to Free Software, and for a standardisation system
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that respects the needs of Free Software users, developers and
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companies.
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</p>
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<p>
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Software patents are creeping back onto the agenda, in different
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guises. We will push for patents to be licensed without restrictions
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when they are included in standards. The European Commission has
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lately started to once more drive the idea of a single European
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patent. For software, much will depend on how such a system is
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implemented. FSFE will be monitoring the details, giving input and
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applying pressure as needed.
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</p>
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<p>
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Our legal department has been extremely successful in bringing
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together experts on legal aspects of Free Software, and in helping
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developers with information on licensing issues. In 2011, we will
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reposition the department to be even more useful to the community.
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</p>
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<h2>Thank you for your support!</h2>
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<p>
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All this work costs money. Almost all of <a href="/donate/thankgnus.html">
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FSFE's funding</a> comes from
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<a href="/donate/donate.html">your donations</a>
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and your Fellowship contributions. Your support not
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only lets us do all this work, and more. Most importantly, it lets us
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stay independent of any particular interests. This independence is not
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a luxury. It is the basic prerequisite for the work that we do. Thank
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you for making it possible!
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</p>
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<p>
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We are working to make it easier for you to donate and pay Fellowship
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contributions on a monthly basis. Receiving monthly payments
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lets us calculate our budget more reliably, and keeps the cash
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flow smooth throughout the year. We are also currently working to make
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tax-free donations possible from a number of European countries.
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</p>
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<p>
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We hope for your continued support as we are confronting these
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challenges head-on. On behalf of all FSFE staff and volunteers, I wish
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you happy holidays. Celebrate them in freedom, rest a bit, and gather
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strength for the challenges and battles coming in 2011. It will be an
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exciting year. I invite you to keep working for software freedom along
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with us.
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</p>
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<p>
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With the best wishes for a free 2011,<br/>
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Karsten Gerloff<br/>
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President, Free Software Foundation Europe
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</p>
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</body>
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<timestamp>$Date: 2010-10-09 11:30:07 +0200 (sam. 09 oct. 2010) $ $Author: mk $</timestamp>
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</html>
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