FSFE Newsletter - January 2010
In January, FSFE was awarded the Theodor Heuss Medal as a "trendsetting
organisation". This recognition for the hard work of the past years was a
good start into the new year.
Free Software Foundation Europe
Free as in Freedom
Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE) is a non-profit and in some countries charitable organisation dedicated to Free Software. FSFE maintains that the freedoms to use, study, share and improve software are critical to ensure equal participation in the information age. We work to create general understanding and support for software freedom in politics, law and society-at-large. We also promote the development of technologies, such as the GNU/Linux operating system, that deliver these freedoms to all participants in digital society.
FSFE's work is made possible by many individual contributions, in particular to the Fellowship of FSFE. One way to contribute is to join now, and to encourage others to do likewise.
Latest news
Fellows: Elect your GA representative in February
During the whole of February 2010, FSFE's Fellows will be
able to elect their second representative in FSFE's General Assembly. The
winner of the election will help FSFE's strategic decision making body plan the
future of the organisation, and will join Torsten Grote who occupies
the first Fellowship seat since
earlier last year. Both Fellowship representatives are full members of the General Assembly for a term of
two years, and have all the rights and obligations of other members.
FSFE honoured with Theodor Heuss Medal - "trendsetting organisation"
The Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE)
receives this year's Theodor Heuss Medal for its extraordinary
work for equitable participation in the information society. Since
2001 FSFE has been committed to the freedom to use, investigate,
modify and redistribute software in all parts of society and
politics. Theodor Heuss Foundation states: "FSFE as a forward
thinking organisation contributes to the development and
establishment of rules for good global governance."
FSFE Newsletter - December 2009
Despite the temperatures dropping below zero all over Europe and the
Christmas holidays approaching, FSFE kept working as usual for software
freedom. The major news of December are that we have begun to
restructure our website, added Andreas Tolf Tolfsen as webmaster deputy
coordinator, and published a statement on the EC's settlement with
Microsoft in the browser antitrust case. Read on to learn more about
what we did in December.
Fellowship Interview with Simon Josefsson
Simon Josefsson is a Fellow and GNU hacker with a special interest
in security. His contributions to the Free Software world include
such ubiquitous projects as GnuTLS and libssh2, and he was recently
presented with the Nordic Free Software Award. Stian Rødven Eide
interviewed Simon as a part of our regular Fellowship interviews,
asking him about his projects and other security matters.
Upcoming events
Election for Fellowship GA seat
(01 Feb ↓ 28 Feb)
During February Fellows
can elect a second representative for FSFE's General Assembly.
The Fellow who will be elected will serve a two year term.
Berlin Fellowship meeting
(11 Feb)
The Berlin Fellowship group will meet at the NewthinkingStore at 7.30 pm in Tucholskystraße 48. Ali Gündüz will talk about complete free GNU/Linux Distributions. Another topic will be the FOSDEM 2010 and the DFD organisation. Guests are always welcome.
Stuttgart Fellowship meeting
(11 Feb)
The Stuttgart Fellowship group will meet at Sophies Brauhaus on 11 February 2010 at 8.00 pm in Marienstraße 28. Thomas Jensch will talk about FSFEs Edu-Team. Another topic will be the re-start of a regular Fellowship meeting in Stuttgart.
Chemnitzer "LinuxTage", Chemnitz, Germany
(13 Mar ↓ 14 Mar)
FSFE will have a booth at "LinuxTage", one of the most important event about Free Software in Germany. As in the last years a ticket for the conference will cost 5 EUR. Reduced fee will be 3 EUR. Tickets are valid on both days and can be bought directly at the entrance to the conference. A reservation is neither necessary nor possible. A ticket pre-sale is also not planned. The event takes place at Hörsaal- und Seminar-Gebäude der Technischen Universität Chemnitz, Reichenhainer Straße 90, 09126 Chemnitz
Freedom Task Force ELN Workshop, Amsterdam, Netherlands
(08 Apr ↓ 09 Apr)
The Freedom Task Force, FSFE's legal and licensing department, will hold the third European Licensing and Legal Workshop on the 8th and 9th of April 2010 in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. This conference will provide legal experts a forum for discussions on supply chain management, compliance procedures, licence management and other legal issues related to the growth of the European Free Software market.
There is limited space available at the event and attendance for non-network members is by invitation only.