I love Free Software Day
We often underestimate the power of a simple Thank You. Free Software contributors do important work for our society and they deserve attention. The "I love Free Software Day" on 14 February (also known as Valentine's Day) is the perfect opportunity for you to express your special gratitude.
In the Free Software community, we expect a lot of work from Free Software project maintainers. We want that our bug reports are dealt with quickly and demand new features from people who often spend their sparse volunteer time on Free Software code, translations, tests, or design. There is nothing wrong about this because constructive feedback helps us to further improve and keeps Free Software projects alive. But it is also important to show some appreciation to those who work so selflessly throughout the year for us! You can show your love for Free Software by saying thank you to your favourite Free Software project or contributor.
The yearly "I love Free Software Day" allows you to make 14 February a day full of positive, creative and lovely messages for the whole community. Together, we can celebrate software freedom that empowers us.
I ♥ Free Software Day 2021
For this year's I love Free Software Day let's think about the changes in our daily lives we all went through during the last year. In the past year Free Software helped us to stay connected with our family, friends and loved ones! There are many examples of people who promoted the use of Free Software, may it be at a university or school which is using Ilias, BigBlueButton or Claroline, the colleague who suggested Jitsi for the video call instead of proprietary software tools, or the use of Free Software during conferences or online workshops.
Let us use the I love Free Software day to say thank you, not only to the developers but also to those who promoted and enabled us with their commitment to use Free Software!
As a new feature for this years I love Free Software Day we also have a new Software Freedom Podcast episode, which is dedicated to the I love Free Software Day. Together with Greg Kroah-Hartman from Linux kernel, Lydia Pintscher from KDE, Florian Effenberger from The Document Foundation, the Free Software lawyer Miriam Ballhausen and Polina Malaja from centr.org, we talk about the background of and why we need the I love Free Software Day.
Get active for #ilovefs
-
Use the opportunity
Take the opportunity this wonderful day to thank the people who enable you to enjoy software freedom. Make use of our new Software Freedom Podcast Episode and our new share-pics, the stickers and balloons, artwork, and merchandise the FSFE provides for #ilovefs.
-
Think about it
Think about whose work for or whose promotion of Free Software enabled you to stay connected through Free Software. Was it your university or school that enabled you to use Free Software for classes? Or maybe your colleague who promoted the use of Free Software during the times of home office? Think about Free Software that enabled you to stay in touch with the people around you. For some inspiration have a look at others' love statements or read this inspiring story from the FSF.
-
Share your love
That's the fun part! Share your appreciation on social media (#ilovefs), in blog posts, pictures and video messages, or directly to the Free Software developers and contributors. And why not organise an online meet-up with your friends or co-workers?
-
Improve Free Software
Talking is silver, contributing is gold! Help a Free Software project with code, a translation, or by assisting its users. Or if you can, please consider a donation to a Free Software organisation like the FSFE, or to another project.
What is your contribution to this special day and the people who enable you to use Free Software? Will you use our stickers and balloons? Or make a picture or video with your new ILoveFS shirt? And what about celebrating software freedom with your colleagues and friends at a company gathering or public event? Whatever you do, show it to the world by using the #ilovefs tag. And if you have questions, just drop us an email.
Happy I love Free Software Day everyone! ❤