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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.
Free Software Foundation Europe congratulates the European Commission on pushing Microsoft to give users greater choice between different browsers. "The selection screen will make users aware that they can make their own choices," says Karsten Gerloff, FSFE's President. "We are glad that FSFE has helped the Commission to put limits to Microsoft's desktop monopoly."
The European Commission (EC) has given in to the demands of lobbyists for Microsoft and SAP when it revised a key document on interoperability between electronic government services. The Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE) has analysed the evolution of a new version of the European Interoperability Framework (EIF), showing that Commission has based its work on the input of the Business Software Alliance (BSA), a lobby group for proprietary software vendors, and ignored the voices of a large part of the European software industry. At the same time, remarks by the EC's Vice President about Free Software point to a worrying lack of awareness within the Commission.
For this year's round of fund-raising, the Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE) has cooked up something special. The biggest donor of 2009 will share a cooking session with FSFE's President and other members of the organisation's executive team. FSFE is looking to raise 100,000 Euro during the last quarter of 2009.
Starting in November 2009, Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE) will award three people with a Fellowship grant every month for the coming year. Everybody who is actively working for Free Software but cannot afford the Fellowship contribution can apply for the grant.
FSFE has unleashed an advocacy push in order to prevent the European Commission from hollowing out an important European reference document on interoperability. A draft for a new version of the European Interoperability Framework (EIF) leaked to the press last week.
Leif-Jöran Olsson is a language technologist and XML enthusiast with a long history in the Swedish solidarity movement. I sat down for an interview with Leif-Jöran and asked him about his background, his education and the various projects he’s been involved in.
Oracle should agree to put MySQL in the hands of an independent non-profit guardian, proposes the Free Software Foundation Europe. The Free Software community could develop MySQL to its full potential, while Oracle would not have to worry that a competitor could take over the database project.
A new set of graphics that includes banners, web 2.0 buttons and micro buttons to advertise donations to FSFE e FSFE's Newsletter is awaiting for you to be grabbed and spread. Whether you manage a bullettin board, a weblog or a website feel free to copy and paste our html code into your site. Show the web that you care about Free Software and FSFE!
Microsoft's latest operating system, Windows 7, is currently shipping with a potentially serious defect. Ahead of the product's global launch on Thursday, Germany's federal IT security agency (BSI) has issued a warning [1] about a high-risk vulnerability in the SMB2 protocol. This can be exploited over the network to shut down a computer with a Denial of Service (DoS) attack.
The European Commission yesterday announced a preliminary agreement with Microsoft. The deal is supposed to settle an antitrust investigation about the company's dominant position in the web browser market. The Commission is also ready to strike a deal on interoperability. The goal is to allow rival products to work with Microsoft's applications on the desktop.
The European Commission is on the verge of settling two antitrust cases against Microsoft. The details of this settlement will determine how much competition there can be in Europe's software market for years to come.
Andreas Tolf Tolfsen is a web technologist, developer and aspiring musicologist - who works at Opera Software, and regularly fights for digital freedoms. I sat down for a Jabber session with Andreas, asking him about his work, his life and his music.
The issue of Free Software has hit the run-up to the German elections. During a campaign launched by Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE) politicians from many parties have recognised the potential of Free Software and Open Standards for Germany. In response to questions from supporters of FSFE, they explain that Free Software equals more competition, promotes innovation and provides cost savings.
With the German federal elections coming up on September 27 2009, FSFE calls on all friends of freedom to ask the parties' candidates about their positions on Free Software and Open Standards. We have set up a page about the German Bundestagswahl to help you ask questions, and to collect the answers.
Thomas Jensch, FSFE's current intern in the Zurich office, took on the role of coordinator for FSFE's edu-team. During his internship, one of Thomas' tasks is to reorganise and revive FSFE's activities related to Free Software in education. He already agreed to continue coordinating the team after the conclusion of his internship in November.
Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE) congratulates the European Commission on its firm stance in the antitrust investigation against Microsoft, which has led the company to offer a settlement. For any such settlement, getting the details right will be crucial for competition and innovation in the web browser market.
Smári McCarthy is a thoughtful anarchist and practical chaos technician - with a deep interest in Free Software and democracy. Currently serving as project manager for the Icelandic Innovation Center, Smári works on digital fabrication and peer-to-peer education, while spending his spare time breaking the fundamental assumptions of how we organise society. I sat down for an interesting interview with Smári, in which he explained his projects and how they can contribute towards a more sustainable world.
During its General Assembly in Miraflores de la Sierra, Spain, the members of FSFE elected new coordinators for several of the organisation's activities, including strategy, legal and executive coordination.
The 2009 general assembly marks the end of FSFEs third major transformation process, which began at the 2007 assembly in Brussels. This transformation included changes to FSFE's constitution, which were discussed during the general assembly in 2007, prepared by the Extended Executive Committee for the 2008 assembly in Zürich and ultimately adopted during an extraordinary assembly in October that year. The two most important changes made were the introduction of an executive director position, and the addition of Fellowship representation to FSFE's general assembly.
FSFE's Spanish team is proud to invite all people interested in Free Software to a team meeting in order to set the group's agenda for next months. The meeting will take place alongside FSFE's 2009 General Assembly in Residencia La Cristalera near Miraflores de la Sierra, Madrid. After the meeting there will be a Social Event with the opportunity to meet and get to know various people from FSFE's Executive Team and General Assembly who have come to Miraflores de la Sierra, Madrid, for the yearly meeting to discuss and decide upon FSFE's strategy for the coming year.
There are a couple of “beginner’s mistakes” when thinking about Free Software in general and its commercial application, in particular. One is to believe there was a substantial difference in the software referred to by the terms “Free Software” and “Open Source.” There isn’t. As far as the actual software is concerned, both terms are as synonymous as things get in real life, with experts debating about details around the fringes. The differences between the terms lie in framing and brand.
It has been an interesting time since FSFE added a Fellowship representation to the General Assembly (GA). Torsten Grote, Jan-Hendrik Peters, Michel Roche, and Björn Schießle emerged from the candidacy period, as the first four Fellows running for the election.
FSFE was established in 2001 as a multi-cultural distributed organisation with volunteers and staff distributed across various European countries. Its approach is that of a result driven NGO with emphasis on constructive dialogue for lasting political and legal change. As an environment FSFE has grown out of the Free Software community and is ideally suited to motivated individuals capable of driving projects and initiatives forward.
In addition to being the friendly media face of Wikipedia Finland, the team contact for Ubuntu Finland and founder of local advocacy project Vapaa Suomi (Libre Finland), Timo Jyrinki has been involved as an active developer and translator for a wide range of Free Software organisations such as FSFE, Debian, GNOME and Openmoko. He has worked on computer graphics for much of his life, with a particular interest in human-computer interaction, and spends a lot of his current time making improvements to embedded systems. Timo is also the subject of this month's Fellowship interview.
Case G3/08: Referral under Art. 112(1)b) EPC by the President of the EPO (Patentability of programs for computers) to the Enlarged Board of Appeal, pending under Ref. Nº G 3/08.(PDF)
In the past months, the Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE) visibly improved the technological infrastructure of the Fellowship. We moved the Fellows' blogging platform to a new site, we created a Planet to aggregate the Fellows' blogs and we provided them with an improved and functional wiki.
Myriam Schweingruber is a devoted Free Software advocate with a flair for convincing people. Having worked as a translator, a school teacher and a pharmacist, Myriam is quite experienced in the art of communication, and gives a clear impression of trustworthiness. She has been especially active in the Swiss community, and helped found FSFE’s associate organisation, Whilhelm Tux, where she also served as the President. Read on for the latest instalment of our Fellowship interview series - "the smallest unit of freedom".
FSFE was established in 2001 as a multi-cultural distributed organisation with volunteers and staff distributed across various European countries. Its approach is that of a result driven NGO with emphasis on constructive dialogue for lasting political and legal change. As an environment FSFE has grown out of the Free Software community and is ideally suited to motivated individuals capable of driving projects and initiatives forward.
The election process for the first Fellowship seat on FSFE's General Assembly is underway now and four people have put themselves up for election by all Fellows: Torsten Grote, Jan-Hendrik Peters, Michel Roche, and Björn Schießle.
A great global community is gathering today to celebrate the second Document Freedom Day. After a successful 2008 celebration, Document Freedom Day teams all over the world are joining efforts to raise awareness for Document Freedom and Open Standards.
Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE) today announces that the second European Licensing and Legal Workshop will be held at the Hotel Okura on the 23rd and the 24th of April 2009 in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. This conference will provide a forum for discussions on supply chain management, compliance procedures, licence management, community interaction, and other legal issues related to the growth of the European Free Software market.
For eight years now, the Free Software Foundation Europe has been working tirelessly for basic rights and freedoms in an increasingly software-driven society. The 11th of March 2009 sees another major milestone passed, with its 2^3 (eighth) birthday being celebrated by its friends, Fellows and associates.
The election for the first Fellowship seat in FSFE's General Assembly will finish on 1 June in time for the next general assembly, which is scheduled for 19-21 June in Miraflores de la Sierra, Spain.
Free Software Foundation Europe today announces that it will support the European Commission's antitrust investigation against Microsoft and to this effect it has formally requested to be admitted as an interested third party.
Colin Turner is a dedicated Free Software activist and Fellowship member, working as a scientist and teacher at the University of Ulster in Northern Ireland. He has been advocating Free Software in schools and universities for many years and generously shared some of his experiences with us in this fourth instalment of our Fellowship interview series - "the smallest unit of freedom".
The Fellowship of the Free Software Foundation Europe is proud to announce its latest initiative: pdfreaders.org, a site providing information about PDF with links to Free Software PDF readers for all major operating systems.
FSFE's Freedom Task Force (FTF) is pleased to announce the release of a guide to assist with establishing legal infrastructure for Free Software projects.
Enrico Zini is a long time Fellow of the FSFE and a prominent Debian developer. He has been involved in many different projects relating to Free Software and is deeply concerned about social issues. Read on for the fourth in our Fellowship interview series - "the smallest unit of freedom".
On the 16th of January the European Commission DG Competition reported that it had issued a statement of objections regarding Microsoft's tying of Internet Explorer (IE) to the Windows Operating System product family. This action builds on a complaint originally submitted by Opera, a European company involved in web browser development.
FSFE's new year translation sprint ended yesterday with a respectable result: the numerous volunteers created 49 new translations and updated 137 documents within 28 days.
FSFE's core team expresses its appreciation towards all the volunteers who contributed. You have helped a great deal by making information about Free Software and FSFE's activities available in local European languages.