[Fsfe-uk] FSFE Newsletter

[Free Software Foundation Europe]

This was an important month for Free Software.  Not only was Software Freedom
Day held (as always) on the 20th, but this years marks the 25th anniversary of
the GNU Project.  Celebrations took place across Europe and our Fellows
continued to support Free Software in local areas with enthusiasm and passion.

Other important events took place.  On the policy level, FSFE engaged with
representatives of the World Bank to explain why Free Software continues
to be important in both economics and politics.  On the legal level, meetings,
speeches, panels and training events continued to build infrastructure for the 
future.

                                                Shane, FSFE Zurich Office


1. The GNU's 25th Birthday in Berlin, Germany
2. The smallest unit of freedom: A Fellow - Sean Daly
3. Reach the people - Software Freedom Day in Berlin, Vienna and Utrecht
4. Fellowship events throughout Europe
5. Free Software for World Bank financed projects
6. Freedom Task Force activites - GPLv3 in The Netherlands, panels in Italy and 
speeches in Berlin and Winterthur
7. European Legal Network special interest group meetings in London and Brussels


FORTHCOMING EVENTS

8. FSCONS 2008, Gothenburg, Sweden (2008-10-24 to 2008-10-26)
9. NLUUG Autumn Conference and CELF Embedded Linux Conference Europe, Ede, 
Netherlands (2008-11-06 to 2008-11-07)


1. The GNU's 25th Birthday in Berlin, Germany

The GNU-project turned 25 on the 27th of September. FSFE and the Berlin Fellows
were at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin to pop a cork and have a party. The 
event started at 3pm with some champagne and music to celebrate. A great time
was had by all!


2. The smallest unit of freedom: A Fellow - Sean Daly

"In Europe, Microsoft's foot-dragging in complying with the 2004 Monti
Decision concerned me, and I saw that with very few exceptions, the
mainstream and tech media seemed not to cover fully all that was going on,
in particular the important role of the intervenors like Samba and the
FSFE. I felt that since traditional journalists were missing a vital part
of the story, perhaps it was time for a nontraditional journalist to step
up and report on that part." 

  Read the whole Fellowship interview: http://fellowship.fsfe.org/interviews


3. Reach the people - Software Freedom Day in Berlin, Vienna and Utrecht

On Saturday the 20th of September, FFII and FSFE's Fellowship group from Berlin 
had a barbecue and manned an information booth. At the booth they explained
what Free Software is and why it is important for society. Meanwhile, Vienna's 
Fellows celebrate the annual "Software Freedom Day" in a Pub called Pint Pub 
in Vienna. The highlight of the event was the performances of the bands "Club 
Valat" and "Klaus (from Fadin' to Whiteout)".  Finally, in The Netherlands, 
Shane Coughlan, Freedom Task Force coordinator at FSFE, delivered a keynote 
speech at the Dutch Software Freedom Day event at Liefland College, Utrecht. 


4. Fellowship events throughout Europe

The Fellowship Group in Berlin met on the 11th of September at their usual 
venue, the New Thinking Store on Tucholsky Strasse.  In Vienna the local 
Fellowship group invited Shane Coughlan, FTF Coordinator, to deliver a speech 
entitled "The Professionalisation of Free Software. Where we are going next."  
The new Zurich Fellowship group also had a meeting, once again getting together 
at the FSFE Zurich office to discuss ways of spreading the word about Free 
Software in Switzerland and to generally have a good time.  In Lille, a 
Fellowship stand was manned at the "Braderie de Lille" (Lille's flea market) 
by our very own French intern, Benjamin Morant, and Rainer Kersten from the 
Duesseldorf office.


5. Free Software for World Bank financed projects

FSFE president Georg Greve delivered a course as part of the annual
"Procurement of Information systems in World Bank-Financed Projects"
course at the International Training Center (ITC) of the
International Labour Organisation (ILO) in Turin, Italy. As in the
past years, the course provided insights to the World Bank project
managers on the economic and political basics of Free Software, as
well as practical issues such as licences, business models and best
practice examples.


6. Freedom Task Force activities - GPLv3 in The Netherlands, panels in Italy 
and speeches in Berlin and Winterthur

Shane Coughlan, Freedom Task Force coordinator at FSFE, hosted a three hour
workshop entitled 'Licensing questions and Legal issues in the light of 
GPLv3' for the launch of the GPLv3 at the University of Tilburg, The 
Netherlands 
on the 19th of September. This event is sponsored by NLnet. He also represented
FSFE on the 'NESSI Open Source Working Group' panel at the OSS 2008 conference 
in Milan to explain Free Software and the reasons behind Free Software licences.
This was followed by a speech entitled 'Free Software licenses and other 
questions' at OSiM World at Berlin on the 17th of September another talk 
entitled 'The strategic implementation of Free Software in business' at 
the OpenExpo conference in Winterthur, Switzerland, on the 25th of September.


7. European Legal Network special interest group meetings in London and Brussels

FSFE's legal project - the FTF - coordinated a special interest group meeting 
in London to discuss business processes and supply chain management. Another 
meeting was held in Brussels on the 29th of September to discuss software 
patents and other legal issues. These meetings were held for members of the 
European Legal Network, and it is hoped that the discussions prompted by 
them will lead to greater understanding and support for Free Software by
European legal decision-makers.



FORTHCOMING EVENTS

This is only a partial list, and only contains events where our presence 
has been confirmed at time of drafting this newsletter.  For a more complete 
list of events FSFE will be involved with, please consult
http://www.fsfeurope.org/events/


8. FSCONS 2008, Gothenburg, Sweden (2008-10-24 to 2008-10-26)

For 2008, FSCONS is a collaboration of FSFE, Creative Commons, and Wikimedia 
Sweden. There will be three tracks (Free Culture, Free Software, Free Content), 
each lead by one of the main organisers. Topics will range from modern kernel 
design over citizen journalism all the way across to licensing in the 21st 
century. 

  http://www.fscons.org/


9. NLUUG Autumn Conference and CELF Embedded Linux Conference Europe, Ede, 
Netherlands (2008-11-06 to 2008-11-07)

The FSFE will be attending the NLUUG Autumn Conference on Thursday 6th 
November. This year's theme is 'mobility'. Feel free to come to our booth 
and ask about Free Software! Shane Coughlan, Freedom Task Force coordinator 
at FSFE, will also deliver talk entitled 'The strategic implementation of 
free software in business' at the CELF Embedded Linux Conference Europe 2008 
at the same location on the following day, Friday 7th November. The successful 
implementation of Free Software requires an understanding of the best policy 
and processes applicable to its context. Shane will discuss how FSFE's legal 
project and its European Legal Network have engaged with this issue by 
producing generic market knowledge for supply and purchasing contracts, 
work flow documents and deployment methodology. The location for both 
conferences is Hotel en Congrescentrum De Reehorst, Ede, Netherlands. 

  http://www.nluug.nl/events/nj08/index.html



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