Newsletters

From time to time, the FSFE issues a newsletter that summarises its most important activities.

The newsletters are published via our press release mailing lists which you can subscribe to if you want to receive the newsletters per mail.

This page lists the newsletters that have been published in the past. There is another page containing an archive of regular news items.

2008-10-27
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. [Read...]

2008-09-24
The most exciting thing this month is the amount of Fellowship activity we are seeing around Europe. It's great to see more and more local meetings, giving Free Software supporters a chance to hang out together and share views. [Read...]

2008-08-23
FSFE's activities have been varied over the last month. It's promising to see the increase of Fellowship activities across Europe. We are looking forward to seeing more local groups appear and to hearing about their activities on all levels. One of the most important parts of supporting Free Software is sharing knowledge in your own community. [Read...]

2008-07-08
Housekeeping items are the least popular of all tasks in any organisation, and any organisation that is working under pressure has a tendency of accumulating them. That is why after the intensive work of the past year to build up and grow the Freedom Task Force, work on antitrust and OOXML issues, and various other activities, FSFE had some of them as well. Fortunately, after substantial preparation and three intensive days, FSFE's General Assembly in June managed to take care of them and send everyone home highly motivated and with a full task list. The results of this will become slowly visible throughout the coming year. [Read...]

2008-05-21
Issues around standardisation continued to make headlines during April. However, other important areas of focus were also under discussion around the world. [Read...]

2008-04-16
It has been another busy month for software freedom. Open Standards have continued to dominate discussions in ICT with the MS-OOXML proposal being accepted by ISO as a standard. FSFE and numerous other parties have observed this process from the beginning and have reason to be concerned about the state of international standardisation. You could read more about this in our lead story below. [Read...]

2008-03-17
It has been an exceptional month. The European Commission has fined Microsoft an additional 899 million Euro for continuing to restrict access to interoperability information prior to October 2007 and the ISO Ballot Resolution Meeting in Geneva failed to address most of the serious issues and ultimately ended up waving through the bulk of ECMA responses without review. Public awareness of issues relating to software freedom have been raised dramatically. [Read...]

2008-02-12
January has been a month full of activity both on the grassroots community level and in broad topics like Free Software legal infrastructure. The local Fellowship groups in Berlin and Duesseldorf are very active, and Duesseldorf's Fellowship is planning to expand to nearby cities in the coming months. Meanwhile, FSFE and gpl-violations.org have been deepening their partnership to ensure fair use of Free Software licences in the European area. [Read...]

2008-01-16
The last month of 2007 was pretty exciting, with the biggest news being the release of interoperability information by Microsoft in connection with the European antitrust case. The SAMBA project has arranged full access to specifications necessary for communication competitive alternatives to Microsoft's proprietary products. Of course, this does not mean that Microsoft's monopolistic behaviour has been resolved. A new antitrust case may be undertaken after complaints by Opera Software that Microsoft has willfully distorted the web browser marketplace. It's also important to note that this does not in any way solve the problem with patents on software. Such patents are still being granted by the European Patent Office (EPO) in violation of current law, and the FSFE is encouraging the European Commission to take actions to permanently abolish patents on software, both in theory and practice. [Read...]

2007-12-17
Welcome to FSFE's exceptionally full November newsletter. In Europe FSFE has been involved in speeches, meetings, training courses and public betas of new technology. On the global level we have been participated in the recent Internet Governance Forum meeting in Brazil. [Read...]

2007-11-07
Topics: Welcome to FSFE's October newsletter. This month, issues of interoperability, sustainable ICT and Free Software in education have been receiving attention. There are also changes inside FSFE, with the Fellowship reviewing its infrastructure and long-term projects like the FTF European Legal and Technical networks continuing to expand. Exciting times indeed. [Read...]

2007-10-09
Topics: Microsoft antitrust: A victory for Free Software and freedom of competition, WIPO: FSFE calls for interoperability and Open Standards, Freedom Task Force signs MoU with TIS Free Software Center, Southern Tyrol, Italy, Videos of FSFE president Georg Greve with Chilean Minister of Economy, FSFE supports protest against increased surveillance of digital communication, FSFE presents FSCONS and The Scandinavian Free Software Award, FSFE at OpenExpo, Switzerland, Get active. [Read...]

2007-09-13
Topics: FSFE engages with irregularities in the ISO voting process, FTF informal legal network now covers sixteen European countries, Two days of Free Software in Chile, The Fellowship site now supports multiple languages, First distributed Fellowship meeting, FSFE German Team at FrOSCon, Fellows of the Rhein/Ruhr area holding monthly talks, Building the Fellowship in Kaiserslautern, Heidelberg, Darmstadt and Karlsruhe, FSFE supports demonstration "liberty instead of fear", September 22nd, Speeches about SELF, Open Standards and Free Software in Argentina, Free Software and Free Documentation licence consultations. [Read...]

2007-08-09
Topics: Mythbusting MS-OOXML, First Swedish Fellowship meeting held in Gothenburg, Free Software on Exit festival 2007, Novi Sad, Serbia, Freedom in the hills: the Bergtagung, GNU GPL licence confirmed once again in a court of law, Submit Free Software projects to the Trophées du Libre, Ongoing work of spreading GNU GPLv3 understanding, Tell a friend about the Fellowship, share this newsletter. [Read...]

2007-07-12
Topics: FSFE's General Assembly and the first Benelux fellowship meeting, GPLv3 and LGPLv3 have been released, Free Software personal consultancy for businesses, Six questions to national standardisation bodies, Georg Greve in India, FTF useful tips translated to Asian languages, Free Software in Austrian Schools, Get your friends to support the Fellowship and FSFE. [Read...]

2007-06-13
Topics: FSFE and Digicomp announce Free Software Licensing course, Meeting Libre 2007 in Miraflores, Spain, FSFE at eLiberatica 2007 in Romania, Richard Stallman in Sweden, ConfSL, LUGConf and Fellowship meeting in Cosenza, Italy, Linuxtag in Berlin, Linuxwochen tour through Austria, Donations now tax-deductable in Switzerland. [Read...]

2007-05-12
Topics: FSFE launches list of recommended Free Software lawyers, FSFE action on IPRED2 "Criminalisation" Directive, Transcript of Richard M. Stallman's speech in Brussels online, FSFE at A2K2 conference in Yale Law School, Georg Greve and Jonas Öberg in Belgrade, Serbia, Ivan Jelic joining European Core Team of FSFE, Merchandise available via web order, Get active: join the translation team!. [Read...]

2007-04-13
Topics: FTF introduces useful tips for compliance, Talk about GPLv3 in Brussels, STACS kickoff meeting in Paris, FSFE thanks Google for sponsoring 1 year of internship, Introducing FSFE's new interns, Announcing a new Italian Fellowship meeting. [Read...]

2007-03-13
Topics: Fiduicary License Agreement released under GFDL/CC-by-sa, FSFE announces big raffle among all Fellows, FSFE at FOSDEM in Brussels (Belgium), Ciarán O'Riordan at SkyCon in Limerick (Ireland), End of internship of Maria Luisa Carli, System administration murphy weeks, Get Active: Join the SELF project!. [Read...]

2007-02-13
Topics: FSFE becomes the legal guardian of the OpenSwarm Project, Transcript of Richard Stallman on the Free Software movement, Windows Vista released - FSFE recommends switching to GNU/Linux, Get Active: Join the Revolution!. [Read...]

2007-01-12
Topics: Looking back and forward, Georg Greve at "Nexell informiert", Get Active: Join the Fellowship!. [Read...]

2006-12-11
Topics: First international Fellowship conference, Freedom Task Force started, FSFE becomes the legal guardian of Bacula.org, Inaugural meeting of the Internet Governance Forum, Fifth international GPLv3 conference, Trophees du Libre, Introducing Mathias Klang, FSFE at public events, Get Active: tell your company about FSFE!. [Read...]

2006-11-13
Topics: DRM.info platform launched, Introducing Shane M. Coughlan and Maria Luisa Carli, FSFE helped liberating Italian ZIP code database, FSFE at LWE fairs in Utrecht (Netherlands) and London (UK), FSFE Swedish Team at the Internet Days in Stockholm (Sweden). [Read...]

2006-10-05
Topics: Regional and international Fellowship meetings, FSFE at the Wizards of OS in Berlin, Georg Greve at SERCI workshop in Helsinki, Finland, FSFE at WIPO General Assembly, Other public appearances. [Read...]

2006-09-08
Topics: Moving forward in the GPLv3 public consultation process, SELF project issues call for material, New office in Sweden, School of Art and Design Zürich donates hosting services to FSFE, Giacomo Poderi ends his internship, Alex Antener joins the core team. [Read...]

2006-08-10
Topics: SELF project officially launched, Second draft of the GPLv3 presented, Bernhard Reiter spoke at University of Bayreuth (Germany), Free Software at Campus Party in Valencia (Spain), Experts Meeting on Internet Governance Forum, Microsoft fined another 1.5m EUR per day, 280.5m EUR total, FSFE servers moved. [Read...]

2006-07-07
Topics: GPLv3 conference in Barcelona, FSFE at UN WIPO PCDA/2, Anja Vorspel hired part time to help in FSFE office, Georg Greve at dorkbot.swiss, Linuxwochen in Linz (Austria), Stefano Maffulli at Java Conference Milano. [Read...]

2006-06-11
Topics: FSFE at Linuxtag in Wiesbaden (Germany), Free Software workshop at Academy of German Army, FSFE at several events in Milan (Italy), GPLv3 at SANE and UKUUG evening talks, Georg Greve at HGKZ university in Zürich (Switzerland), Karsten Gerloff at eIFL workshop in Kiev (Ukraine), FSFE General Assembly in Manchester, Linuxwochen in Vienna (Austria). [Read...]

2006-05-10
Topics: Two lucky Fellows win a notebook, Giacomo Poderi starts internship at FSFE, FSFE core team continues to grow, Ciarán O'Riordan and Gareth Bowker speak in London, Free Software Forum in Brasil, Access to Knowledge Conference in USA, Hearing for Microsoft antitrust case. [Read...]

2006-04-10
Topics: Happy birthday FSFE, Pablo Machón and Xavier Reina join the FSFE core team, GPLv3 conference in Torino, gnuvox, the voice of Free Software in Italy, Official FSFE statement on patent system in Europe, Fellowship of FSFE participated in LUGConference 2006, Karsten Gerloff at TACD. [Read...]

2006-03-08
Topics: Gareth Bowker joins General Assembly of FSFE, Free Knowledge Foundation associates with FSFE, UN Consultations on Internet Governance Forum (IGF), UN WIPO: Provisional Committee on a Development Agenda (PCDA), FSFE's office moves to Düsseldorf, Second Fellowship meeting in Berlin, Microsoft antitrust case: 2 million EUR per day, FSFE at FOSDEM, FSFE organises SWPAT roundtable in Brussels, Fellowship: Get a 3 month LWN subscription and win a notebook!. [Read...]

2006-02-08
Topics: Fellowship meetings in Vienna and Berlin, Discussion about Free Software in Austrian schools started, First draft of GPLv3 presented, Microsoft still trying to avoid competition. [Read...]

2006-01-09
Topics: Celebrating the 20th newsletter, Georg Greve at LACFREE in Recife in Brazil, Henrik Sandklef at Chalmers University in Gothenburg, Karsten Gerloff at the 22nd CCC in Berlin, Voicing security concerns against personal pressure, Free Software energy in Northern Ireland. [Read...]

2005-12-08
Topics: First Austrian Fellowship meeting, Tweakfest in Zürich, UN World Summit on Information Society, LinuxWorld Expo in Frankfurt/Main, Seminar in Dublin about preventing software patentability, Jornadas Regionales de Software Libre in Rosario (Argentinia), LinuxDay in Italy, Removal of Free Software from WSIS "Vienna Conclusions", Welcoming the Free Software Foundation Latin America. [Read...]

2005-11-07
Topics: Fellowship portal migrated to eZ publish, Joint Statement of FSFE and FSF Latin America to WIPO GA, WSIS workshop on internet governance and human rights, Workshop about Free Software in Austrian schools, Internet Hungary 2005, Valtellinux in Caiolo (Italy), Internetdagarna in Stockholm (Sweden), FSFE's political message in Ireland, Georg Greve in Brazil, Real Networks leaves antitrust EU case, Microsoft's new "shared source" licenses. [Read...]

2005-10-09
Topics: IPRED2 - the new attack against freedom, Stichting NLnet donate 150,000 EUR to support GPLv3 activities, Alessandro Rubini in Slovenia, Stefano Maffulli at the OpenOffice.org Conference in Slovenia. [Read...]

2005-09-05
Topics: Heading towards the GPLv3, Karsten Gerloff at the ATTAC Germany summer academy, AFFS General Meeting, Improving the infrastructure. [Read...]

2005-08-06
Topics: European Parliament rejects software patent directive, Svenska Linuxföreningen's yearly meeting, Summer School on Libre Software in Castellón, Jornades de Programari Lliure in Vilanova i la Geltrú, Third inter-sessional WIPO meeting in Geneve, FSFE at What The Hack, Expanding the network of Free Software organisations. [Read...]

2005-07-08
Topics: WSIS/WSA Contributory Conference in Vienna, Austria, Round table in Venice, Italy, Podium discussion about software patents in Kiel, Germany, ChaosControl conference in Vienna, Austria, WIPO meeting in Geneve, Switzerland, GNU/Linuxtag in Karlsruhe, Germany, Karlsruhe Memorandum on software patents, Europython in Göteborg, Sweden, 1ere Conference Nationale de Logiciels Libres, Aleppo, Syria, Lobbying against software patents, Karsten Gerloff finished internship with FSFE. [Read...]

2005-06-07
Topics: General Assembly in Vienna, Austria, Access to Knowledge (A2K) meeting in London, UK, Romanian discussion mailing lists, LinuxWorldExpo in Milano, Italy, Linuxwochen Wien, Vienna, Austria, Software patent conference in Udine, Italy, Alessandro Rubini in Bologna, FSFE very active in Brussels, Freedom Party in Berne, Switzerland, FSFE looks for new intern. [Read...]

2005-05-05
Topics: Ciaran O'Riordan working full-time for FSFE, IFSO becoming associate organisation, WIPO IIM on "Development Agenda", FSFE office in Hamburg, Fellowship SmartCards being sent out, Freedom party in Milano, Teaching the World Bank, FSF Latin America on its way, Nordic University Computer Club Conference in Sweden, Alessandro Rubini speaks at University in Lecce, Web pages translated to 14 languages. [Read...]

2005-04-07
Topics: Henrik Sandklef becomes a member of the FSFE association, Fellowship a big success, Karsten Gerloff begins internship with FSFE, Freedom Party in Berlin, Free Software Workshop in Damascus, Conference on Free Software in Istanbul, Free Software Conference in Sarajevo, Linuxforum in Copenhagen, Microsoft trial getting increased public attention, Georg Greve visits FSF in Boston. [Read...]

2005-03-06
Topics: Fellowship of FSFE announced, Comments on WSIS/WGIG papers, Wilhelm Tux hits the apple, Software patents: the battle continues..., Microsoft tries to bypass European Court decision. [Read...]

2005-02-07
Topics: FSFE in Dublin, FSFE at World Social Forum (WSF), HP donates two servers, Continued tour through Italy, Activities against software patents. [Read...]

2005-01-08
Topics: Poland disapproves software patent directive in EU Council, First victory for EU and FSFE in Microsoft trial, FSFE Chapter Italy meets the Italian audience, Chapter Italy awarded Prof. Stefano Rodotà, Other public appearances. [Read...]

2004-12-05
Topics: FSFE stands firm in Microsoft case, FSFE gains observer status at the WIPO, Intensifying world wide co-operation, Two FSFE members attending SFScon, Other public appearances. [Read...]

2004-11-06
Topics: From WIPO to WIWO, Via Libre becoming associate organisation, FSFE at the LWE in Frankfurt, Other public appearances, FSFE watches the Municipality of Pavia, Italian system integrator, Engineering, chooses GNU GPL, Donations via PayPal. [Read...]

2004-10-06
Topics: FSFE self-conception, Is Microsoft happy that the FSFE is included in their appeals process?, FSFE intervenes at the European Court, FSFE at the Ars Electronica, GNU/Linux World Expo in Milan, Italy, FSFE at the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), Spanish press release mailing list now available. [Read...]

2004-09-06
Topics: Announcing Wilhelm Tux as a new associate organisation, Software patents discussion, Donating to the FSFE in the United Kingdom, Speech at the KDE Community World Summit. [Read...]

2004-08-06
Topics: FSFE supporting European Commission in their case against Microsoft, Widely noticed interview in "Die Zeit", Writing new licenses often counterproductive, RSS feeds for FSFE news and events available, FSFE supports the declaration of Caceres, Investigations on the impact of Free Software on companies. [Read...]

2004-07-06
Topics: Georg Greve in South America, Wizards of OS, Firenze Tecnologia becomes Patron of FSF Europe, Sources-switch, the Italian coordination effort of communities, Introducing Matthias Kirschner, GNU/Linuxtag in Karlsruhe, Strengthening the global Free Software network, Demonstration against software patents, Introducing the translators team, Fundraising campaign. [Read...]

2004-06-08
Topics: introducing the FSFE newsletter, EU Council decision on software patents directive, AGNULA, welcoming FSFE press speaker Joachim Jakobs, Georg Greve in South America, protecting Free Software from over regulation, other important public appearances. [Read...]

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