johnsu01 - Slashdot User

Submission + - Activist groups announce support for free software (freesoftwarefreesociety.org)

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johnsu01

on Wednesday August 29, 2007 @04:33PM

johnsu01 writes: "Activist groups Friends of the Earth International, the Green Party, People and Planet, and the New Internationalist have joined the Free Software Foundation to support a coalition statement advocating a free society based on free software and criticizing Microsoft Vista, published as part of the FSF's BadVista.org campaign. The statement highlights dangers activists face when they are dependent on proprietary software, including communications limited by DRM and surveillance, and support of companies opposed to their political goals. Judging by the number of signatures so far, Bruce Byfield may be right that this is a formal statement of the attitude already occurring in the nonprofit world."

Submission + - Stallman GPLv3 release video transcribed

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johnsu01

on Thursday July 12, 2007 @12:30PM

johnsu01 writes: "On June 29, Richard Stallman announced the release of the GNU General Public License version 3 to the world from the Free Software Foundation office in Boston, Massachusetts. His "ribbon-cutting" announcement was also a succinct wrap-up of the 18-month drafting process, summarizing the changes that were made and the reasoning behind them. Since the release, many people have been looking for a straightforward explanation of what they need to know. This a good place to start. The transcript and Ogg Theora video have just been posted. A torrent is also available."

Submission + - FSF releases 3rd draft of GPLv3

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johnsu01

on Wednesday March 28, 2007 @10:31AM

johnsu01 writes: "The Free Software Foundation has announced publication of the third discussion draft of the GNU General Public License Version 3. Because quite a few changes have been made since the previous draft and important new issues have surfaced, the drafting process has been extended and revised to encourage more feedback. The most significant changes in this draft include refinements in the "tivoization" provisions to eliminate unwanted side effects, revision of the patent provisions to prevent end-runs around the license, and further steps toward compatibility with other free software licenses. The FSF has also explicitly asked the community whether the new patent provisions should apply retroactively to the Microsoft-Novell deal."

Submission + - FSF names annual award winners: Ted Ts'o, Sahana

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johnsu01

on Tuesday March 27, 2007 @06:03PM

johnsu01 writes: "At its March 24 membership meeting, the Free Software Foundation announced the winners of its two annual free software awards. The Award for the Advancement of Free Software went to Ted Ts'o for his contributions to several free software projects, including the Linux kernel. The Award for Projects of Social Benefit went to Sahana, a volunteer-created software system for managing large-scale emergency disaster relief efforts. The Sahana developers traveled all the way from Sri Lanka to Cambridge, MA, USA to accept the award!"

Submission + - FSF aims for partnership with hardware vendors

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johnsu01

on Thursday March 01, 2007 @05:23PM

johnsu01 writes: "The Free Software Foundation has published a paper called, "The road to hardware free from restrictions". In the paper, they outline five major areas where hardware manufacturers can take action to create a mutually benificial relationship with the free software community: supporting free software drivers, ending the "Microsoft Tax" on new hardware, removing proprietary BIOS locks, supporting a free BIOS, and rejecting DRM. Their release puts the paper in context with Greg Kroah-Hartman's kernel driver announcement and Dell's recent request for customer feedback about improving their hardware."

Submission + - DRM Roll: Will the shopping public care?

Submitted by

johnsu01

on Wednesday September 06, 2006 @02:46PM

johnsu01 writes: "The Defective By Design campaign against DRM is reaching beyond the techie world to the general public. "DRM Roll" — the title of a piece in Boston's local rag, The Weekly Dig — describes the campaign's "brilliantly stupid" publicity stunts and its efforts to "land a haymaker on the media/electronics cartel." Boston-area Slashdot readers can get the print version, which adds a 3-page color spread with photos of the HazMat suits. But even without the pictures, the article highlights the importance of the coming holiday gadget season to the back-and-forth over DRM."

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