[FSF] Free Software Supporter - Issue 18, September 2009

[Holmes Wilson]

# Free Software Supporter
Issue 18, September 2009

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

* Software Freedom Day
* Windows 7 Sins campaign launches
* FSF to host a mini-summit on Women in Free Software
* FSF files objection to Google Book Search settlement
* Farewell from Sarah
* We're looking for a few good programs
* Working with Ogg Theora and the video tag
* Osama Khalid is the first GNU Generation member of the month
* FSF updates list of free GNU/Linux distributions, adding Kongoni and
announcing the Trisquel 3.0 release
* GNU spotlight with Karl Berry
* Richard Stallman's speaking schedule and other FSF events
* Take action with the FSF!

## Software Freedom Day is September 19th

Please visit <http://softwarefreedomday.org/teams> to see what's going on
in your area, or if you're in the Boston area, join staff from the
Free Software Foundation in Chinatown for a day of fun and freedom.

We'll even feed you.

  * <http://groups.fsf.org/wiki/Boston_Software_Freedom_Day>

## Windows 7 Sins campaign launches

The Free Software Foundation has launched its "Windows 7 Sins"
campaign, making the case against Microsoft and other proprietary
software companies, such as Apple and Adobe.

The campaign outlines seven major areas where proprietary software in
general and Microsoft Windows in particular hurt all computer users:
invading privacy, poisoning education, locking users in, abusing
standards, leveraging monopolistic behavior, enforcing Digital
Restrictions Management (DRM), and threatening user security.

  * <http://windows7sins.org>
  * <http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/windows7sins-teaser-video/>

## FSF will host a mini-summit on Women in Free Software

The Free Software Foundation will host a mini-summit on Women in Free
Software to discuss how the free software community can cultivate and
increase participation by women in free software's development and
activism communities.

  * <http://www.fsf.org/news/summit-on-women-in-free-software>

## FSF files object to Google Book Search settlement

The Free Software Foundation (FSF) has filed an objection in court to
the proposed Google Book Search settlement. The objection urges the
court to reject the proposed settlement unless it incorporates terms
that better address the needs of authors using free licenses like the
GNU Free Documentation License, and does not provide special
competitive advantages to Google.

  * <http://www.fsf.org/news/2009-09-google-book-settlement-objection>

## Farewell from Sarah

I had a wonderful time working at the Free Software Foundation this
summer, but it is time for me to return to Hampshire College as my
internship comes to a close. It was great working closely with the FSF
staff and I have learned a great deal. I spent the majority of my time
working on LibrePlanet and defectivebydesign.org.

  * <http://ur1.ca/bdr7>

## We're looking for a few good programs

Chances are, if you spend any time hacking, new code is always a
useful thing. Well, we're here to help you out. For those of you who
don't know, the Free Software Directory is updated almost daily with
fresh new code just for you.

What's missing from the Directory? Do you have some fantastic new free
project you've been working on that should be in the Directory but
isn't? Have you been too shy to send us something but just need that
final push to submit it? Well, here's your chance.

  * <http://www.fsf.org/blogs/directory/6000-projects>

## Working with Ogg Theora and the video tag

Ogg Theora is becoming a big deal, and that's exactly what we hoped
for when we launched the PlayOgg campaign in May 2007. The free,
patent-unencumbered video codec now works in over 24% of the world's
web browsers with no plugins required. The latest 1.1 release of the
Theora encoder is coming out any day now. And when it does, the huge
improvements in quality and functionality made over the past year with
support from Wikimedia and others will percolate out into the major
GNU/Linux distributions, arriving at the fingertips of those who build
and maintain the world's biggest video sites.

  * <http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/working-with-theora>

## Osama Khalid is the first GNU Generation member of the month

Congratulations to Osama Khalid (OsamaK) for being selected as the first
ever GNU Generation member of the month! Osama speaks Arabic natively, and
has been using this gift to help the free software community. He worked
with projects including KDE and VLC this past month to translate popular
applications into Arabic. As a FSF/GNU translator, he also recently
translated Holmes Wilson's blog post on Ogg Theora.

  *
<http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/gnu-generation-member-of-the-month-august-2009>

## FSF updates list of free GNU/Linux distributions, adding Kongoni and
announcing the Trisquel 3.0 release

The Free Software Foundation (FSF) today announced updates related to its
list of fully free GNU/Linux distributions, including the addition of one
new distribution called Kongoni, and a milestone release of the Trisquel
system.  Trisquel, which was added to the list last December, has issued
its 3.0 release, codenamed "Dwyn." It is the first in a new series of
short term support releases that will be updated every six months with new
software to add features, improved performance, and hardware
compatibility.

  * <http://www.fsf.org/news/free-distributions-updates-kongoni-trisquel>

## GNU Spotlight with Karl Berry

Here are the recent GNU software releases:

acct-6.5.1           ccscript-4.1.2 ccscript3-1.1.7 coreutils-7.5
freeipmi-0.7.12      gengen-1.4     gsl-1.13        libsigsegv-2.7
libunistring-0.9.1.1 moe-1.3        mtools-4.0.11   reftex-4.34
sipwitch-0.5.7       vc-dwim-1.2    xboard-4.4.0    zile-2.3.10

I'd like to specially note the first new release of acct (the GNU
package for the standard accounting utilities) in many years.  Thanks
to the new maintainer, Markus Gothe, for reviving this.

To get announcements of most new GNU packages, subscribe to the info-gnu
mailing list: <http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/info-gnu>.  Nearly
all GNU software is available from <http://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/>, or
preferably one of its mirrors (<http://www.gnu.org/prep/ftp.html>).

I'd like to give a warm welcome to Prasad Pandit, author of newly-dubbed
packaged pem.  Also, thanks once again to to Jim Meyering, already
maintainer of GNU coreutils and many other packages, nowjoining in on
GNU gzip.

Several GNU packages are looking for maintainers and other assistance.
Please see <http://www.gnu.org/server/takeaction.html#unmaint> if you'd
like to help.  The general page on how to help GNU is at
<http://www.gnu.org/help/help.html>.  To submit new packages to GNU, see
<http://www.gnu.org/help/evaluation.html>.

As always, please feel free to write to me, <address@hidden>, with any
GNUish questions or suggestions for future installments.

## Richard Stallman's speaking schedule and other FSF events

* 2009-09-17 | The Free Software Movement -- Richard Stallman will
  speak about the Free Software Movement, which campaigns for freedom
  so that computer users can cooperate to control their own computing
  activities. The Free Software Movement developed the GNU operating
  system, often erroneously referred to as Linux, specifically to
  establish these freedoms.

  * <http://www.fsf.org/events/20090917brescia>

* 2009-09-19 | Software Freedom Day 2009 -- Please join the Free
  Software Foundation as part of an international day celebrating
  software freedom. We'll be one of the many groups around the world
  hosting an event that day.

  * <http://www.fsf.org/events/sfd2009>

## Take action with the FSF

Contributions from thousands of individual members enable the FSF's
work. You can contribute by joining at <http://www.fsf.org/join>. If
you're already a member, you can help refer new members (and earn some
rewards) by adding a line with your member number to your email
signature like:

  I'm an FSF member -- Help us support software freedom!
  <http://www.fsf.org/jf?referrer=2442>

The FSF is also always looking for volunteers
(<http://www.fsf.org/volunteer>). From rabble-rousing to hacking, from
issue coordination to envelope stuffing -- there's something here for
everybody to do. Also, head over to our campaign section
(<http://www.fsf.org/campaigns>) and take action on software patents,
DRM, free software adoption, OpenDocument, RIAA and more.

###

Copyright © 2009 Free Software Foundation, Inc.

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