[FSF] Free Software Supporter - Issue 20, November 2009

[Holmes Wilson]

# Free Software Supporter

Issue 20, November 2009

Welcome to the Free Software Supporter, the Free Software Foundation's
monthly news digest and action update -- being read by you and 27,318
other activists.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

    * Powerful new video message from Jeremy Allison
    * FSF credit card (initially for US residents only)
    * Video campaign: Why is free software important to you?
    * A call to nonprofits to refuse Microsoft Windows 7
    * Dara Adib is the GNU Generation member of the month!
    * gNewSense 2.3 is out!
    * "League for Programming Freedom" returns
    * What if buying a new car were like using nonfree software?
    * Starting my internship at the FSF
    * AcaWiki liberates scientific research with free software
    * GNU spotlight with Karl Berry
    * Richard Stallman's speaking schedule and other FSF events
    * Take action with the FSF!

##  Powerful new video message from Jeremy Allison

Visit <http://fsf.org/> now to view a powerful new video message from
renowned free software programmer and FSF member Jeremy Allison.

This is the first in a series of videos we will be releasing during
our year-end membership drive.  Please help us reach our target by
joining as a member or making a donation at:

  * <http://fsf.org/join>

##  FSF credit card (initially for US residents only)

More than 75% of our members and donors use a credit card when
donating to the FSF. Now you can add to that support by using a credit
card with an FSF logo on it.

(Please don't let the thought of supporting us encourage you to start
using a credit card if you don't already, or discourage you from
buying anonymously with big-brother-resistant cash.)

  * <http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/fsf-credit-card>

## Why is free software important to you? Submit your response to our
new video campaign!

The FSF is launching a new advocacy campaign, and we'd love to have
you involved. One of the most important tasks for us at the FSF is to
help foster the understanding that free software is crucial to a free
society, and that citizens should switch to free software at home and
in their own work, for freedom's sake. But in many ways, most of this
work has always been done by the millions of free software users
around the world, telling others why they care about free software
and what they use it for.

  * <http://www.fsf.org/news/video_testimonials_campaign>

## Breaking the dependency on proprietary software: A call to
nonprofits to refuse Microsoft Windows 7

The Free Software Foundation launched the next stage of its Windows
7 Sins campaign, making the case against Microsoft and proprietary
software by writing to 500 leaders of the most influential
nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) worldwide, asking them to make
the switch to freedom-respecting free software, and to help foster
awareness of the ethical importance of computer user freedom.

  * <http://www.fsf.org/news/windows-7-sins-ngo>

## Dara Adib is the GNU Generation member of the month!

Dara started a group at his school called the CHSN Tech Club that not
only educates other students about free software, but also educates
the school district about the problems with proprietary software. He
has been successful in helping his school district break free of the
chains of proprietary software by explaining the benefits and
assisting in the installation of multiple pieces of free software on
all school district computers. Along with another student from the
tech club, Dara is a member of his district's technology committee,
which helps him influence decisions and advance the cause locally. He
is also leading his school club in a project to use free software to
help other students review for courses. They are creating freely
licensed course review material to help other students study for
classes.

  * <http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/gnu-generation-october-2009>

##  gNewSense 2.3 is out!

Version 2.3 of gNewSense, one of the the FSF-endorsed free GNU/Linux
distributions, was released last month. Anyone interested in keeping
pace with the latest improvements in free operating systems should
check it out. It's based on Ubuntu, but without the nonfree parts
that Ubuntu includes by default, or suggests that you download.

  * <http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/gnewsense-2.3>


## "League for Programming Freedom" returns

The League for Programming Freedom, "an organization that opposes
software patents and user interface copyrights" founded by Richard
Stallman in 1989, is back and open for membership.

  *
<http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/league-for-programming-freedom-returns>

## What if buying a new car were like using nonfree software?

What if buying a car were like buying a computer running Windows or
Mac OS X? The following example may seem strange at first, but is an
interesting analogy to understand the important difference between
proprietary software that is designed to take away your freedom, and
free software.

  * <http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/the-car-analogy>

## Starting my internship at the FSF

Tal Schechter introduces himself as he starts out as a new Campaigns
Intern at the FSF.

  * <http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/tal-schechter-introduction>

##  AcaWiki uses free software--and a free software approach--to
liberate scientific research

AcaWiki is a promising new project to build a body of scientific
knowledge that is free to use, study, improve, and redistribute.
Instead of waiting for journals to make papers more available,
they're building a free equivalent that will be just as useful.

  * <http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/acawiki>

## GNU Spotlight with Karl Berry

Here are the recent GNU software releases:

bazaar-2.0.1 binutils-2.20        freeipmi-0.7.14  gcc-4.4.2
gdb-7.0      gnue-appserver-0.5.3 gnue-forms-0.6.2 gnutls-2.8.5
grub-1.97    gsasl-1.3            icecat-3.5.4     libcdio-0.82
libgsasl-1.3 libmicrohttpd-0.4.4  libzrtpcpp-1.4.6 mdk-1.2.5
pspp-0.6.2   pycdio-0.16          solfege-3.14.9   xboard-4.4.1
zile-2.3.13

I'd like to specially note the major new release of gdb, which
includes reversible debugging support (one of the high priority
project items, <http://www.fsf.org/campaigns/priority.html>) among
other significant new features.

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>).  You
can use the url <http://ftpmirror.gnu.org/> to be automatically
redirected to a (hopefully) nearby and up-to-date mirror; for example,
<http://ftpmirror.gnu.org/gdb/> will redirect to the GDB directory on a
mirror.

This month we welcome Rodrigo Rodrigues da Silva and Felipe Correa da
Silva Sanches, authors of the new package LibreDWG, which aims to
support the widespread CAD format and tools (another high priority
project item).

We also welcome Alexandre Becoulet, author of the new package goptical,
an advanced optical design and simulation library.

And we welcome Giacomo Catenazzi as the new maintainer of the GNU
version of the standard spell utility.

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

* 2009-11-11 | The Free Software Movement -- Jakarta, Indonesia
- 1st Floor, SEAMOLEC Building, Kompleks Universitas Terbuka,
Jl. Pondok Cabe Raya, Pondok Cabe, Pamulang, Tangerang Selatan,
Banten. Richard Stallman talk.

    * <http://www.fsf.org/events/20091111jakarta>

* 2009-11-11 | Copyright vs. Community -- Jakarta, Indonesia -
1st Floor, SEAMOLEC Building, Kompleks Universitas Terbuka,
Jl. Pondok Cabe Raya, Pondok Cabe, Pamulang, Tangerang
Selatan, Banten. Richard Stallman talk.

    * <http://www.fsf.org/events/20091111jakarta2>

* 2009-11-12 | The Free Software Movement

Jakarta, Indonesia - 1st Floor, SEAMOLEC Building, Kompleks
Universitas Terbuka, Jl. Pondok Cabe Raya, Pondok Cabe,
Pamulang, Tangerang Selatan, Banten. Richard Stallman talk.

    * <http://www.fsf.org/events/20091112jakarta>

* 2009-11-16 | The GNU General Public License -- Berkeley, CA
- 306 Soda Hall, corner of Hearst and Leroy, Berkeley
University. Richard Stallman talk.

    * <http://www.fsf.org/events/20091116berkeley>

* 2009-11-30 | El Movimiento del Software Libre -- Zacatecas,
Mexico - Auditorio de la Unidad Académica en Estudios del
Desarrollo de la Universidad Autónoma de Zacatecas.

    * <http://www.fsf.org/events/20091130zacatecas>

### 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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