[GNU/FSF Press] FSF Announces Corporate Patronage Program

[Ravi Khanna]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Media Contact: Free Software Foundation
               Ravi Khanna <address@hidden>
               Phone: +1-617-542-5942

                 FSF Announces Corporate Patronage Program

Boston, MA, USA - Thursday, March 27, 2003 - Following the highly
successful launch of its Associate Membership program, the Free Software
Foundation (FSF) announced today its new Corporate Patronage Program.
According to FSF's Executive Director Bradley M. Kuhn, "since its launch
in late November, more than 950 people have signed up as Associate
Members of FSF.  We are now offering a similar opportunity to the
community of businesses that use Free Software."

A number of FSF's existing corporate supporters have already signed
up as part of today's launch.  They include companies of all sizes --
from industry giants to small start-up ventures.  They include: Ada Core
Technologies, ACT/Europe, Affero, Best Practical, Brainfood, Cyclades
Corporation, HP, IBM, MySQL, OEone Corporation and Penguin Computing.

"The freedom to create is at the core of innovation, and FSF fully
embraces this principle," said Marcio Saito, vice president of technology
at Cyclades, a data center fault management company that has built a
global business on GNU/Linux technology. "FSF is in the forefront of
promoting users' freedom to run, copy, distribute, study and change
software and their work is to be commended."

FSF's Corporate Patrons can display the Patronage logo on their materials
and website, will be listed on FSF's Corporate Patronage website
(http://patron.fsf.org/), will receive two free hours of consulting from
FSF's GPL Compliance Lab, and will receive two complementary passes to
FSF-sponsored seminars.

"The FSF has been, and will continue to be, at the apex of the movement
to promote and defend free software ideals, " said M?rten Mickos, CEO
of MySQL AB.  "MySQL has built a successful business on its GPL software
license, and applauds the FSF's efforts to defend the GPL against license
breaches and educate the world in the principles of free software.
We're pleased to extend our partnership with FSF as a corporate patron."

Patronage dues are on a sliding scale based on the number of employees at
a company, or at a particular division of a large company.  Regardless
of the size of the company and the dues they pay, all participating
companies will receive the same benefits.  The dues range from $500
for companies with five or less employees to $10,000 for companies with
over 10,000 employees.

Organizations or companies who wish to sign up as a Corporate Patron or
want to learn more about the Corporate Patronage Program are encouraged
to contact FSF.


About Free Software Foundation:

The Free Software Foundation, founded in 1985, is dedicated to promoting
computer users' right to use, study, copy, modify, and redistribute
computer programs.  The FSF promotes the development and use of Free
(as in freedom) Software - particularly the GNU operating system and
its GNU/Linux variants - and Free Documentation for Free Software.
The FSF also helps to spread awareness of the ethical and political
issues of freedom in the use of software.  Their web site, located
at http://www.fsf.org, is an important source of information about
GNU/Linux.  They are headquartered in Boston, MA, USA.


Copyright (C) 2003, Free Software Foundation Free Software
Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111, USA

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