[Windows7sins-translators] Final press release -- please translate

[Matt Lee]

Be sure to replace <language> and <your name here> below with your name
and language...

Please post it back to the list when it's done.

---

## Windows 7 Sins Campaign launches international awareness effort with
translations made available in eight languages

BOSTON, Massachusetts, USA -- Tuesday, December 15th, 2009 -- The Free
Software Foundation (FSF) today announced that its campaign for
computer user freedom, Windows 7 Sins, has launched internatioanlly with
translations and press releases being made available in over eight
languages, with several more on the way.

The Windows 7 Sins 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.

These points are outlined in the text of a letter the campaign
previously mailed to the leaders of the Fortune 500 companies and
leading NGOs in the United States. The letter warns "Windows 7 decision
makers" about the "lack of privacy, freedom, and security"
they will suffer should they adopt Windows 7, and makes the case that
they should instead adopt free software such as the GNU/Linux
operating system and the office productivity suite OpenOffice.org.

The FSF is asking concerned citizens to help get this message out by
nominating other organizational leaders who are also "Windows 7
decision makers" to receive a version of the letter. FSF executive
director Peter Brown explained, "Many people are frustrated by the
organizations they interact with and their support for a software
industry that works against the freedom of citizens. Our national and
local governments, NGOs, and our universities and schools that use
proprietary software are undertaking bad public policy, often through
ignorance or misplaced values. We hope to alert these decision makers
to the positive contribution they can make to society by switching
their organizations to free software."

"By translating Windows 7 Sins into as many languages as possible, we
are making this an international campaign for computer user freedom,"
said Matt Lee, campaigns manager at the FSF. In addition to the Web
site translations, the FSF is also distributing this press release in
the same languages, with local representatives in each area of the
world.

The translation effort, coordinated by FSF campaigns staff working
with volunteer translators, has been done over the last few months,
using free software tools and collaborating via the GNU Mailman
software. The first translation to go live was French, translated by
members of the French free software activist organization, April.

Interested parties can join the translation effort by visiting
<http://meta.windows7sins.org/> -- the site has already been
translated from English into Arabic, French, Italian, Russian,
Spanish and German.

"Translations allow non-English speaking readers to understand the
stakes of the FSF's campaign. I call on the <language>-speaking free
software communities to take advantage of the release of Microsoft
Windows 7 to inform their friends, family, colleagues about the dangers
of proprietary software, Microsoft's unfair practices, and the existence
of free software," said <your name/names here>.

Volunteers willing to translate Windows 7 Sins and other FSF materials
into their local language should write to address@hidden

### About the 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, and its Web sites,
located at fsf.org and gnu.org, are an important source of information
about GNU/Linux. Donations to support the FSF's work can be made at
<http://donate.fsf.org>. Its headquarters are in Boston, MA, USA.

### About Free Software and Open Source

The free software movement's goal is freedom for computer users. Some,
especially corporations, advocate a different viewpoint, known as "open
source," which cites only practical goals such as making software
powerful and reliable, focuses on development models, and avoids
discussion of ethics and freedom. These two viewpoints are different at
the deepest level. For more explanation, see
<http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/open-source-misses-the-point.html>.

### Media Contacts

Matt Lee
Campaigns Manager
Free Software Foundation
+1 (617) 542 5942 x24
address@hidden

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