[Office-commits] r10011 - trunk/campaigns/windows7sins

[sysadmin]

Author: www-data
Date: Tue Oct  6 12:28:18 2009
New Revision: 10011

Log:
web commit by peterb

Modified:
   trunk/campaigns/windows7sins/pr-ngo-email.mdwn

Modified: trunk/campaigns/windows7sins/pr-ngo-email.mdwn
==============================================================================
--- trunk/campaigns/windows7sins/pr-ngo-email.mdwn      Tue Oct  6 12:22:26 
2009        (r10010)
+++ trunk/campaigns/windows7sins/pr-ngo-email.mdwn      Tue Oct  6 12:28:18 
2009        (r10011)
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@
 and to help foster awareness of the ethical importance of computer
 user freedom.
 
-Below is the press release under embargo until tomorrow October 7th. If you'd 
like to have any additional information, would like to do an interview or need 
additional quotes please contact us:
+Below is the press release under embargo until tomorrow October 7th along with 
the text of the letter. If you'd like to have any additional information or 
would like to do an interview or need additional quotes please contact us.
 
 Press contacts:
 
@@ -34,8 +34,8 @@
 Software Foundation (FSF) today launched the next stage of its
 "Windows 7 Sins" campaign at <http://windows7sins.org>, making the
 case against Microsoft and proprietary software by writing to 500
-leaders of the largest charities and nongovernmental organizations
-(NGOs), asking them to make the switch to freedom-respecting free
+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.
 
@@ -117,3 +117,38 @@
 address@hidden
 
 ###
+
+
+
+Dear _
+
+Re: Important notice regarding impending lack of privacy, freedom and security 
from Microsoft Corporation.
+
+As a decision maker within your organization, you undoubtedly strive to make 
choices that seek to improve the working lives of your employees, enhance the 
relationship you have with your stakeholders and donors and secure the 
independence and freedom for your organization to achieve its mission.
+
+For many years, charities and nonprofit organizations like yours have relied 
on Microsoft and the Windows operating system, and because they threaten to 
stop supporting older versions of Windows in the long-term, and because their 
system is proprietary (not free/libre), you are dependent on them to provide 
regular security updates and fixes. Threatening to withdraw their support, they 
abuse their monopoly position to strong-arm you into adopting new versions of 
their software, even when you don't need the new "features" and even when 
updating negatively affects your ability to operate.
+
+The dependency of organizations working for social change and improvement on 
software owned and exclusively controlled by Microsoft is leading society into 
an era of digital restrictions, threatening and limiting our freedoms. 
Microsoft Windows was engineered from the ground up as a Digital Restrictions 
Management (DRM) and Treacherous Computing (TC) platform. Microsoft hides these 
defects under more benign-sounding names like "Digital Rights Management" and 
"Trusted Computing" -- the fact is that Windows is designed to limit what 
people can do with documents and digital media files.
+
+As with Windows Vista, Windows 7 represents Microsoft's continued attacks 
against the security, privacy and freedom of your organization, and are no 
mistake. Microsoft has a history of manipulating computer manufacturers into 
installing its products onto the computers you purchase.
+
+Because of Microsoft, many decision makers in the not-for-profit sector are 
wholly dependent on the Windows operating system for their organizational 
computing.
+
+The root cause of this dependency is proprietary software (not free/libre) and 
with the release of Windows 7, you have an opportunity to break your 
organization's dependency on it.
+
+Free software is about freedom, and not price. Free software is software that 
you can use and adapt independent of any one vendor, such as the GNU/Linux 
operating system or the business productivity suite OpenOffice.org. Free 
software provides all of the freedoms Microsoft tries to deny, and is therefore 
better in all areas: security, accountability and monetary cost. GNU/Linux and 
OpenOffice.org are available from numerous vendors ensuring competition for 
your patronage and your freedom to change supplier.
+
+Free software is more secure because you, your IT supplier and the wider IT 
community are independently able to read the source code of and customize any 
program you use in your infrastructure. It saves you from relying on a 
secretive third party, and the public availability of free software code means 
that many qualified eyeballs, the security experts and researchers around the 
world, are continually studying and reporting on its integrity.
+
+Replacing all your desktop systems with GNU/Linux will give you independence 
from Microsoft, access to thousands of free software applications, and help 
break the social ill of proprietary software. Thousands of organizations have 
already moved to free software. What's your organizational plan?
+
+Investing in Microsoft's Windows 7 will only get you more stuck and more 
dependent on them.
+
+Take the next step -- evaluate your organization's opportunity to use free 
software -- and sign up for regular announcements on making the move away from 
Windows and to receive information about the work of the Free Software 
Foundation: http://windows7sins.org/signup.
+
+Sincerely,
+
+
+Peter Brown
+Executive Director
+Free Software Foundation