What is Free Software? Free Software - sometimes also referred to as Libre Software or Open Source Software - is best defined by the following four freedoms: 1. freedom: The freedom to run the program, for any purpose. 2. freedom: The freedom to study how the program works, and adapt it to your needs. Access to the source code is a precondition for this. 3. freedom: The freedom to redistribute copies. 4. freedom: The freedom to improve the program, and release your improvements to the public, so that the whole community benefits. Access to the source code is a precondition for this. Although some languages have an ambiguity in terms of free referring to price, attempts to find a better term have failed; for more details, please see http://fsfeurope.org/documents/whyfs.en.html. Therefore the FSF Europe recommends using the term Free Software or the equivalent term in the local language. Software not meeting the freedoms mentioned above is properly called proprietary or non-free. What is the GNU Project? The GNU Project was announced in 1983 by Richard M. Stallman in order to create a complete UNIX-like operating system based on Free Software. The name GNU, which stands for GNU's Not Unix, was chosen to indicate that it would be a system similar to UNIX, but not directly connected to the product UNIX. Work on the GNU system began in 1984 and in 1985 Richard M. Stallman also founded the Free Software Foundation (FSF) to maintain the legal issues of the GNU Project. Being almost complete in the early 90ies, the GNU system still lacked a central component, the kernel. Like other Unix operating systems, the GNU system is modular, so Linus Torvalds was able to write the Linux knel to work within the GNU system and release it under the GPL. The GNU system with a Linux kernel - the GNU/Linux system - is particularly widely-used today and provides the basis for every so-called Linux distribution. The web page of the GNU Project can be found at http://www.gnu.org/ What is the GNU General Public License/GPL? The GNU General Public License (GPL) and its sister license, the GNU Lesser General Public License (LGPL; formerly known as GNU Library General Public License) were published by the Free Software Foundation for the GNU Project. The GPL does not only grant the four freedoms of Free Software, it also protects them: Expansions of GPL software have to be licensed under the GPL again if they are being published. There is no requirement to publish modifications, but if they are being released to others, they must adhere to the GPL. This vaccinating effect against proprietarization by third parties is often referred to as Copyleft. Like all Free Software, software under the GPL comes at no licensing cost. It can, however, be sold. Also it is possible to provide warranties as part of a commercial service. GPL/LGPL are the most widely used licenses for Free Software today. The GNU General Public License alone has been chosen by more than 50% of all Free Software, including such important contributions as the GNU system and the Linux kernel. What ist the Free Software Foundation? The Free Software Foundation was originally founded in 1985 by Richard M. Stallman as the legal branch of the GNU Project. Facing the need to also do tasks like spreading awareness for Free Software as well as legal and political work, the FSF soon grew beyond this initial idea. >From Boston, MA in the United States, the Free Software Foundation has been working on all aspects of Free Software for over 16 years, which makes it the oldest organization of its kind. Facing the needs of a growing Free Software community, the FSF always needed to adapt to new situations. With the foundings of the Free Software Foundation Europe and the Free Software Foundation India in 2001, the FSF has taken a large step forward. Nowadays, the Free Software Foundation consists of the original FSF, the FSF North America, as well as the FSF Europe and FSF India, with more to be expected within the next years. What is the organizational layout of the FSF Europe? The FSF Europe is a European Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) founded in 2001 by members from several European countries with the intention of one day having members from all European countries. Believing in the European vision, but facing lack of a European association law, the FSF Europe is registered as a charitable association in Germany (gemeinnütziger eingetragener Verein). To provide means for tax-deductable donations in other countries, as well, the FSF Europe seeks to set up charitable per-country units - usually referred to as Chapters - whenever possible. Similar to its sister organization, the FSF North America, the FSF Europe pursues a minimum membership principle to protect its integrity. For the FSF Europe, new members are only appointed if X of the existing members believe in the serious commitment and dedication as well as the long-standing Free Software competence of the new member. Therefore participation in the activities of the FSF Europe usually begins through associate organizations, which are self-organizing, independent associations often centered on a certain region or area of interest. These associate organizations are included in much of the internal communication, are the first reference points when questions arise and always have a direct line into the FSF Europe. Every organization related to Free Software and agreeing with the general positions and values of the FSF can apply for associate status. As of 1.6.2002, the associate organizations of the FSF Europe are: AFFS (UK), ANSOL (Portugal), APRIL (France), AsSoLi (Italy), FFII (Germany), FFS (Austria), Ofset (France). For information on how to get involved in these associations, please follow the links on the FSF Europe home page http://fsfeurope.org/. What does the Free Software Foundation Europe do? The FSF Europe is working on all aspects of Free Software in Europe, which means that it is engaging itself in multiple areas. Technical Tasks The FSF Europe engages itself directly or indirectly in multiple technical activities. Usually, the FSF Europe tries to avoid maintaining dozens of Free Software development projects, though. In most cases, the FSF Europe tries to identify and solve bottleneck-problems that have not been addresses sufficiently before. Through input, communication, coordination and sometimes even funding, the FSF Europe will seek to push these projects past the threshold. first-year examples: Savannah, AGNULA Competence Center The FSF Europe provides a competence center for Free Software. It offers advice for politicians on the EU-, country and regional levels and tries to make sure Free Software gets adequate coverage and recognition in the political and legislative systems. first-year examples: Commission on Intellectual Property Rights, FP6 recommendation, Consultation on software patents by the German Ministry of Justice. Legal Work Being the fiduciary for most of the GNU system and also other Free Software, the Free Software Foundations worldwide make sure the freedoms granted by the Free Software licenses are being upheld. If possible, this is done outside of court, but the FSF Europe does go to court on behalf of Free Software if it has to. Especially the GNU General Public License (GPL), the most common license of Free Software, is of paramount interest to the FSF. The FSF Europe helps upholding the GPL in court and keeping it up-to-date with legislation and technical developments. first-year examples: Exception for Free Software in German Copyright revision 2002 Building Awareness A main task of the FSF Europe is to create awareness for the issues of the information age. Free Software is the best answer to the questions of the information age that we know of. What are the advantages of Free Software? Free Software offers many advantages in different areas. Their relevance is often determined by personal preferences, so here are some reasons why you should consider Free Software: Reliability Access to the source code is necessary for two of the four freedoms of Free Software. Since many people can take a look at the source code and have the chance to find and fix problems faster and more efficiently, Free Software tends to be more stable. Security Although it strikes some people as odd that security is being increased by everyones ability to look at the source code, it is true. The best analogy for this is that between key and lock. With Free Software the best people can work together on creating the best lock - which does not mean we give everybody our key. Economy For most companies, software is not their main area of interest, butit largely determines their ability to fulfill their contracts. Contrary to the situation most companies find themselves in today,with Free Software a company can never lose the right to use their IT solution because a vendor goes out of business or decides to not renew the license. Companies gain independence from release-cycles forced onto them. Also a company employing Free Software retains the right to change the vendor should this become advisable or necessary. If a company wishes to train or hire somebody to maintain their own IT structure, they have the freedom to do so. This makes Free Software the most secure way of investing into IT. Politics Like companies, governments very much depend on software. Whenever a government depends on the proprietary product of some software vendor, this vendor can effectively shut down parts of the government for several months, giving him significant clout over its decisions. Democracy Proprietary software has the tendency to only interact properly with itself, forcing citizens into the same proprietary solution used by the government in order to be able to communicate with it. Citizens unwilling to be forced in such a way lose the ability to communicate with their government. Macro-Economy Communication has always been a necessity for social and economic success. Just like citizens are being forced into a proprietary solution, companies wishing to interact with each other are forced to use the same proprietary software solution. Proprietary software has a strong, inherent tendency to create mono- or oligopolies. Free Software breaks that cycle and brings freedom from dependencies along with better protection against monopolies. Society Access to software determines who may participate in a digital society. It decides what can be learned, what can be said, what can be done and who can be communicated with. Software ceases being an entirely economic property, it becomes a cultural property, a cultural technique. Therefore, it becomes fundamental for the information age that all people have equal access to software. Support the Free Software Foundation It sounds like this is very important and you could clearly need help. How can I support the FSF Europe? There are many ways of supporting the work of the FSF Europe. First of all, you can help us spreading the word. For this you might consider distributing this brochure to other interested parties. It is available in multiple languages in the FSF Europe office. If you send an email to address@hidden, letting us know many of these brochures in which languages you'd like to be sent where, we'll be happy to supply you with them. If you want to get active, you might consider helping us out with the web site, translations, booths and other activities. Information on this can be found at http://fsfeurope.org/help/help.html. If you have the necessary resources, you might also support us financially with a donation to the FSF Europe. You will find details about this at http://fsfeurope.org/help/donate.html.