[GNU/FSF Press] FSF Encourages Californians to Support Software Freedom with Microsoft Vouchers

[Ravi Khanna]

URL: http://www.fsf.org/press/2003-11-19-Microsoft-CA.html

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

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

         FSF Encourages Californians to Support Software Freedom
                         with Microsoft Vouchers

Boston, MA, USA - Wednesday, November 19, 2003 - The Free Software
Foundation (FSF) is encouraging residents of California, or anyone who
purchased Microsoft software for use in California, to take advantage
of the offered vouchers, which are part of the Microsoft class-action
settlement with the state of California, to spread software freedom.

Under the terms of a settlement, reached in California's antitrust
and unfair competition class action lawsuit against Microsoft, the
company is required to provide vouchers totaling up to $1.1 billion
to eligible California users of its Windows, MS-DOS, Office, Excel,
Word, Works Suite or Home Essentials 97 or 98 products.  These vouchers
can be redeemed for cash as reimbursement for the purchase of other
qualifying computer hardware or software.  They can also be donated to
non-profit organizations (even those outside of California) for their
use in purchasing software or hardware.

Californians, who like many others had little choice but to pay
Microsoft's high prices for its monopolistic proprietary software,
now have a unique opportunity to help the Free Software Movement.
According to Bradley M. Kuhn, Executive Director of FSF, "they can use
this class-action lawsuit, which at last forces Microsoft to give up
some of its ill-gotten gains, to support Free Software and the GPL.
We encourage people to donate their vouchers to FSF or to use them to
purchase software from FSF's GNU Press division.  What could be better
than to use Microsoft's own resources to defend software freedom and
the GPL?

FSF has set up a special webpage at http://www.fsf.org/voucher.html to
help facilitate this transfer of some resources from Microsoft to FSF.
FSF asks anyone who purchased Microsoft software for use in California
to consider using them to help 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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