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Larry Cafiero, editor/publisher of Open Source Reporter, is proud to be Associate Member Number 5030 of the Free Software Foundation.

OSR: Free Software Foundation

Free as in 'free speech,' not 'free beer'
[From the Free Software Foundation Web site] Free software is a matter of liberty not price. The Free Software Foundation (FSF), established in 1985, is dedicated to promoting computer users' rights to use, study, copy, modify, and redistribute computer programs. The FSF promotes the development and use of free software, particularly the GNU operating system, used widely in its GNU/Linux variant. For more information on the FSF, go here.

It's here
The iPhone arrives, but more importantly the GNU General Public License Version 3 is released

gnutux While the rest of the tech media were focused on the iPhone's premiere, a far more important and significant event in Boston last Friday consisted of the release of the GNU General Public License version 3. "Since we founded the free software movement over 23 years ago, the free software community has developed thousands of useful programs that respect the user's freedom. The programs are in the GNU/Linux operating system, as well as personal computers, telephones, Internet servers, and more. Most of these programs use the GNU GPL to guarantee every user the freedom to run, study, adapt, improve, and redistribute the program," said Richard Stallman, founder and president of the FSF. More on the story from OSR here.

FSF Europe: Microsoft
claims don't add up

The Free Software Foundation Europe responded to Microsoft's patent claims against Linux and open source late last week by stating that the company's actions don't suggest patent claims in Microsoft's favor. More on the story from Computer Business Review Online here.

Latest in
GNU/FSF News

In this month's exciting episode of GNU and FSF News, we learn that Eben Moglen has resigned from the FSF, the FSFE starts a list of Free Software legal experts in Europe, Vista has it in for GCC, GNOME will soon fit in the palm of your hand, RMS visits Sweden, and the GPLv3 still can't get along with the Apache 2.0 license. Read on to find out the details of these and other recent stories in the free software community. More on the story from Advogato here.

It's official:
Vista blows

Charlie Demerjian, covering that Gates guy during his tour in China where he's selling XP for $3, reports that "[w]ith two overlapping events, Microsoft admitted what we have been saying all along, Vista, aka Windows Me Two (Me II), is a joke that no one wants." More on the story from The Inquirer here.

FSF seeks to forge hardware partnership

The Free Software Foundation last week released a paper entitled, "The road to hardware free from restrictions," detailing ways major hardware manufacturers with power in the market can work with the free software community to establish a "mutually beneficial relationship." More on the story from the FSF here, and the paper can be found here.

FSFE launches Freedom Task Force

In the United States, the Free Software Foundation (FSF) has reached out to the community with advocacy campaigns and the consultation process on the next version of the GNU General Public License. By contrast, the Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE) is focusing much of its community outreach on the creation of a group it calls the Freedom Task Force (FTF). Although relatively new, the FTF is already starting to make its mark on free software in Europe in the fields of education and compliance, and with its unique approach to the problems of copyright. More on the story from News Forge can be found here. and the Freedom Task Force Web site can be found here.

Here comes the Sun

Sun Microsystems is the latest company to become a patron of the Free Software Foundation. Involvement in FSF represents Sun's latest attempt to take a more active role in the open-source software community. More on the story from ars technica can be found here.

BadVista.org: FSF launches campaign against Microsoft Vista

The Free Software Foundation (FSF) launched BadVista.org, a campaign with a twofold mission of exposing the harms inflicted on computer users by the new Microsoft Windows Vista and promoting free software alternatives that respect users' security and privacy rights. More on the story from FSF here.