freedom bits

The veil is finally lifted. After months of discussions and four months of preparation in Osnabrück, including a fight for dear life in the snow during the Battle of Osnabrück alongside my new comrade in arms from Scotland, Paul Adams, my reincarnation is finally complete.
Little more than a week ago we launched Kolab Systems AG, [...]

…and hope that if you are not yet a Fellow of the FSFE, you will join now.

Those who know me will not be surprised that the somewhat prolonged silence following my last post was not only for purposes of an extended summer vacation. Indeed I found myself even more busy than before immediately after the handover at FSFE in order to facilitate the knowledge transfer with the new team while doing [...]

This is certainly the question I received most often when people learned I was not going to be available again for election as president of the Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE).
Being founder and president of FSFE has been a challenge in more than one way, and I have enjoyed it greatly. It would certainly have [...]

Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE) was conceived in early 2000, pregnancy took about a year, and in early 2001 my decision to make the creation and success of Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE) my first and foremost priority in life was clear. This was eight years, six months, and a couple of days ago, and [...]

There are a couple of “beginner’s mistakes” when thinking about Free Software in general and its commercial application, in particular. One is to believe there was a substantial difference in the software referred to by the terms “Free Software” and “Open Source.” There isn’t. As far as the actual software is concerned, both terms are [...]

[ PDF version ]
FREE SOFTWARE FOUNDATION EUROPE (FSFE)
STATEMENT TO THE 3rd SESSION OF THE
COMMITTEE ON DEVELOPMENT AND INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY (CDIP/3)
ON DOCUMENT CDIP/3/4 ANNEX III
(Geneva, 27 April – 1 May 2009)
With regards to the project on IP, Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) and the Digital Divide, the Free Software Foundation Europe would like to make a [...]

[ PDF version ]
FREE SOFTWARE FOUNDATION EUROPE (FSFE)
STATEMENT TO THE 3rd SESSION OF THE
COMMITTEE ON DEVELOPMENT AND INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY (CDIP/3)
(Geneva, 27 April – 1 May 2009)
Mr Chairman,

On behalf of the Free Software Foundation Europe please allow me to congratulate you for having been reaffirmed as the chair of this CDIP and thank you for your [...]

[PDF version]
FREE SOFTWARE FOUNDATION EUROPE (FSFE)
STATEMENT TO THE 3rd SESSION OF THE
COMMITTEE ON DEVELOPMENT AND INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY (CDIP/3)
(Geneva, 27 April – 1 May 2009)
Mr Chairman,

On behalf of the Free Software Foundation Europe please allow me to congratulate you for having been reaffirmed as the chair of this CDIP. Our congratulations also go to the secretariat [...]

Good innovation policy requires understanding of the regulatory impact of each policy instrument individually, as well as knowledge about the interaction of different instruments. It is therefore necessary to look at the whole spectrum available within each instrument, as well as be aware of how other instruments may be empowered or invalidated through interaction. The [...]