Among the early birds who registered for the Fellowship before 23:59 on February 27th, Mario Fux, of Switzerland, won the drawing for the honorable post of Fellow #1. We contacted the lucky winner right away.

> Congratulations, Mario. You signed up early, and you were drawn as Fellos #1. Why did you choose to join the FSFE Fellowship?

Because I believe in Free Software and the work of the FSFE. For more than a year, I've been writing a column [1] about Free Software in schools and education under the umbrella of the FSFE. As a part of FSFE Switzerland, I'm active in this area.

> How did you hear about it?

I heard about the project quite early, quasi first-hand.

> How did you become interested in FS?

That's a good question, which I have been asking myself frequently during the last few years. Up to now, my answer would be: On the one hand, I wasn't entirely satisfied with MS Windows and MS DOS any more. I heard about GNU/Linux and wanted to try it. Then, that was also the time when the widely accepted wisdom "These days, you won't even get a kick of the boot for free" was getting on my nerves. That was when I discovered the Free Software movement, where people don't do things for money, but rather for fun. And on top, the product seems (is) better than the proprietary alternatives.

> Have you been working on any FS projects? Which?

Quite a few. I'm the co-founder of various Free Software organisations in Switzerland (ALIS [2] and LUGO [3]) as well as (board) member of others (Wilhelmtux [4] and LUGS [5]. Then I have tried my hand as a translator for some Free Software projects (KSociograma, Freeduc, GCompris, DDTP, etc.) or in coordination (YaST2 for Debian [6], Skolelinux [7]. To name the most important ones.

> What will you use your Cryptocard for?

I don't know yet. There are various ideas, but I won't have time to implement them in the near future. An automatic login for my system (single sign-on) would be great, but it's probably not that easy to do…

> How do you explain the Fellowship to someone who has no idea what it is?

Free information and Free Software are enourmously important in our time. If information and software are to remain free, something has to be done. One can be active or support the FSFE financially via the Fellowship to make this work easier and better.

> Please complete the sentence: When I turn off my computer…

Is that possible? I've heard about it, but I never tried it myself 😉

No, really: …, in summer I go to sit beside my natural pond in the mountains.

[1] http://www.fsfeurope.org/projects/education/tgs

[2] http://www.edux.ch

[3] http://www.edux.ch

[4] http://www.wilhelmtux.ch

[5] http://www.lugs.ch

[6] http://yast4debian.alioth.debian.org

[7] http://www.skolelinux.ch