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WEEKLY NEWS
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Tuesday, October 29, 2013
Ways non-programmers can contribute to open source, Raspberry Pi replaces textbook, and more
Tuesday, October 22, 2013
Bringing Linux to your car's dashboard, investing in diversity outreach, and more
WEEKLY NEWS
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Saturday, October 19, 2013
Newest warship powered by linux
http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2013/10/the-navys-newest-warship-is-powered-by-linux/
Posted via Blogaway
LibrePlanet 2014 seeks session proposals, volunteers for annual free software conference
LibrePlanet 2014 seeks session proposals, volunteers for annual free software conference
This post can be viewed online at https://www.fsf.org/news/libreplanet-2014-seeks-session-proposals-volunteers-for-annual-free-software-conference.
BOSTON, Massachusetts, USA -- Friday, October 18, 2013 -- The Free Software Foundation (FSF) today announced the call for sessions for LibrePlanet 2014. The FSF also announced the formation of a volunteer organizing committee and a call for exhibitors.
LibrePlanet is an annual conference for free software enthusiasts. LibrePlanet will be held in March 2014 in Cambridge, MA. LibrePlanet brings together software developers, policy experts, activists and computer users to learn skills, share accomplishments and face challenges to software freedom. Newcomers are always welcome, and LibrePlanet 2014 will feature programming for all ages and experience levels.
This year, the theme of LibrePlanet is "Free Software, Free Society." How can free software protect journalists, whistleblowers, activists, and regular computer users from government and corporate surveillance? How can free software, or free software values like copyleft, community development, and transparency, be used by people fighting to create free societies around the world? What challenges are standing between us and our goal of free software ubiquity? With your help, we'll tackle these questions and more at LibrePlanet 2014.
Call for Sessions
"We invite presenters of all kinds and experience levels to submit applications; you don't have to be a coder to speak at LibrePlanet. Free software users, activists, academics, policymakers, developers, and others are all encouraged to help us build our most vibrant program yet," said Libby Reinish, a campaigns manager at the FSF.
"LibrePlanet 2014 will be held thirty years after the launch of the GNU System. This is the perfect opportunity to take stock of where we've been and where we're headed as a community," said John Sullivan, executive director of the FSF.
Call for sessions applications are currently being accepted at https://www.libreplanet.org/2014/call_for_sessions and are due by 21:00 UTC (17:00 Eastern time) on November 15, 2013.
Volunteer Committee
"Another first this year is a formal volunteer planning committee for LibrePlanet. This conference is about celebrating a movement built by dedicated volunteers, and we feel that our members should also have a hand in developing the conference program, logistics, social events, and outreach," said William Theaker, outreach and communications coordinator at the FSF.
Those interested in volunteering may sign up at LibrePlanet.org. Volunteers will be accepted on a rolling basis, but to participate in the volunteer planning committee please apply no later than 21:00 UTC (17:00 Eastern time) on November 15, 2013.
About LibrePlanet
LibrePlanet is the annual conference of the Free Software Foundation. What was once a small gathering of FSF members has grown into a larger event for anyone with an interest in the values of software freedom. LibrePlanet is always gratis for associate members of the FSF. To sign up for announcements about LibrePlanet 2014, visit https://www.libreplanet.org/2014.
LibrePlanet 2013 was held at Harvard University from March 23-34, 2013. Over 150 attendees from all over the world came together for conversations, demonstrations, and keynotes centered around the theme of "Commit Change." You can watch videos from LibrePlanet 2013 at http://media.libreplanet.org.
About the 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, and its Web sites, located at fsf.org and gnu.org, are an important source of information about GNU/Linux. Donations to support the FSF's work can be made at https://donate.fsf.org. Its headquarters are in Boston, MA, USA.
Media Contacts
Libby Reinish
Campaigns Manager
Free Software Foundation
+1 (617) 542 - 5942
campaigns@fsf.org
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Saturday, October 12, 2013
Your Car Is About to Go Open Source
Computerworld (10/09/13) Lucas Mearian
Automakers are working to standardize a Linux-based operating system for in-vehicle infotainment (IVI) systems that would make cars act more like smartphones. "Today, automakers are having a hard time getting their customers to buy informatics systems because they only can do 10 percent of what a mobile phone can do," says Linux Foundation's Rudi Streif, who leads the Automotive Grade Linux workgroup. "We're leveraging essentially an $11-billion investment already made in Linux by many other companies including IBM and Intel." An open source IVI operating system would create a reusable platform made up of core services, middleware, and open application layer interfaces that eliminate the redundant efforts to create separate proprietary systems. IVIs can require up to 40 million lines of programming and are a car's largest software system. One major reason automakers want to adopt open source IVI platforms is because of the cost and complexity of maintaining their own systems over time. "We'd like to be able to use an existing application on the phone and access it through the user interface," says Reaktor general manager Konsta Hansson. After an industry standard open source IVI is created, researchers can begin developing user interfaces for mobile apps.
http://www.computerworld.com/
Automakers are working to standardize a Linux-based operating system for in-vehicle infotainment (IVI) systems that would make cars act more like smartphones. "Today, automakers are having a hard time getting their customers to buy informatics systems because they only can do 10 percent of what a mobile phone can do," says Linux Foundation's Rudi Streif, who leads the Automotive Grade Linux workgroup. "We're leveraging essentially an $11-billion investment already made in Linux by many other companies including IBM and Intel." An open source IVI operating system would create a reusable platform made up of core services, middleware, and open application layer interfaces that eliminate the redundant efforts to create separate proprietary systems. IVIs can require up to 40 million lines of programming and are a car's largest software system. One major reason automakers want to adopt open source IVI platforms is because of the cost and complexity of maintaining their own systems over time. "We'd like to be able to use an existing application on the phone and access it through the user interface," says Reaktor general manager Konsta Hansson. After an industry standard open source IVI is created, researchers can begin developing user interfaces for mobile apps.
http://www.computerworld.com/
Wednesday, October 9, 2013
U.S. Ranks Fourth in Internet Freedom as Surveillance Grows Worldwide
Network World (10/04/13) Colin Neagle
Although U.S. Internet freedom has decreased over the past year due to surveillance, the United States still ranks fourth in a recent Freedom House study of 60 countries. The study measured obstacles to accessing information online, content limitations, and violations of user rights. In addition, the study cites issues such as government blocking of specific Internet content, surveillance measures, and actions taken against online dissidents to governing or religious bodies. Iceland claimed the top spot on the list as the most free nation on the Internet, followed by Estonia, Germany, and the United States. The remaining top 10 included Australia, France, Japan, Hungary, Italy, and the United Kingdom. Surveillance has grown more advanced and pervasive in 35 out of the 60 countries examined, according to the study. The most restrictive countries were Iran, China, and Cuba. However, the study notes 16 countries, including Morocco, Burma, and Tunisia, that have increased Internet freedom. Meanwhile, Freedom House says India showed the biggest drop in Internet freedom over the past year. Freedom House said the drop was due to "deliberate interruptions of mobile and Internet service to limit unrest, excessive blocks on content during rioting in northeastern states, and an uptick in the filing of criminal charges against ordinary users for posts on social-media sites."
Although U.S. Internet freedom has decreased over the past year due to surveillance, the United States still ranks fourth in a recent Freedom House study of 60 countries. The study measured obstacles to accessing information online, content limitations, and violations of user rights. In addition, the study cites issues such as government blocking of specific Internet content, surveillance measures, and actions taken against online dissidents to governing or religious bodies. Iceland claimed the top spot on the list as the most free nation on the Internet, followed by Estonia, Germany, and the United States. The remaining top 10 included Australia, France, Japan, Hungary, Italy, and the United Kingdom. Surveillance has grown more advanced and pervasive in 35 out of the 60 countries examined, according to the study. The most restrictive countries were Iran, China, and Cuba. However, the study notes 16 countries, including Morocco, Burma, and Tunisia, that have increased Internet freedom. Meanwhile, Freedom House says India showed the biggest drop in Internet freedom over the past year. Freedom House said the drop was due to "deliberate interruptions of mobile and Internet service to limit unrest, excessive blocks on content during rioting in northeastern states, and an uptick in the filing of criminal charges against ordinary users for posts on social-media sites."
Friday, October 4, 2013
Free Software Foundation Opens Nominations for the 16th Annual Free Software Awards
Free Software Foundation Opens Nominations for the 16th Annual Free Software Awards
BOSTON, October 03, 2013 -- The Free Software Foundation (FSF) and the GNU Project today announced the opening of nominations for the 16th annual Free Software Awards. The Free Software Awards include the Award for the Advancement of Free Software and the Award for Projects of Social Benefit.Award for the Advancement of Free Software
The Free Software Foundation Award for the Advancement of Free Software is presented annually by FSF president Richard Stallman to an individual who has made a great contribution to the progress and development of free software, through activities that accord with the spirit of free software.Last year, Dr. Fernando Perez was recognized with the Award for the Advancement of Free Software for the creation of IPython. IPython provides a rich architecture for interactive computing with a debugger, editor, and Python command-line interpreter all in one. Perez joined a prestigious list of previous winners including Yukihiro Matsumoto, Rob Savoye, John Gilmore, Wietse Venema, Harald Welte, Ted Ts'o, Andrew Tridgell, Theo de Raadt, Alan Cox, Larry Lessig, Guido van Rossum, Brian Paul, Miguel de Icaza, and Larry Wall.
Award for Projects of Social Benefit
Nominations are also open for the 2013 Award for Projects of Social Benefit.This award is presented to the project or team responsible for applying free software, or the ideas of the free software movement, to a project that intentionally and significantly benefits society in other aspects of life.
We look to recognize projects or teams that encourage collaboration to accomplish social tasks. A long-term commitment to one's project (or the potential for a long-term commitment) is crucial to this end.
This award stresses the use of free software in the service of humanity. We have deliberately chosen this broad criterion so that many different areas of activity can be considered. However, one area that is not included is that of free software itself. Projects with a primary goal of promoting or advancing free software are not eligible for this award, though we honor those projects with our annual Award for the Advancement of Free Software.
We will consider any project or team that uses free software or the philosophy of software freedom to address a goal important to society. To qualify, a project must use free software, produce free documentation, or use the idea of free software as defined in the Free Software Definition. Work done commercially is eligible, but we will give this award to the project or team that best utilizes resources for society's greater benefit.
Last year, OpenMRS received the award, in recognition of its free software medical record system for developing countries. OpenMRS is now in use around the world, including South Africa, Kenya, Rwanda, Lesotho, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Uganda, Tanzania, Haiti, India, China, the United States, Pakistan, the Phillipines, and many other places.
Previous winners have included GNU Health, Tor, the Internet Archive, Creative Commons, Groklaw, the Sahana project, and Wikipedia.
Eligibility
In the case of both awards, previous winners are not eligible for nomination, but renomination of other previous nominees is encouraged. Only individuals are eligible for nomination for the Advancement of Free Software Award (not projects), and only projects can be nominated for the Social Benefit Award (not individuals).The award committee has not been finalized, but is made up of previous winners, free software activists, and FSF president Richard Stallman.
Please send your nominations to award-nominations@gnu.org, on or before Friday, November 1st, 2013. Please submit nominations in the following format:
- In the email message subject line, either put the name of the person you are nominating for the Award for Advancement of Free Software, or put the name of the project for the Award for Projects of Social Benefit.
- Please include, in the body of your message, an explanation (forty lines or less) of the work done and why you think it is especially important to the advancement of software freedom or how it benefits society, respectively.
- Please state, in the body of your message, where to find the materials (e.g., software, manuals, or writing) which your nomination is based on.
Tuesday, October 1, 2013
Free Software Supporter - Issue 66, September 2013
Free Software Supporter
Issue 66, September 2013Welcome to the Free Software Supporter, the Free Software Foundation's monthly news digest and action update -- being read by you and 70,716 other activists. That's 1,090 more than last month!
View this issue online here: https://www.fsf.org/free-software-supporter/2013/september
Encourage your friends to subscribe and help us build an audience by adding our subscriber widget to your web site.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
- FSF seeks full-time senior GNU/Linux systems administrator
- Questions about DRM? Visit our new FAQ
- GNU's big "three-o"
- New iPhones put more polish on Apple's restrictions
- Interview with Caleb James DeLisle of cjdns
- Recap of New Haven Software Freedom Day Cryptoparty
- June 2013 - Torreón, Mexico - RMS at the Museo Arocena
- Show your allegiance to GNU at the office with this GNU polo shirt!
- Celebrate GNU's 30th birthday with this commemorative mug!
- Twenty-one organizations ask Italian Data Protection Authority to publish readable documents
- Jamaica Ministry of Health adopts GNU Health
- LibreOffice migration in Valencia, Spain complete
- MediaGoblin 0.5.0: Goblin Force
- LibrePlanet featured resource: GNU 30th media
- GNU Spotlight with Karl Berry: 23 new GNU releases!
- GNU Toolchain Update
- Richard Stallman's speaking schedule and other FSF events
- Thank GNUs!
- Take action with the FSF!
FSF seeks full-time senior GNU/Linux systems administrator
From September 24thThe FSF seeks a full-time senior systems administrator. The ideal candidate will be a well-rounded GNU/Linux systems administrator who enjoys learning and problem-solving. (S)he will be familiar with the free software community and how it works, and will be more interested in making a substantial contribution to software freedom and having employment consistent with ethical ideals than obtaining the highest salary.
Questions about DRM? Visit our new FAQ
From September 9thThe anti-DRM team at Defective by Design has compiled a Digital Restrictions Management (DRM) FAQ, or "Frequently Asked Questions" list, to address the most common misconceptions regarding DRM.
Celebrate GNU's big "three-o"
From September 6thThis past weekend, the FSF celebrated thirty years of GNU with free software supporters around from the world at our event in Cambridge, MA and at satellite events being held in eighteen different cities.
New iPhones put more polish on Apple's restrictions
From September 10thAs with previous iPhones, apps and devices come with a kill switch, third party peripherals are arbitrarily restricted, books and other media purchased from iTunes come with DRM, and all software must be cryptographically signed and approved by Apple. The iPhone 5s and 5c succeed in leaving their users at the mercy of Apple.
FSF statement on new iPhone models:
Interview with Caleb James DeLisle of cjdns
From September 25thThis is the latest installment of our Licensing and Compliance Lab's series on free software developers who choose GNU licenses for their works. In this edition, we talk to Caleb James DeLisle of cjdns, a mesh networking application.
Recap of New Haven Software Freedom Day Cryptoparty
From September 26thJoshua Gay, FSF licensing and compliance manager, helped host and run a Software Freedom Day event in New Haven, Connecticut where he currently lives and works.
June 2013 - Torreón, Mexico - RMS at the Museo Arocena
From September 25thOn June 13th, 2013, RMS was at the Museo Arocena, in Torreón, Mexico, to give a speech hosted by the GULAG (the La Laguna GNU/Linux User Group) for their seventh Free Software Conference, to students, professors, and the general public.
Show your allegiance to GNU at the office with this GNU polo shirt!
From September 26thPolo shirts featuring the new GNU head logo are now available in the GNU Press store for $35. Also available are limited edition GNU 30th anniversary travel mugs for $25.
Celebrate GNU's 30th birthday with this commemorative mug!
From September 27thCelebrate the 30th anniversary of GNU with this limited edition commemorative travel mug. The side of the cup features the outline of the new GNU mascot logo in front of a rising yellow sun, and the lid is blue.
Twenty-one organizations ask Italian Data Protection Authority to publish readable documents
By FSF Europe, from September 21stThe Free Software Foundation Europe and twenty Italian civil society organizations wrote a letter to the President of the Authority for the Protection of Personal Data, asking the agency to ensure that all documents published on its website can be read and used with Free Software programs.
Jamaica Ministry of Health adopts GNU Health
By GNU Health, from September 21stThe Jamaica Ministry of Health and GNU Solidario have signed an agreement to cooperate in the implementation of GNU Health as the Free Health and Hospital Information System in this country.
LibreOffice migration in Valencia, Spain complete
By Joinup, from August 22ndThe Valencia autonomous region government expects to save around 1.5 million euro per year on proprietary software licenses since having finished the migration to LibreOffice on all 120,000 desktop PCs of the administration which includes schools and courts. More important than the money, they have made a great advance toward user freedom.
MediaGoblin 0.5.0: Goblin Force
By Deb Nicholson, from September 6thGNU MediaGoblin 0.5.0 has been released and boasts multiple bugfixes and new features, such as Mozilla Persona integration.
Join the FSF and friends in updating the Free Software Directory
From September 30thTens of thousands of people visit directory.fsf.org each month to discover free software. Each entry in the Directory contains a wealth of useful information, from basic category and descriptions to version control, IRC channels, documentation, and licensing. The Free Software Directory has been a great resource to software users over the past decade, but it needs your help staying up-to-date with new and exciting free software projects.
To help, join our weekly IRC meetings on Fridays. Meetings take place in the #fsf channel on irc.gnu.org, and usually include a handful of regulars as well as newcomers. Everyone's welcome.
The next meeting is Friday, October 4th, from 2pm to 5pm EDT (18:00 to 21:00 UTC). Details here:
After this meeting, you can check https://www.fsf.org/events to see the rest of October's weekly meetings as they are scheduled.
LibrePlanet featured resource: GNU 30th media
Every month on LibrePlanet, we highlight one resource that is interesting and useful -- often one that could use your help.For this month, we are highlighting GNU 30th media, which is a collection of videos and photos from GNU 30th celebrations. You are invited to adapt, spread, and improve this important resource.
Do you have a suggestion for next month's featured resource? Let us know at campaigns@fsf.org.
GNU Spotlight with Karl Berry: 23 new GNU releases!
26 new GNU releases this month (as of September 29, 2013):- alive-2.0.2
- apl-1.0
- aris-2.1.1
- autogen-5.18.1
- denemo-1.0.8
- freeipmi-1.3.2
- gama-1.14
- gcl-2.6.9
- gdb-7.6.1
- global-6.2.9
- gnuhealth-2.2.0
- guile-sdl-0.5.1
- libmicrohttpd-0.9.30
- librejs-5.4
- lightning-2.0.1
- linux-libre-3.11
- m4-1.4.17
- mediagoblin-0.5.0
- parallel-20130922
- pspp-0.8.1
- pycdio-0.20
- pyconfigure-0.2.1
- sipwitch-1.8.6
- solfege-3.22.1
- texinfo-5.2
- xboard-4.7.2
This month we welcome Juergen Sauermann as the author and maintainer of the new GNU APL package, a full APL interpreter, and Brian Tiffin, Simon Sobisch, and Bernard Giroud as the maintainers of the new GNU Cobol package.
Also welcome to Ludovic Courtes as the new maintainer of DMD, in addition to his existing work on many other packages, notably Guile (the GNU extension language) and GUIX (a functional package manager for GNU). Although technically still an alpha release, GUIX 0.4 was released as part of the GNU 30th birthday celebration, https://www.gnu.org/software/guix/. A new version of GNU HURD (the GNU kernel) and related packages was also released for the celebration, https://www.gnu.org/software/hurd/.
A number of GNU packages, as well as the GNU operating system as a whole, are looking for maintainers and other assistance. Please see https://www.gnu.org/server/takeaction.html#unmaint if you'd like to help. The general page on how to help GNU is at https://www.gnu.org/help/help.html. To submit new packages to the GNU operating system, see https://www.gnu.org/help/evaluation.html.
As always, please feel free to write to me, karl@gnu.org, with any GNUish questions or suggestions for future installments.
GNU Toolchain update
From September 23rdThe GNU toolchain refers to the part of the GNU system which is used for building programs. These components of GNU are together often on other systems and for compiling programs for other platforms.
This month features improvements to binutils, GCC, and other programs.
Richard Stallman's speaking schedule
For event details, as well as to sign-up to be notified for future events in your area, please visit https://www.fsf.org/events.So far, Richard Stallman has the following events in October:
- Oct 08, 2013 07:00 PM, Oxford, OH, US, "Richard Stallman to speak in Oxford, OH"
- Oct 16, 2013 10:00 AM, Quito, Ecuador, "El software libre y tu libertad"
- Oct 17, 2013 10:00 AM, Ibarra, Ecuador, "Copyright vs comunidad"
- Oct 18, 2013 10:00 AM, Latacunga, Ecuador, "Copyright vs comunidad"
- Oct 19, 2013 10:00 AM, Guaranda, Ecuador, "Copyright vs comunidad"
- Oct 21, 2013 10:00 AM, Quito, Ecuador, "El movimiento del software libre"
- Oct 22, 2013 10:00 AM, Quito, Ecuador, "Copyright vs comunidad"
- Oct 23, 2013 10:00 AM, Quito, Ecuador, "El software libre en la ética y en la práctica"
Other FSF and free software events
- Oct 03, 2013 06:00 PM, Paris, France, "John Sullivan to speak at the Open World Forum to mark the 30th anniversary of the launching of the GNU Project"
Thank GNUs!
We appreciate everyone who donates to the Free Software Foundation, but we'd like to give special recognition to the folks who have donated $500 or more in the last month.This month, a big Thank GNU to:
- Stephen Koermer
- Patric Buskas
- Mark Clarke
- Calum Robert Slee
- Carina Buskas
- Stephan Szabo
- Daniel Watson
Take action with the FSF
Contributions from thousands of individual members enable the FSF's work. You can contribute by joining at https://www.fsf.org/join. If you're already a member, you can help refer new members (and earn some rewards) by adding a line with your member number to your email signature like:I'm an FSF member -- Help us support software freedom! https://www.fsf.org/jf?referrer=2442
The FSF is also always looking for volunteers (https://www.fsf.org/volunteer). From rabble-rousing to hacking, from issue coordination to envelope stuffing -- there's something here for everybody to do. Also, head over to our campaign section (https://www.fsf.org/campaigns) and take action on software patents, DRM, free software adoption, OpenDocument, RIAA and more.
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