[Herts] Fw: Please vote against software patents

[spock at canopus22.demon.co.uk]

Pass this around...

> Dear Supporters of ThankPoland.info,
> By thanking the Polish government for its courageous intervention against
> software patents, you have already been very helpful (you may refer to
> http://wiki.ffii.org/Sejm050216En for details and some pictures of the
> "Thank Poland" ceremony which took place in Warsaw in February of this
> year, in the Polish Parliament, Sejm.)
> There is now a new and extremely similar opportunity to make a statement
> against software patents by taking a minute to fill out a simple Internet
> form.  The founder of the NoSoftwarePatents.com campaign, Florian Mueller,
> is currently running in an Internet poll for the "European of the Year"
> against such celebrities as U2 frontman Bono and politicians like
> Schroeder, Merkel and Blair.  For voting recommendations and further
> information, please click here:
> http://www.nosoftwarepatents.com/en/m/ev50/vote.html
> When I was in Warsaw, I learned from Polish politicians that Florian's
> NoSoftwarePatents.com campaign website has had a significant impact among
> them.  Two Polish politicians have told me personally that they had
> printed out information from NoSoftwarePatents.com and used it to inform
> other politicians about the issue.  Florian, who had come to Warsaw for the
> "Thank Poland" ceremony, also played a key role during the press conference 
> afterwards.
> In view of all this, I have no doubt that Florian deserves to win those
> "Campaigner of the Year" and "European of the Year" awards.  There is a
> realistic chance that we can, by voting for him on the Internet, make him
> the new "European of the Year", which would demonstrate to politicians, the
> press and the public that software patents are highly unpopular.  Hence,
> every vote for Florian is a strong vote for freedom from software patents.
> It is necessary to vote for one candidate in each of the ten categories.
> Florian is running in two of them, and there are also other categories in
> which we can support those who opposed software patents and vote against
> those who wanted to make software legally patentable in Europe.
> Best regards,
> Norbert Bollow <noswpat at bollow.ch>
> P.S.  Everyone can participate in this Internet poll, including
>       non-Europeans.  On the NoSoftwarePatents.com site, texts (and
>       banners) are available in more than a dozen languages.  You can also
>       send emails to make friends aware of this Internet referendum.
>       Today, five celebrities from the world of free and open-source
>       software (Richard Stallman, Tim O'Reilly, Alan Cox, Rasmus Lerdorf
>       and Monty Widenius) also called on their supporters to vote for
>       Florian:
>       http://www.ag-ip-news.com/GetArticle.asp?Art_ID=2254&#9001;=en
> 
And my own 0.02Euros:
For the "Business Leader of the Year" category, don't vote for the Areva guy:
Nasty Uranium Oxide Pellets

http://www.areva.com/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=arevagroup_en%2FWeekPicture%2FWeekPictureFullTemplate&cid=1035532437371


These might be the best of a rogues' gallery:

http://www.unicredito.ie/profile.html
http://www.euronext.com/editorial/wide/0,5371,1732_997839,00.html

Bye
-- 
Malc

P.S. I am still a Linux User and have not forgotten about you all; I've been
     busy for the past few meetings, but hope to get back to one soon, not
     sure when.

P.P.S. If anyone is interested in some network stuff I'm selling (or knows
       more about what this is), then let me know: (sorry to spam the list)

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=5821926318