[sclug] Fwd: [Green Mail] Green Party backs calls for free open source software adoption

[Rob White]

Thought this on Open Source software might be of
interest.

There's a link to a petition near the bottom.

Best wishes
Rob

--- News from the Green Party
<greenmail at lists.greenparty.org.uk> wrote:

> Date: Thu, 30 Aug 2007 14:51:08 +0100
> From: News from the Green Party
> <greenmail at lists.greenparty.org.uk>
> Subject: [Green Mail] Green Party backs calls for
> free open source software
> 	adoption
> To: bobby_blanc at yahoo.com
> 
> GREEN PARTY BACKS CALLS FOR
> FREE OPEN SOURCE SOFTWARE ADOPTION
> 
> The Green Party of England and Wales today backed an
> international  
> call from the Free Software Society (FSS), New
> Internationalist,  
> Friends of the Earth International and People and
> Planet in calling  
> on social activists and progressive organizations to
> join with them  
> in rejecting Microsoft's Vista operating system, and
> to encourage  
> instead the adoption and use of free open source
> software (FOSS).
> 
> The advent and use of free software is a promotion
> of the computer  
> users' right to use, study, copy, modify, and
> redistribute computer  
> programs.  The FSS categorically state that free
> software 'is about  
> freedom, not price. It is software whose authors
> intentionally extend  
> users the freedoms to study, copy, modify and share
> their work. While  
> proprietary software functions by dividing people
> and using technical  
> restrictions to block communication between them,
> free software was  
> created with individual freedom and social
> solidarity in mind.' (1)
> 
> Derek Wall, Green Party male Principal Speaker,
> backs the call.   
> "Free software offers social activists an
> alternative to what a  
> system like Vista represents. Using free software,
> we can further  
> social and environmental justice without supporting
> growth based on  
> waste, control and short-term profit."
> 
> He continued, "I would urge social movements to
> develop a migration  
> strategy, including a commitment not to move to
> Vista."
> 
> Green Party female Principal Speaker Sian Berry
> added, "Along with  
> signing up to the Free Software Foundation's call
> for more NGOs to  
> take advantage of the benefits, The Green Party are
> extending this  
> call to governments too.  With every government
> hiring IT companies  
> to create separate, proprietary systems, a lot of
> private profit is  
> created. However, the governments will not own the
> source code at the  
> end of the process and the companies can charge the
> same to each  
> government they sell their software to.
> 
> "Under an open source model, governments instead
> collaborate with  
> each other and pay IT companies to develop open
> source systems. This  
> means the problem can be solved once and then
> implemented everywhere  
> without charging taxpayers again and again for the
> same thing.  
> Upgrades and further developments can be funded and
> carried out  
> collaboratively too, and this can lead to enormous
> savings overall.
> 
> "Using more FOSS in government could do more than
> save money and  
> development time, it could also free us from having
> to get involved  
> with arms companies like Lockheed Martin, who are
> now in the final  
> round of selection to run the 2011 UK Census." (2)
> 
> Groups and individuals who support the statement are
> being asked to  
> add their own signatures at
> http://freesoftwarefreesociety.org. The  
> statement will be used to encourage non-governmental
> organizations  
> (NGOs) to develop policies in support of free
> software, and, through  
> the collection of free software adoption success
> stories, encourage  
> the development of organizational migration plans to
> free software.
> 
> To read more about Sian's views on FOSS, go to her
> New Statesman blog  
> at http://www.newstatesman.com/200708280002
> 
> ENDS	
> 
> 1 - http://freesoftwarefreesociety.org
> 2 - http://censusalert.org.uk/
> 
> 
> --
> Green Party Press Office
> 020 7561 0282
> http://www.greenparty.org.uk
> 
> Published and promoted by Jim Killock for the Green
> Party, both at
> 1a Waterlow Road, London N19 5NJ.
> 
> 
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