[Sussex] Fwd: Document Freedom Day: 26 March 2008

Wed Mar 19 11:17:19 UTC 2008

This is being passed around and I thought I would do likewise.

> ----- Forwarded message from Robert Schumann <robert at softwarefreedomday.org> -----
> 
> Date: Sat, 8 Mar 2008 11:35:54 +0000
> From: Robert Schumann <robert at softwarefreedomday.org>
> To: SFD announce <sfd-announce at sf-day.org>,
> 	SFD discussion list <sfd-discuss at sf-day.org>
> Subject: [SFD-discuss] Document Freedom Day: 26 March 2008
> 
>    Hi all SFD enthusiasts,
> 
>    Below is a press release from the organisers of Document Freedom Day,
>    which is happening on 26 March. DFD is organised by a different
>    organisation from SFD, but we're happy to support their message and
>    encourage people to get out on the streets in support of open information
>    exchange!
> 
>    Robert.
> 
>    -------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
>    [ [1]http://documentfreedom.org/News/20080220 ]
> 
>    Introducing Document Freedom Day
>      26 March: A global day for document liberation
>      Sign up your DFD team today!
> 
>    The Document Freedom Day (DFD) is a global day for Document Liberation
>    with grassroots action for promotion of Free Document Formats and Open
>    Standards in general. The DFD was initiated and is supported by a group of
>    organisations and companies, including, but not limited to, the Free
>    Software Foundation Europe, ODF Alliance, OpenForum Europe, IBM, Red Hat
>    and Sun Microsystems, Inc.
> 
>    On 26 March 2008, the Document Freedom Day will provide a global rallying
>    point for Document Liberation and Open Standards. It will literally give
>    teams around the world the chance to "hoist the flag": A "DFD Starter
>    Pack" containing a flag, t-shirt, leaflets and stickers is in preparation
>    and is planned to be sent out in the first weeks of March to the first 100
>    teams that sign up. Sixteen teams already signed up during the preparation
>    phase of the DFD prior to this release. Sign your team up now!
> 
>    "We're proud to support this global effort to encourage open and inclusive
>    information exchange," said Marino Marcich, Managing Director, Open
>    Document Format Alliance.  "Document freedom means creating,
>    exchanging, and preserving your electronic documents without having to buy
>    software from a particular vendor."
> 
>    "Data lock-in and subsequent vendor lock-in are some of the most severe
>    issues users are facing today," says FSFE president Georg Greve. "Yet most
>    people only realise this connection when it is too late and they have
>    effectively lost control over their own data. We are supporting the
>    Document Freedom Day to help raise awareness for this issue by starting
>    with something that affects pretty much all users of computers: text
>    documents, spreadsheets and presentations."
> 
>    "Free document formats and open standards are important elements in the
>    continued expansion of the global open source community," said Tom Rabon,
>    executive vice president, Corporate Affairs at Red Hat.  "Red Hat strongly
>    supports Document Freedom Day and encourages participation by all who look
>    forward to the day when documents are controlled by those who own them,
>    not necessarily by those who create the technology to access those
>    documents."
> 
>    Simon Phipps, Chief Open Source Officer, Sun Microsystems stated, "As I
>    explained in my paper "[2]Freedom to Leave", it's fundamental in the
>    emerging market for people to be free to use any software they desire
>    tohandle their data. I fully support the goals of Document Freedom ."
> 
>    Alexandre Oliva of the Free Software Foundation Latin America (FSFLA)
>    comments: "When you save your documents using a Free Open Standard format
>    such as ODF, you're also saving your own future, ensuring your continued
>    ability to access, decode and convert their contents."
> 
>    Graham Taylor Director of OpenForum Europe: "OpenForum Europe applauds the
>    announcement of Document Freedom Day. The whole essence of 'openness' is
>    captured by the right of users, citizens, governments... to be able to
>    freely access and exchange documents todayand in the future. Nothing gives
>    greater meaning to the prevalent danger of lock-in to proprietary
>    solutions, and for the need for Government to act now."
> 
>    About Document Freedom Day:
> 
>    The Document Freedom Day (DFD) is a global day for Document Liberation. It
>    is a day of grassroots effort around the world to promote and build
>    awareness for the relevance of Free Document Formats in particular and
>    Open Standards in general. The DFD is supported by a large group of
>    organisations and individuals, including, but not limited to Ars Aperta,
>    COSS, Esoma, Free Software Foundations Europe and Latin America, IBM,
>    NLnet, ODF Alliance, OpenForum Europe, OSL, iMatix, Red Hat, Sun
>    Microsystems, Inc., The Open Learning Centre, Opentia, Estandares
>    Abiertos.
> 
>    The list of DFD supporting groups can be found at
>       [3]http://documentfreedom.org/Who
> 
>    The list of DFD teams is available at
>       [4]http://documentfreedom.org/Category:Teams
> 
>    Further information:
>     [5]http://documentfreedom.org
> 
>    Contact:
>     [6]contact at documentfreedom.org
> 
>     Graham Taylor      [7]graham at openforumeurope.org
>     Ivan Jelic         [8]jelic at fsfeurope.org
>     Kerri Catallozzi   [9]kcatallo at redhat.com
>     Marino Marcich     [10]mmarcich at odfalliance.org
>     Marko Milenovic    [11]milenovic at fsfeurope.org
>     Terri Molini       [12]terri.molini at sun.com
>     FSFLA              [13]info at fsfla.org
> 
> References
> 
>    Visible links
>    1. http://documentfreedom.org/News/20080220
>    2. http://docs.google.com/View?docid=dhb29vwq_3dzb2cs
>    3. http://documentfreedom.org/Who
>    4. http://documentfreedom.org/Category:Teams
>    5. http://documentfreedom.org/
>    6. mailto:contact at documentfreedom.org
>    7. mailto:graham at openforumeurope.org
>    8. mailto:jelic at fsfeurope.org
>    9. mailto:kcatallo at redhat.com
>   10. mailto:mmarcich at odfalliance.org
>   11. mailto:milenovic at fsfeurope.org
>   12. mailto:terri.molini at sun.com
>   13. mailto:info at fsfla.org
> 
> 
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> SFD-discuss mailing list
> SFD-discuss at sf-day.org
> http://mail.sf-day.org/lists/listinfo/sfd-discuss

-- 
Steve Dobson

Trying to be happy is like trying to build a machine for which the only
specification is that it should run noiselessly.

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