Welcome to the Matrix: the FSFE now runs its own server

The FSFE is eager to support its community with diverse Free Software communication channels. We are happy to announce that we have recently added Matrix to this list. After successful beta tests, every FSFE supporter and volunteer can now create their own Matrix account. We will also use our instance for the FSFE’s virtual booth during FOSDEM!

For over a decade now, the FSFE has been offering an XMPP (also known as Jabber) server as well as a traditional IRC channel for our community to quickly exchange messages. Today we officially open the gates to our new Matrix server, which has been successfully tested for a few months and has a few advantages over XMPP.

Federated and encrypted

Matrix is a comparatively new protocol for real-time communication that enables federation similar to XMPP. Federation means that users of one instance can communicate with users of other instances over the same protocol. Matrix has some features directly built in, ranging from automatic encryption to sending pictures and the possibility of audio and video chats, or allowing responding to messages with emojis. With XMPP, some of these features are also available through extensions, but not all servers support all such additional features, which means that some users cannot benefit from them.

Matrix is of course not perfect either, but meanwhile many Free Software organisations such as KDE and Mozilla as well as a number of public administrations use Matrix, for example the French state. And most importantly, the feedback from our test users and teams was very positive. That is why we now invite our community to make up their own mind about Matrix. For the time being, we will keep both Matrix and XMPP running so that individual users, groups, and teams can evaluate the technologies for themselves.

How to enter the Matrix

For those who have an FSFE account - i.e. all supporters and registered volunteers - getting started is super easy. We provide a wiki page where all the necessary information is collected. Due to the encryption features of the messenger, the first steps should be taken with some caution, but after that everything is quite self-explanatory.

If you already have an account on a homeserver other than the FSFE's, you can of course keep it and still join our rooms. There are some recommendations listed in the FSFE space (#fsfe:fsfe.org), such as the main community room #community:fsfe.org. There is also a service by the Matrix developers to migrate one's account from one server to another if you'd like to make use of the fancy fsfe.org handle.

A great way to experience Matrix on a grand scale is at the virtual FOSDEM this coming weekend, where the FSFE will once again have a devroom and a booth. Participation and visiting is possible via distinct Matrix rooms. So get a Matrix account on our homeserver beforehand and join us at FOSDEM!

Like all FSFE services, this one is part of our Free Software infrastructure with public deployment code. We would like to thank Michael Weimann, one of our System Hackers, who maintains the service.

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❤ Let's celebrate together the next I Love Free Software Day!

Every 14th of February, people around the world celebrate the “I Love Free Software Day”. On this day we show our love for Free Software and thank all the people contributing to software freedom. This year, we are organising a whole event dedicated to Free Software games.

Although many of us depend on Free Software every day, contributors to those projects usually remain invisible. This is one of the main reasons that drive us to celebrate this day. We want to highlight the valuable work of all the people who contribute to software freedom, and take the time to say thank you!

There are three different ways you can join us for this celebration. Spoiler alert: all of them are a lot of fun!

Let's play together!

For the I Love Free Software Day 2022, we have prepared something special and fun for you: an event dedicated to Free Software games. The event takes place online on 14 February 2022 at 18:00-20:00 CET. For the first part of our event, our three expert guests in Free Software games, game engines, and Game Jams will share their experiences, and will immerse us in the world of Free Software games. After this, we invite you to play Veloren with us.

For technical reasons, we are asking people who want to take part in the whole event via our BigBlueButton instance to register in advance. The number of participants in this instance is limited. But, do not worry if you do not want to register or if you are too late to do so. The talks will be streamed online, and you will be able to watch them without registration. You just won't be able to join us for the second part of the event in which we will be playing games together.

Show your love with a pic!

You can also celebrate the I Love Free Software Day by sending a thank you message to your favourite Free Software project for their valuable work. You can do this, for example, on your preferred social network with the hashtag #ilovefs. If you prefer images over words, please use our brand new Sharepic Generator to create your very own pictures. It is simple to use and you have a nice graphic to share in two minutes. Let your imagination run free and show your appreciation for Free Software with an #ilovefs image.

Listen to our special I Love Free Software podcast episode!

Have you heard of 0 A.D: Empires Ascendant? Or even better, have you played it?

For our special podcast episode, Bonnie Mehring - FSFE Junior Project Manager - and Stanislas Dolcini - Project Lead of this well-known Free Software game - talk about the development of the game, its history, the kind of support that is needed, and the highlights of developing a Free Software game. You can listen to the whole episode, and share it with your community. We bet you will want to play 0 A.D after listing to this episode.

Join us on this special day in the way that you prefer. Either by learning more about Free Software games from our expert guests, by having fun playing together with our community members, and/or by sharing your love for Free Software. Remember that this is a small gesture that means a lot.

Happy I Love Free Software Day everyone! ❤

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SFP#13: Free Software game "0 A.D.:Empires Ascendant" with Stanislas Dolcini

The upcoming "I Love Free Software Day" will focus on Free Software Games. One of the most famous Free Software Games is "0 A.D.: Empires Ascendant". In this Episode Bonnie Mehring talks with Stanislas Dolcini, the project leader of 0 A.D. about the game itself, the project, as well has how the game became Free Software.

This podcast episode takes you on a journey through the games development and it's history of becoming one of the most famous Free Software games. You can also learn about how to participate and contribute to 0 A.D. Discover together with Stanislas and Bonnie how the community behind one of the best known Free Software games works, where support is needed, and the different types of developers and contributors. Bonnie and Stanislas also tell the success story of releasing 0 A.D. under a Free Software licensed and talk about the positive side of developing a Free Software game.

Read more:

• I Love Free Software Day
• What is Free Software?
• 0 A.D.: Empires Ascendant

If you liked this episode and want to support our continuous work for software freedom, please help us with a donation.

If you clicked on the image of the "Kush City Center" to come to this page, this image is licesned under CC-BY-SA 3.0 and created by 0 A.D.: Empires Ascendant, Wildfire Games.

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The FSFE at FOSDEM 2022

As in 2021, this year's FOSDEM will take place online. But this is neither stopping us from once again co-hosting the Legal and Policy Issues Devroom nor from being present with a digital booth. We are excited and look forward to presenting you an interesting programme throughout the whole weekend.

As every year, the FSFE will be present at FOSDEM, the biggest annual Free Software event in Europe. In this years edition we will co-host the Legal and Policy Issues Devroom for the second time – unfortunately only digitally again. Nonetheless, we have prepared an exciting schedule for you on Saturday and hope to see you there.

This year's edition will be kicked off by a talk of Masafumi Ohta, teaching on Free Software license and compliances at the University of Electro-Communications in Japan at 13:00 CET. In his talk, Ohta addresses the issue on "How to teach OSS licenses and compliances at a university".

At 13:30 CET, Italo Vignoli, a well-known Free Software advocate and a marketing and public relations consultant, gives a presentation on "Why the pandemic could help FOSS, but was a win for proprietary software".

Christopher Klootz, a security expert, presents a talk on "A globally unified governance framework for Open Source - International arbitration to harmonize the security provisions of sovereign states and Open Source? The Java Virtual Machine, Ceph and abstraction layers" at 14:00 CET.

At 14.30 CET Vittorio Bertola, in charge for innovation and policy activities at Open-Xchange, gives a follow up on his talk from last year and will present "An update on the Digital Markets Act - The new European rules for online competition".

Lucas Lasota, the FSFEs Legal Deputy Director, also follows up on his talk from last year and explains "Why Device Neutrality is important for Free Software?" at 15:00 CET.

To conclude the Legal and Policy Devroom, its organisers summarise the issues of the day and tackle some topics that have been missing on the agenda at 15:30 CET.

Digital booth

If you want to stay updated and are interested in some of our other activities, you can visit our digital booth or follow us on social media. Also visit the official FOSDEM page during the event for general updates.

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20 Years FSFE: Interviewing past interns

In the final publication about 20 Years FSFE, we want to thank everyone who has worked for the organisation in an internship position. We contacted eight former interns and asked them about their time at the FSFE and their current involvement with Free Software.

These interviews are only a glimpse of the many people who have helped shaping the FSFE with their contributions in an internship position. An internship in the FSFE can be an intensive yet enriching experience. It familiarises people with the use of Free Software and it helps them networking with the Free Software community. We have asked eight of our former interns about their time at the FSFE and how they are doing today: Diego, George, Lucile, Ludmila, Martin, Matti, Polina, Stian.

Diego Naranjo is the head of policy in the European Digital Rights (EDRi) organisation.

George Brooke-Smith focuses on Risk Management in the KPMG company.

Lucile Falgueyrac is a Parliamentary assistant in the European Parliament.

Ludmila Vaseva is a software developer at ctrl.alt.coop eG.

Martin Husovec is an assistant professor and academic specialising in IP law at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE).

Matti Lammi is a System Specialist at ETLA Economic Research.

Polina Malaja is a Policy Director in the CENTR organisation.

Stian Rødven-Eide is a Doctoral researcher in computational linguistics at the University of Gothenburg.

Looking back, what did the FSFE inters learn during their internship?

• 

  Diego

  From this internship I gained more insight into how the Free Software community organises, how to organise campaigns and workshops, and how to deal with legal issues related to Free Software.

• 

  George

  It was more about who the Free Software community was for me. I got to know a great group of people from all over the world. I won't forget that. Doing an internship at the FSFE makes you more competent to tackle IT collaboratively. And moreover the four software freedoms (use, study, improve, and share) can be applied in all walks of business. In this way, I have felt it was fundamentally helpful.

• 

  Lucile

  During my internship I learned much about how Free Software is made and used. I came for the policy and political relevance to resist mass surveillance, and learned much about technology and infrastructure. I learned a lot about campaigning and community organising during my internship at the FSFE.

• 

  Ludmila

  My first conscious contact with Free Software was some 14 years ago. It was my second semester at uni and a friend wouldn't stop bugging me to install Ubuntu on my laptop, because it was, you know, "cool for political reasons". At the end, we spent an evening with the institute's Linux user group since back in the day stuff mostly didn't just work and the sound and wireless cards needed some extra persuasion. I eventually stopped booting up the windows entirely and up to this day cannot begin to fathom how one does software development or network stuff on a windows machine. (Although I've heard, that's bettered in recent years.)

  With time, I grew more aware about political issues surrounding software and computers, about privacy, security, re-usability and community. I then gradually started advocating for the usage of Free Software myself (because it was cool for political reasons), and was hence delighted when the opportunity presented itself to intern with the FSFE for a while. There, I got to know some wonderful people and had the chance to do important political work with like-minded folks.

• 

  Martin

  My internship at FSFE was a very pleasant experience. I just came out of law school, hungry for some technology law experience in Germany. And I landed in Berlin in 2011. What could go wrong? Intellectually, what stuck with me the most was how differently Free Software activists thought about the world of legal rules. For a fresh graduate of law, rules were set by someone else. TRIPS Agreement was an unchangeable fact. The vocabulary was not a choice. Not for these activists. Throughout my internship, I better understood why and how concepts and labels drive political outcomes. I learned to appreciate what civil society does for legal change and how much work and discipline this requires.

• 

  Matti

  To my surprise, the FSFE had much fewer staff members at the Berlin office than I had expected. Yet, they have done a lot for software freedom over the years. This shows what dedication can achieve. A good lesson for all of us.

• 

  Polina

  Free Software is so much more than a software licence or publicly available source code. It is a social movement and a community that strives for more equal and just society. After completing my internship at the FSFE, I continued my path in the FSFE as an employee, leading its both legal and policy areas. My time in the FSFE contributed immensely for my professional and personal growth, setting my course on the topics and areas I am involved in my current professional environment outside of the FSFE i.e. EU digital policies and regulation.

• 

  Stian

  My first and main task as an intern for the FSFE was to organise FSCONS. After my internship ended, I continued being involved with the conference for eight more years. The principles of Free Software resonates with a lot of modern philosophy and can be applied to almost anything. This has guided my life and my personal philosophy since, especially the idea that with cooperation and sharing, everyone will be better off, than with competition and secrecy.

  Following my internship, I started a Free Software cooperative along with like minded friends, offering consultancy and support for organisations that wish to transition from proprietary software. While I like to think that we did manage to achieve some good during the four years the cooperative existed, we probably learned more than anything about the many obstacles that remain for Free Software to become ubiquitous. It became clear that we need to promote Free Software on many fronts, politically and practically, and how vital organisations like the FSFE are to this.

Are former interns still active in software freedom?

• 

  Diego

  Free software is an every day topic for EDRi. On a practical level, we use as much Free Software as we can (operative systems, server applications, apps on our phones…). Furthermore, we advocate for Free Software whenever a European legislative file we follow involves the use of software. We referred to the public money, public code campaign in several occasions and that framing is still an important part for EDRi’s framing our technology and the role of public infrastructures.

• 

  George

  My involvement is to donate now and then, and to raise the issue with friends and family. I haven't done much volunteering since the internship. I'd have to get good permission from my employer to do that. (So fingers crossed).

• 

  Lucile

  I use Free Software personally but not professionally. I do get a Free Software link when we discuss bigger political questions about privacy or strategic independence - I know that without independent technology and infrastructures it is impossible to reach.

• 

  Ludmila

  Since I'm a software developer, Free Software is an important part of my day-to-day work — any developer's job would look quite differently and be a great deal more tedious if we weren't able to rely on the myriad of FLOSS libraries, tools and frameworks out there.

• 

  Martin

  Since I teach and research intellectual property and technology law, one could say I remain somewhat involved in the Free Software issues. I do not think of myself as a hard-core expert on Free Software licensing, but I continue to research many issues of the digital ecosystem that are relevant to the FSFE’s mission. I still benefit from the broader technological outlook that I was introduced to at the FSFE.

• 

  Matti

  When choosing software, we lean towards Free Software solutions by default. Often, we end up choosing a free solution unless specifically requested otherwise by the upper management or business needs.

• 

  Polina

  After my time in the FSFE, I still strongly stand for the values of Free Software, continuing as a volunteer in the FSFE CARE Team, the European Core Team and the General Assembly.

• 

  Stian

  At my department at the University of Gothenburg, we publish all code, and most data, under a free licence. Researchers in our field are usually quite knowledgeable about Free Software, as we need to know exactly what a program does to the data and be able to share and improve it in order to reproduce and further the research.

  Outside of work, my volunteering efforts are these days limited to the democratic e-mail association Fripost.org. It started out as a project of our local FSFE chapter ten years ago, but has since evolved into its own organisation. In addition to running an e-mail service for our members, we have had many outreach programs and community events centred around Free Software.

What do former FSFE interns wish for the future of the FSFE?

• 

  Diego

  I would love two things. First, I would love the FSFE to go beyond software and embrace issues related to hardware, infrastructure and generally digital sovereignty. We need a European federation that takes a holistic approach to how technology should be a tool for fundamental rights, and focusing only on software leaves out many of the fundamental questions we’re facing today such as the power of Big Tech, surveillance capitalism, mass surveillance, surveillance-based advertising and planned obsolescence of our devices.

  Second, I would love the FSFE to become even more involved in EU policies. For example, the FSFE has been involved in issues related to artificial intelligence where the FSFE expertise has been very valuable. We need more of this knowledge-sharing between the FSFE and EDRi and make more connections between Brussels and FSFE chapters.

• 

  George

  The FSFE is inclusive and puts the learning perspective at the heart of its mission. So I hope it thrives for many years to come, inspiring people like it inspired me. GNUtopia here we come!

• 

  Lucile

  Continue linking tech, policy and ethics, and outreaching to people who are not IT professionals.

• 

  Ludmila

  I wish the FSFE to keep up the good work, keep spreading the word of the advantages of Free Software, and keep pushing for more just regulations on political level such as the Public Money? Public Code! campaign.

• 

  Martin

  I wish the FSFE many bright young people who will be attracted to its vision. On many levels, we are currently designing our digital future. Having the FSFE’s voice when building its infrastructure, will be critical.

• 

  Matti

  Keep advocating for software freedom especially at EU level and public sector. Institutional changes can and must be achieved.

• 

  Polina

  I wish the FSFE to continue to be the voice of Free Software users in Europe and beyond. Free Software stands on the shoulders of all the great people being part of a social movement that should not forget about its heroes.

  I wish the FSFE to be strongly rooted in its beginnings but at the same time to not be afraid of change and developments of a fast-paced digital society. Free Software has become a critical part of both business and end-user experience in every day life. It is no longer an “alternative” solution but a standard empowering our society today.

  However, have we achieved a more just society as a result of more wide-spread adoption of Free Software? Is this the end-goal of the movement to retain the status quo and not to bother about wider ethical issues? Or should we as citizens and contributors of the movement that rose out of a need for more freedom strive for a better and more sustainable future, where Free Software is just a part of a puzzle? I think we should be asking ourselves these questions and seek answers that may help us in bridging the gaps between Free Software and how the ‘four freedoms’ can support fundamental rights. As a civil society actor, I hope the FSFE will be in the lead here for many years to come, including on the side of potential regulatory change in Europe.

• 

  Stian

  I wish for the FSFE to finally cease operations. That is, to say “Our work here is done. All software is now free. Let’s go celebrate!”

Thank you!

Thanks Diego, George, Lucile, Ludmila, Martin, Matti, Polina, Stian, and all FSFE interns during these 20 years. Everyone who uses and develops Free Software, everyone who researches and advocates for Free-Software-related issues, everyone who donates and volunteers in the FSFE, is irreplaceable and takes software freedom a step further.

Related articles

With this article we conclude the celebrations for the twenty years since the founding of the FSFE in 2001. 20 years FSFE was an opportunity to thank everyone who has helped the organisation since the beginning. You might also be interested in the interviews with the founder of the organisation, Georg Greve, the former Financial Officer Reinhard Müller, the founder of the FSF Latin America Fernanda Weiden, or the creator of the Free Your Android campaign Torsten Grote.

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