#ilovefs Report 2017: Love and Activism

On Tuesday 14th of February, the "I Love Free Software" day was celebrated for its seventh consecutive year, in what can now be called a tradition. This day has become a special day for people all around the world to declare their love and affection not only to their partner but also to the whole Free Software community.

The FSFE would like to thank everybody who participated during this year’s #ilovefs campaign. Thank you for taking the time to show your appreciation to the people that make Free Software possible: the developers, designers, testers, translators and projects that work hard every day to preserve our freedoms. And thanks to everybody for your pictures, videos, blogs and news posted during the 14th, before or after. Because of you, the #ilovefs campaign has become an authentic success.

FOSDEM: Find your way into love

The first love signs were shown at FOSDEM in the beginning of February. This year we held again our IloveFS photobooth and many people, (but don't assume only people) posed in front of our camera in order to confess their love for their favourite Free Software projects, colleagues and community contributors (see our full gallery). When we asked them why they love FS, words such as Free Society, Democracy and Freedom were repeatedly written on our black chalkboards. Who said, you cannot love and be wise at the same time?

Love for Mozilla at FOSDEM

In this ambient full of love, we also distributed around 20 IloveFS packages to Free Software projects present at FOSDEM. Each package included a variety of stickers, leaflets, balloons and a paper with creative ideas in order to grant some inspiration to all those considering to participate in this year's celebrations.

Letters 'n' Roses

Roses and letters ready to be delivered to the German Paliament

631 is the number of elected MPs in the German Parliament. This is also the number of letters and flowers that FSFE volunteers and staff prepared and delivered to every single one of them for the IloveFS Day. The main aim was to use this occasion to raise awareness among parliamentarians and invite candidates - in advance of the German elections taking place this autumn - to support Free Software and endorse the idea of "Public Money Public Code". But no, this is not all...

Berlin and Frankfurt love Free Software to bits

The FSFE volunteers, based in Berlin did not stop there! They chose to combine once again political activism with their love for Free Software and spent a night in the streets of Berlin with a light projector and thought-provoking love messages on the German Parliament, the Federal Ministry of Finance, the Berlin Wall and other places of public interest. In the end, even the Berlin Astronaut admitted the universe's love for Free Software.

"Public Money Public Code" projection on the German Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy

On the very same night of the 14th, some Pirates of Hesse also took part in the beamer action and displayed messages of Free Software affection all around Frankfurt.

14th

And finally, the big day has arrived. During Tuesday, 14 February, people all around the world expressed their appreciation to Free Software and the people that make it possible, in many ways, including blog posts, pictures, news items, microblogs and funny memes. Keeping with the cheesy theme, heart-shaped specially decorated chocolates could not be missing from such a day.

@JCR_Internet posting this beautiful We <3 FS graphic

The day was full of love for Free Software projects and developers. For example, Femgeeks wrote about their love for the Lineage OS. The FSF asked people to become each other's cryptovalentines by setting up private and encrypted communication with GnuPG. Others showed their love to GNU/Linux, Ikiwiki and git annex

Also, we were really happy to see that many organisations, coming from different backgrounds and regions, decided to promote the “I love Free Software” campaign from their respective websites. Medialab Prado, in Madrid, organised activities to promote the use of Free Software during the whole day. The artist Elektroll, decided to show his appreciation for Free Software projects with this wonderful artwork. OSB Alliance informed about FSFE's activities and promoted love for Free Software on its page. In general, we would like to thank all the organisations who decided to promote "I Love Free Software" day, like: Ansol, Xarxanet, Punt Tic, Linux Today, Gizlogic and many others. Some Free Software projects took the occasion to send a special ‘thank you’ to their hard working communities, like KDE Spain, The Document Foundation or Framasoft.

Member of the European Parliement, Jan Philipp Albrecht, sending some love to Free Software

Julia Reda, Member of European Parliament, did not miss the chance to show her support for Free Software by calling out Munich to stay with LiMux. Also Green MEP, Jan Philipp Albrecht, posted on twitter about his love for Free Software and the FSFE. In their website GrünDigital, the German Greens expressed their political support for the Free Software community. As did the Pirate Party Hesse, calling for the use of Free Software in public administrations.

Yoda showing #ilovefs

In his blog, FSFE’s president, Matthias Kirschner dedicated his #ilovefs thank you to Free Software contributors in the public administrations. Erik Albers, FSFE's community builder, prepared a blog with nice memes of classic philosophers and their vision on Free Software. While, Max Mehl, our Germany Coordinator, blogged about his new favourite email client, astroid.

We hope all Free Software contributors out there feel even more motivated after this year's #ilovefs day. Our own conclusion? "Build Free Software - Not walls", because in the Free Software world, different languages do not divide us. Instead, our love for freedom unites us all.

We encourage everybody to mark next year's February 14 as "I Love Free Software" day to continue this lovely campaign. Nevertheless, don't forget: each and every day is the perfect day to show your appreciation to Free Software and its contributors, by using, studying, sharing and improving it.

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FSFE Lettre d'information - Mars 2017Les chroniques de LiMux

En février, les nouvelles de LiMux ont bouleversé le monde. LiMux est un projet de la ville de Munich mis en place en 2013. Celui-ci est un des plus beaux exemples d'une administration publique indépendante de ses fournisseurs grâce aux Logiciels Libres. Pendant sa mise en œuvre 15000 ordinateurs (fixe et portable) utilisés par l'administration publique ont été migrés vers du Logiciel Libre.

À la surprise générale, une coalition a très rapidement soumis une motion devant le conseil de la ville demandant la suppression du projet et le retour des solutions propriétaires.

La réponse de la communauté à été immédiate et formidable. Le coordinateur associé pour l'Allemagne, Björn Schießle, décrit ce qui a suivit. Une coalition spéciale a été formée par la FSFE, la Document Foundation, KDE et OSBA, recueillant les questions sur la motion et les processus liés. Des membres du conseil ont été contactés avant l’audience publique et les soutiens de la FSFE en Allemagne et en Autriche ont été invité à s'engager en contactant les politiciens sur cette question. Une couverture médiatique dans de nombreuses langues en a résulté.

Pendant l'audience publique, les participants ont cités certaines de nos questions, et ont admis qu'ils n'avaient jamais reçu autant d'information du public. L'audience a résulté en une motion modifié, votée le 15 février, demandant à l'administration de proposer une stratégie pour l'unification de l'architecture informatique côté client d'ici fin 2020. Celle-ci devant s'appuyer sur un futur client propriétaire et garantir une compatibilité maximale avec les solutions existantes.

La FSFE n'affirme pas que LiMux a résolu tous les problèmes. Cependant, nous affirmons que ces problèmes sont principalement de nature organisationnel et, en tant que tel, déconnecté des questions techniques. L'infrastructure publique doit rester indépendante d'un unique vendeur de logiciel et investir dans les biens communs, fournis par le Logiciel Libre.

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Qu'avons-nous fait d'autres ? Dans et en dehors de la FSFE Pour #IloveFS, André a traduitla chanson "the Free Software song". Après le succés de la réunion pré-FOSDEM de l'année dernière, la FSFE et l'OpenForum Europe ont perpétué la tradition de rassembler les partis prenantes actives du Logiciel Libre durant un événement pré-FOSDEM dédié aux politiques publiques. La réunion de cette année offrait l'opportunité aux citoyens et aux décideurs d'échanger leurs points de vue, sur la base d'information pratique de première main sur le Logiciel Libre dans les politiques publiques. Pour la 16éme année, la FSFE a tenu un stand à au FOSDEM avec de nombreux bénévoles et employés. Reinhard Müller, le coordinateur du stand de la FSFE raconte dans son rapport la merveilleuse atmosphère parmi les bénévoles du stand et la quantité impressionnante de produits et de matériel promotionnel qui a été distribués durant cet événement de deux jours. En 2016, l'Europe a accueillie trois nouvelles organisations pour les projets de Logiciel (et matériel) Libre : Public Software CIC, The Commons Conservancy et le 'Center for the Cultivation of Technology". Constituées pour répondre aux besoin de la communauté, ces toutes nouvelles organisations fournissent, pour les projets qui le souhaitent, une entité juridique pour les donations, la comptabilité, les subventions, la conformité juridique ou même une infrastructure de gouvernance. Ces services administratifs permettent aux projets de se concentrer sur les domaines techniques et communautaires. Agissez

Nous pouvons encore accepter de nouveaux étudiants en stage pour 2017. Si vous étudiez actuellement et que vous devez effectuer un stage pour vos études, ou si vous n'avez pas encore terminé vos études et souhaitez faire un stage volontaire, vous pouvez candidater dès maintenant..

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Si vous voyez une information qui devrait être incluse, faites là nous parvenir. Si vous voulez partager vos pensées, envoyez les nous. L'adresse est toujours newsletter@fsfe.org. Nous avons hâte de recevoir de vos nouvelles !

Merci à tous les bénévoles, soutiens et donateurs qui rendent notre travail possible,

vos éditeurs Olga Gkotsopoulou et Jonas Öberg FSFE

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Freedomvote.nl helps voters compare party positions on digital freedom in upcoming Dutch election

Today FSFE Netherlands, NLnet, ISPConnect, and Open Source & Overheid launch Freedomvote.nl to help inform voters in the upcoming Dutch general election, which is held on 15 March 2017. Freedomvote.nl provides guidance to voters on the topic of digital freedom, based on eight questions.

The website allows voters to compare their political views with those of the parties participating in the election. The questions cover the topics of Free and Open Source Software, open standards, open data, open science, open education, surveillance, net neutrality and software patents. Voters can answer these questions for themselves, save them, and then compare the results with the answers from the political parties. Descriptions are added to all the questions, to provide context.

"Freedomvote fills a gap for the Dutch elections." explains Nico Rikken from FSFE Netherlands. "As only a couple of parties have a formal stance on themes of digital freedom, Freedomvote encourages parties to take a stance, so voters who care about digital freedoms know what they'll be voting for."

Unlike its Swiss predecessor, the Dutch Freedomvote model represents the political parties rather than individual candidates, and thus reflects the strong party orientation in the Netherlands' political system. Freedomvote.nl is based on Free Software source code developed for Freedomvote.ch. Further software improvements are in the works, intended for others wanting to run their own Freedomvote in the future.

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What happened in Munich

On 15 February 2017, the city council of Munich, Germany convened to discuss the future of their LiMux project. In its public session, the plenary voted to have the city administration develop a strategy to unify client-side IT architecture, building atop a yet-to-be-developed "Windows-Basis-Client". A translation of the complete decision is included further down.

The opposing parties were overruled, but the decision was amended such that the strategy document must specify which LiMux-applications will no longer be needed, the extent in which prior investments must be written off, and a rough calculation of the overall costs of the desired unification.

Since this decision was reached, the majority of media have reported that a final call was made to halt LiMux and switch back to Microsoft software. This is, however, not an accurate representation of the outcome of the city council meeting. We studied the available documentation and our impression is that the last word has not been spoken.

We succeeded thus far in forcing the mayor Dieter Reiter (SPD) to postpone the final decision, and this was possible through the unwavering pressure created by joint efforts between The Document Foundation, KDE, OSBA, and the FSFE together with all the individuals who wrote to city council members and took the issue to the media.

Although the mandate is highly suggestive in that it suggests that the existing vendor-neutral approach is to be replaced with a proprietary solution, it leaves the door open; Or are you aware of a commonly-used software standard that ensures maximal compatibility in all directions?

The new mandate buys us some time. And we will keep going.

Background information

What lead to this public hearing on 15 February? In 2014, Dieter Reiter was elected new mayor of Munich. He had referred to himself as "Microsoft fan" even before he took office. He prides himself with having played a major part in the decision to move the Microsoft Germany headquarters to downtown Munich. He started to question the LiMux strategy as soon as his term started, and asked Accenture, a Microsoft partner in the same building as Microsoft, to analyse Munich's IT infrastructure. The report can be found here (German). It's noteworthy that in their report, the analysts identify primarily organisational issues at the root of the problems troubling LiMux uptake, rather than technical challenges.

The coalition of SPD and CSU filed a surprise motion with minimal lead time before the city council, with the goal to put LiMux to rest once and for all.

Our reaction

Given the importance of this matter, an ad-hoc coalition of The Document Foundation, KDE, OSBA, and the FSFE collected questions about this motion (German), as well as the processes that lead up to it. We reached out to all members of the city council prior to the public hearing. Additionally, we sent a call for action (German) to all our supporters in Germany and Austria, asking them to get in contact with politicians on this issue. The reaction was phenomenal. During the public hearing, politicians quoted some of our question, and said that they had never received as much input from the public before.

Thank you everyone who made this happen!

We also generated quite a bit of press coverage this way, not only in Germany, but also in other parts of the world. An incomplete list of press coverage can be found here. Please share with us any additional material you might know about.

Conclusion

LiMux suffered from organisational problems, including lack of clear structures and responsibilities, which the Accenture report also makes clear. These are independent from the software used on client machines, and switching operating systems will not solve them.

LiMux as such is still one of the best examples of how to create a vendor-neutral administration based on Free Software. The project was started 13 years ago when the city had to replace their no longer supported Windows NT4 workstations. Since then, they migrated 15.000 workplaces to vendor-neutral Free Software solutions, and Open-Standard-based file formats, supported by local IT companies. Overall this initiative displays not only a successful move to more independence, but also serves as role model of how to strengthen the local IT industry. By solving the organisational problems only, Munich could continue to successfully foster not only an independent administration but also a strong and healthy IT landscape.

Our goal

We understand that LiMux has not solved all problems, but we maintain that the root of the problems are of organisational nature, and thus must not be confounded with the technical choices.

Public infrastructure must stay independent of singular commercial interests, that are known to stifle innovation. Free Software provides the unique opportunity to invest into common assets and benefit from everyone else's contributions, while staying in control of what gets deployed, and when. Local service providers operating in healthy competition boost the local economy and ensure best use of tax payers' money.

We also note that the trend moves away from client-side operation to more centralised infrastructures, which operating-system-independent use across multiple devices and users' browsers of choice. It may turn out best for LiMux to adjust its focus, while the vendor-neutral strategy must prevail.

The modified motion, as passed on 15 February

The following conclusion was reached (overruling the opposition by Die Grünen - rosa liste, BAYERNPARTEI Stadtratsfraktion, Freiheitsrechte, Transparenz und Bürgerbeteiligung, ÖDP, DIE LINKE, LKR und BIA):

The motion filed before the plenum by SPD and CSU shall have its section 6b (new) extended, as shown between the *** markers:

"The administration shall without delay propose a strategy how to unify the city's client-side IT architecture by 2020-12-31, building on a yet-to-be-developed 'Windows-Basis-Client'. Baseline functionality (word processing, spreadsheets, presentation software, PDF reading, e-mail client and Web browser) needs to be provided by commonly-used, standard products, which must guarantee maximal compatibility with existing internal and external processes, as well as other software infrastructure (such as SAP).

*** The strategy must be clear on which applications on LiMux-Basis will no longer be needed. The city council is to be informed on the extent that this requires write-offs of prior investments. Furthermore, a rough budget to illustrate the costs associated with the unification is to be presented. The city council will then make a final decision. ***

Throughout the transition, the various departments are free to deploy the new, unified solution building on the 'Windows-Basis-Client', or continue using their existing, multi-tier (Window/LiMux) solution, depending on technical status.

Strategic goal must remain that administrative tools shall be usable independently of the client-side operating system (e.g. web apps, virtualisation, remote desktop services)."

The original decision is only available in German and can be found here, augmenting the original motion.

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European Commission responds to the FSFE's information request for Horizon 2020

The European Commission Directorate-General for Research and Innovation responds to a Freedom of Information (FOI) request about the use, development and release of software under Horizon 2020 - submitted by the FSFE on January 9, 2017.

With this FOI request, the FSFE directly aimed at shedding light on how much money is spent on the use and purchase of proprietary software licences through the Horizon 2020 funding for the beneficiary projects. Respectively, it intended to figure if and what kind of data is collected, apropos of Free Software licences. The FOI request followed the publication of the FSFE's position paper for the endorsement of Free Software and Open Standards in Horizon 2020 and all publicly-funded research.

However, the response by the Commission revealed that no information is being collected on how the EU funds are being spent, when it comes to the software used and developed by the beneficiary projects within Horizon 2020:

"[...] we checked if the requested information existed and the competent Commission services informed us that the European Commission does not systematically collect information about open source software used or developed under Horizon 2020 grants, as this is not a reporting requirement in the Horizon 2020 legal basis. Consequently we are not in a position to provide you the information that you are looking for. The same applies to data concerning Horizon 2020 projects paying licence fees for software or developing software on their own."

Breaking down the EC's reply

The EC is justifying the lack of information with the argument that "it is not legally mandatory" to collect data concerning the use and acquisition of software licences.

According to the Article 14(1) of the Regulation (EU) No 1291/2013 establishing Horizon 2020, particular attention in the framework shall be paid to the development and application of key enabling and industrial technologies as well as future and emerging technologies; and shall contribute to the Digital Agenda for Europe initiative. Regarding this particular point, the interim evaluation of Horizon 2020 shall assess the efficiency and use of resources, with particular attention to cross-cutting issues and other elements referred in the Article 14(1). Software is no doubt falling under all of the points that Horizon 2020 is supposed to focus on when it comes to both industrial and emerging technologies, as well as part of the Digital Agenda for Europe. The absence of monitoring the use of resources Horizon 2020 projects are allocating to the use and development of software in Research and Innovation will not allow to assess the efficiency and use of resources of Horizon 2020 in its Interim evaluation.

Indeed, in the first Annual Monitoring Report 2014 which focuses on the implementation of the first year of the programme, information regarding the share of EU financial contribution to the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Research and Innovation was missing. According to the second report for 2015, however, preliminary data show that over one fifth of the EU funding in Horizon 2020 contributes to ICT Research and Innovation.

What "no information" means for Free Software and Open Science

The absence of data about the use of software within Horizon 2020 beneficiary projects makes almost impossible the accurate estimation of the amount of both proprietary and Free Software, being used or developed under Horizon 2020 grants.

Taking into consideration the fact that nowadays, scientists irrespective of their field of study depend on software in order to successfully conduct their research, it is indisputable that almost every beneficiary project spends a considerable amount of the hand-out grant in the purchase of software licences. The fact that the EC does not collect data on the spending of public money for software licences disregards an essential part of the modern research.

Consequently, without relevant data, Horizon 2020 monitoring and evaluation processes cannot draw safe conclusions. Critical factors, such as the re-use of software being developed with Horizon 2020 funding, or the costs for re-purchasing the same licences cannot be scrutinized and therefore, cannot lead decision-makers to optimised funding solutions. Albeit, the most significant complication is the fact that the EC is not in position to prove with a degree of certainty that Open Access and subsequently Open Science, two of the Horizon 2020 most fundamental principles, are implemented in practice. As already argued in the FSFE's recent position paper, Open Science can neither be achieved nor be sustainable in long-term without Free Software being its chief constituent.

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