Since my blogging habit have become more erratic of late I have forgotten to write about stuff that happens. Sorry about this. One important event is the release of the final draft of the GPLv3.
What follows is a brief period for commenting then the draft will get the final and official form and go live.
More info at: FSF official page or Ciaran’s blog (FSFE).
Thanks to Personal Notes for the reminder…
This is really cool. Richard Stallman will be giving a lecture in Göteborg in May.
The Free Software Foundation Europe and Göteborg University are pleased to invite you to a lecture with Dr. Richard Stallman:
Free Software and Beyond: Human Rights in the Use of Software and Other Published Works
Dr. Richard Stallman will speak about the goals and philosophy of the Free Software Movement: defending essential freedoms for the users of software. In addition, he will address how the ideas of free software do or don’t extend to other kinds of published works. He will also explain what the Pirate Party must change in its program to avoid unintended negative consequences in the software field.
Dr. Stallman is the founder of the GNU project and president of the Free Software Foundation. He has received an honorary doctorate from the Royal Institute of Technology, the University of Glasgow, Free University of Brussels and Universidad Nacional de Salta. In 1990, he was the receiver of a Macarthur foundation fellowship and has been elected member of the US National Academy of Engineering and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
The lecture will take place at:
University Aula
Göteborg University
Vasaparken
Göteborg, Sweden
May 16th
From 5pm to 8pm
While the lecture is a public event, and we invite you to forward this invitation to whomever you feel might be interested, we kindly request that in order to participate, you register via http://www.rms2007.se/registrering
The blog Bad Vista puts a nice perspective on the difference in attitude between free and proprietary software:
As the GPL preamble says:
The licenses for most software and other practical works are designed to take away your freedom to share and change the works. By contrast, the GNU General Public License is intended to guarantee your freedom to share and change free software–to make sure the software is free for all its users.
In contrast, a typical Microsoft Vista EULA says:
The software is licensed, not sold. This agreement only gives you some rights to use the software. Microsoft reserves all other rights. Unless applicable law gives you more rights despite this limitation, you may use the software only as expressly permitted in this agreement. In doing so, you must comply with any technical limitations in the software that only allow you to use it in certain ways.
See the difference in attitude?
The third draft of the GPLv3 has been released. The draft is a result of feedback from various sources (general public, official discussion committees, and two international conferences held in India and Japan). The draft incorporates significant changes since the previous draft (July 2006). This draft is planned to be the penultimate draft prior to the formal release of the official GPLv3.
Changes in this draft include:
* First-time violators can have their license automatically restored if they remedy the problem within thirty days.
* License compatibility terms have been simplified, with the goal of making them easier to understand and administer.
* Manufacturers who include the software in consumer products must also provide installation information for the software along with the source. This change provides more narrow focus for requirements that were proposed in previous drafts.
* New patent requirements have been added to prevent distributors from colluding with patent holders to provide discriminatory protection from patents.
The draft will be open for comments and discussion for sixty days. Following this the FSF will release a “last call” draft, followed by another thirty days for discussion before the FSF’s board of directors approves the final text of GPL version 3.
Richard Stallman, president of the FSF and principal author of the GNU GPL, said, “The GPL was designed to ensure that all users of a program receive the four essential freedoms which define free software. These freedoms allow you to run the program as you see fit, study and adapt it for your own purposes, redistribute copies to help your neighbor, and release your improvements to the public. The recent patent agreement between Microsoft and Novell aims to undermine these freedoms. In this draft we have worked hard to prevent such deals from making a mockery of free software.”
The work on version three of the GNU General Public License (Wikipedia) is moving along nicely. A news update on the progress reads:
The second discussion draft of GPLv3 was released eight months ago, in July 2006. We had never planned to let so much time pass between public releases of the license. We felt it was important to fully discuss a few specific issues, including the recent patent deal between Novell and Microsoft, before proceeding with the process. A new discussion draft will be released on March 28 at 10:00 AM US Eastern time; it represents the outcome of those discussions, and the rationale document that will accompany it explains how we arrived at these decisions. However, we remain absolutely committed to hearing input from as much of the free software community as possible before publishing a final version of the license. We are adjusting the drafting process to make sure that everyone interested has an opportunity to make their voice heard.
The third discussion draft will be open for comment for sixty days. Based on the feedback we receive during this window, we may publish new language from time to time for additional review. For example, if someone points out a side effect of some term that we hadn’t considered before, we may publish updated text for that section aimed at addressing the issue. These changes will be announced on the GPLv3 web site and mailing list.
We will continue to take feedback from public comments and discussion committees as before. In addition, if there are common questions about the license, we will address those in blog posts on the GPLv3 web site. Our goal is not to preempt discussion or criticism of the draft, but rather to enhance that discussion by helping the community fully understand the text. We are also considering other ways to solicit input, which we will announce as they are planned.
After this discussion period is over, we will publish a last call draft. That draft will be open for comment for thirty days, and the final license will be published shortly afterwards. We would like to thank everyone for their continued support during this process, and their assistance as we work to make the our licenses the best they can be.
Read more about the GPLv3 and the progression of its development at the GPLv3 site.
The Bad Vista blog has an interesting post about Dell. Apparently the company is looking for ideas how they can improve their systems. Besides letting them know which hardware they should have, Bad Vista recommends letting them know that selling their computers with preinstalled with free software, or without any operating system would be a way of promoting freedom.
You can go here to propose your idea and to vote for ideas you support. If you register an account with them, your vote counts for 10 anonymous votes.
Bad Vista also has created a nice t-shirt on Cafe Press
Yesterday included a six hour train ride from Stockholm and back again. The point was to go meet some people and organise my visa for the Indian trip next week. Today was another six hours on the train. This time it was off to Linköping to give a Creative Commons presentation. The journey was with Jonas �berg who was presenting the third draft of the GPLv3 which is about to be officially released in a matter of hours.
Interesting stuff and an enthusiastic audience made the brief stay in Linköping worthwhile. Unfortunately the last train home left at 8pm so we were pressed for time.
On the train home and I have just bugged Jonas to put his presentation online – download the pdf here.
For a long time the dominant player in the personal computer market has been Microsoft. This has created a de facto standard among users who have come to expect and tolerate certain technological standards (and flaws) from their computers. One of the results of this dominance, among computer users, is the usersâ?? ability to praise diversity in principle but expect conformity from their computers.
If we all use the same tools we will produce the same limited range of products. Naturally there is a great variation within these products but still it is a freedom with limitations. One example of this is our perception of learning â?? at many (most?) universities today, when we say the word lecture most students and teachers think powerpoint. Therefore education becomes bullet-point lists. (more on powerpoint/eductation here: Do you hand out your handouts?).
But there is a technological resistance. Not to Microsoft. But a resistance to the current software ownership models which make it impossible (legally and sometimes technically) for users to
Run their software for any purpose
Study and adapt software to their needs
Redistribute, so others can be helped by such adaptions
Release improvements to the benefit of all
These four points are collectively known as the Four Freedoms and form the fundamental philosophy of the Free Software Foundation. The FSF works to provide software that fulfills such conditions.
Now many users argue that they are not competent to make changes to their software and therefore do not see the purpose of caring about such goals. This is a shortsighted outlook. The Four Freedoms grant others the ability to make changes. As non-techies all we have to do is reap the rewards of their labour. But without the freedom for them to make changes â?? we would have no rewards to reap.
Examples of Free Software are too numerous to list. But here are a few: Gnu/Linux operating system (comes in many different versions for example Ubuntu), Firefox (an internet browser), Thunderbird (an email client), GIMP (picture editing tool), Open Office (Office package with all you need), WordPress (the software that drives this blog) and much, much moreâ?¦
The software is free (fulfills the four freedoms) and is available at no cost. This is technology AS resistance.
The Free Software Foundation has launched a new campaign called BadVista (www.badvista.org). The campaign has two gaols (1) to expose the harms inflicted on computer users by the new Microsoft Windows Vista and (2) to promote free software alternatives that respect users’ security and privacy rights.
The part about Vista which bugs me is that Microsoft is attempting to sell this as something new. But from the users point of view there is nothing really new here. Vista is actually all about control: firstly, Microsoft’s control over users and secondly, the support department’s control over the customers/clients/users. For the cost at which Microsoft is selling it you would think that Vista would flop. But if you believe that you have forgotten about Microsoft’s tradition of marketing by FUD (playing on the Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt of the users).
FSF program administrator John Sullivan writes: “Vista is an upsell masquerading as an upgrade. It is an overall regression when you look at the most important aspect of owning and using a computer: your control over what it does. Obviously MS Windows is already proprietary and very restrictive, and well worth rejecting. But the new ‘features’ in Vista are a Trojan Horse to smuggle in even more restrictions. We’ll be focusing attention on detailing how they work, how to resist them, and why people should care.”
I think that the BadVista campaign will provide interesting reading… for those of you who want to catch up on Vista and its problems here are some related Vista articles
FIN24, Windows Vista: Fact or Fiction, 15 December 2006
eWeek, Vista, why bother?, 14 December 2006
CRN Test Center – CRN, 25 Shortcomings Of Vista , 4 December 2006
Tomorrow itâ??s back on the rails again. I am off to Stockholm to meet family and then to do some work early on Monday. The three-hour trip to Stockholm is becoming a very common occurrence lately but I donâ??t mind I enjoy train travel. Also the train has power outlets at all seats and wifi. All this means that I can surf while traveling at 200 km/hour.
On Monday I shall meet with people from Solidaritetshuset (Solidarity House) to discuss how the FSFE can help with their plans for holding seminars and training courses in Free Software and developing an open archive for their material.