The site includes more than 6,500 free and open source software (FOSS) programs for users to download, run and share. According to the FSF, each entry in the Directory is individually checked and tested so that users can be assured that any program they find there "will be free software with free documentation and without proprietary software requirements".
Read more »FSF relaunches its free software directory
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Who Will Lead Free Software in the Future?
What, I wondered, happens when Stallman no longer leads? Will new intellectual leaders emerge, or will free software be limited to a single generation?
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Over 1000 sign the petition asking This American Life to use Ogg Vorbis
In late July, This American Life aired an episode titled "When Patents Attack!" that reported on some of the problems that software patents cause developers and businesses. It introduced the subject to new audiences in a compelling way, so we wrote to them to thank them for their excellent reporting.
Read more »Fall internship positions are still open at the FSF—apply today!
The FSF has internships available in campaigns, licensing, and system administration. Come help us advance and promote free software while gaining valuable work experience.
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After TAL's great episode on software patents, petition them to help out by using Ogg Vorbis!
This American Life's recent episode "When Patents Attack!" brought much new awareness to the problems that software patents and patent trolls create. So it's ironic that the show is only available in the patent-encumbered MP3 format. Sign the petition asking them to help be part of the solution by using Ogg Vorbis!
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FSFE Fellowship interview with Richard Shipman
Richard Shipman, Teaching Fellow at the Computer Science department of Aberystwyth University, has extensive experience of working with Free Software and discussing its strengths and weaknesses with others.
Read more »Android GPLv2 termination worries: one more reason to upgrade to GPLv3
Distributors lose their rights when they violate GPLv2, but the Free Software Foundation is more forgiving in its license enforcement to encourage continued participation in the free software community. GPLv3 has improved termination provisions to codify this approach, giving developers one more reason to upgrade.
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FSF: Statement on OpenOffice.org's move to Apache
When OpenOffice.org moves to a non-copyleft license, there's a ready replacement for people who want a productivity suite that does more to protect their freedom: LibreOffice.
Read more »Two new projects can help free software replace Skype
GNU Free Call and WebRTC are both building frameworks that stand to make Skype obsolete. Skype has been in the news a lot lately: Microsoft agreed to buy the company, their network has gone down twice recently, and they're threatening to take unspecified action against developers who try to write free software to make calls on their system.
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Behind the scenes of the new GNU mailing list server
The GNU list server is a monster machine serving lists.gnu.org, lists.nongnu.org and a few other domains. Every day, it spools out over 1 million messages for 2700 mailing lists. Until April 11, our venerable list server was an 8-year old Fedora Core 2 (!) box equipped with 6 high-speed SCSI drives organized in two RAID packs to maximize I/O bandwidth.
Read more »Announcing our license recommendations guide
Today I'm happy to share something we've been working on for a little while: “How to choose a license for your own work” is a comprehensive set of license recommendations for new projects. This page explains what factors are important to consider when making licensing decisions, and suggests specific licenses for different scenarios.
Read more »Fellowship interview with Florian Effenberger
Florian Effenberger has been a Free Software evangelist for many years. Pro bono, he is founding member and part of the Steering Committee at The Document Foundation. He has previously been active in the OpenOffice.org project for seven years, most recently as Marketing Project Lead.
Read more »Outcry leads to 200 bricks ordered and reprehensible Nintendo response
In a little over a week, we surpassed our goal of taking 200 brick orders for Nintendo, to protest their claim that they have the right to "brick" (disable) users' devices when used outside of Nintendo's outrageous Terms of Service.
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Parabola GNU/Linux joins the FSF list of free distributions
Parabola GNU/Linux is a full featured general-purpose distribution that's committed to only including free software. Parabola strives to keep its packaging and management tools as simple as possible, so that users have plenty of flexibility to install and configure the system to their liking.
Read more »Microsoft Skype
People who focus on minor issues are greatly exercized about the purchase of Skype by Microsoft. How will this affect the success of Skype's spyware, they ask? Was it good strategy for one or the other? Did Microsoft pay too much? How does this affect the possible success of this or that other company?
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