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.
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[ 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 "Freedom to
Leave<http://docs.google.com/View?docid=dhb29vwq_3dzb2cs>",
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
http://documentfreedom.org/Who
The list of DFD teams is available at
http://documentfreedom.org/Category:Teams
Further information:
http://documentfreedom.org
Contact:
contact(a)documentfreedom.org
Graham Taylor graham(a)openforumeurope.org
Ivan Jelic jelic(a)fsfeurope.org
Kerri Catallozzi kcatallo(a)redhat.com
Marino Marcich mmarcich(a)odfalliance.org
Marko Milenovic milenovic(a)fsfeurope.org
Terri Molini terri.molini(a)sun.com
FSFLA info(a)fsfla.org
