September 2025 - SFD-discuss - lists.mailman3.com

Design the Software Freedom Day 2025 Mascot with Free Software – Huion Challenge now open!
by LM Oct. 26, 2025

Oct. 26, 2025

Greetings. Do you love creating with Free,Libre, Open Source Software (FLOSS)? Here’s your chance to show the world what digital freedom looks like: help us design the official Software Freedom Day (SFD) 2025 mascot--built entirely with FLOSS tools and released under CC BY-SA 4.0 or CC BY 4.0. Whether you model in Blender or paint in Krita, 2-D or 3-D is welcome. --- What’s in it for you? --- Huion is back with fantastic prizes for the top entries: 1 - Kamvas Pro 16 (4K) pen-display 2 - Kamvas Pro 12 pen-display 3 - 2 × Inspiroy Frego M tablets --- How to take part --- 1. Create your mascot in any FLOSS graphics tool (Krita, GIMP, Inkscape, Blender, MyPaint, ...). 2. Add a short back-story (≤ 1000 characters). 3. Submit both the source file (.kra/.xcf/.svg/.blend…) and a web-ready image (.png/.jpg, 1920 × 1080). 4. Make sure your work is licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 or CC BY 4.0. 5. Deadline: 20 October 2025. One entry per person, worldwide. --- Need inspiration? --- Last year Janka (Hungary) soared to first prize with a Krita painting, while Deffy (USA) wowed us with a Blender animation and Yue Xin (Malaysia) lit up the canvas in Krita. Their success shows how powerful - and fun - FLOSS creativity can be! --- Why join? --- * Celebrate software freedom and show what’s possible without proprietary constraints. * Get international exposure and feedback from the FLOSS community. * Win Huion hardware to push your art even further. --- Your mission right now --- Forward this challenge to all your creative friends! More entries mean a richer, more colourful mascot showcase for everyone. Thanks for spreading the word and for championing free software creativity. Happy drawing--and good luck! Free-spirited regards, Jurgen, Jan, Chris, Mostafa, Marcos, Ruwan, Laura Digital Freedom Foundation Board

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Seeking Advice for Organizing SFD in Syria (Aleppo)
by Fares Alkhaled Sept. 30, 2025

Sept. 30, 2025

Hello SFD Community, My name is Fares, I’m based in Aleppo, Syria, and I’m currently working on coordinating a Software Freedom Day event here. This will be one of the first SFD events of its kind in Aleppo, and I’m really excited about the opportunity to bring people together around free and open-source software. The event is planned to include four main activities: 1. *Technical Talks* – on digital freedom, open-source software, and their role in developing both the technical and civil society sectors. 2. *Interactive Exhibition* – showcasing open-source software across different sectors. 3. *Support Corner* – offering technical help to install FOSS software from the exhibition and providing guidance for visitors. 4. *Hackathon* – where young people can participate in solving 3–4 technical challenges using open-source tools, with clear participation rules. Right now, the main challenge I’m facing is finding a suitable venue. I’ve been looking for theaters or halls that can host the event, but so far it’s been difficult. Because of this, I may need to push the date to October 2nd instead of the official day. I’d love to hear your advice on: 1. *Program design* – What have you found most effective in engaging participants and keeping the energy high across multiple activities in a single-day event? 2. *Maximizing local impact* – From your experience, what strategies can help make SFD more meaningful in regions where the FOSS community is still in its early stages? 3. *Flexibility* – If I cannot secure a large hall, what creative approaches (smaller venues, hybrid formats, outdoor spaces, etc.) have worked for you? I want this to be a strong and inspiring start for the FOSS community in Syria, and I’d be grateful to learn from your experiences. Thank you in advance for your support and guidance. Best regards, Fares Aleppo, Syria

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Register your events
by Jurgen Gaeremyn (Digital Freedoms) Sept. 30, 2025

Sept. 30, 2025

Hey all, have bumped into two Software Freedom Day events that happened, just by coincidence... that weren't registered on our map. If we want to make a stand that Software Freedom (and our digital freedoms in general) is important for our global society... it's essential that we collect as many events as possible. Still planning an event? Don't hesitate to put it on the map too! Having trouble registering your event? Please get in touch with me, and I'll be happy to help you out. Greetings, Jurgen

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5 days and counting
by LM Sept. 29, 2025

Sept. 29, 2025

Only 5 days left until Software Freedom Day 2025. Is your event on the map? If not, now's the time to add it: https://digitalfreedoms.org/en/sfd/archive?view=list Today's Free Software sharing topic, what's your favorite FLOSS media player? Do you prefer vlc, mplayer, mpc, xine, smplayer, kodi? Have another program you'd recommend? Have a great Software Freedom Day 2025.

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Thank You
by LM Sept. 21, 2025

Sept. 21, 2025

I wanted to thank everyone who helped make #SoftwareFreedomDay2025 a success this year. We couldn't have done this without you. We had 61 events, up from last year's 55. We even have some scheduled for later this year. There were more virtual options than ever before. You'll find highlights and recordings here: https://digitalfreedoms.org/en/sfd/blog/software-freedom-day-2025-whats-goi… Hope you'll join us for our next event #DocumentFreedomDay2026 in March, 2026.

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Please share your multimedia
by LM Sept. 20, 2025

Sept. 20, 2025

Want to save your graphics, presentations, videos, posters or other memorabilia from your #SoftwareFreedomDay2025 event for posterity? Consider sharing them to the Wikimedia Commons! https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Software_Freedom_Day Thanks to Marado for this great idea: As an added benefit, there are no paywalls or logins required to view them. Hope everyone is having an enjoyable Software Freedom Day 2025.

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Happy Software Freedom Day 2025
by LM Sept. 20, 2025

Sept. 20, 2025

Happy Software Freedom Day 2025. Hope you've found a celebration in your area to attend. If not, there are a few online events today including one I'm hosting. See the DFF blog posts for links to virtual events and recorded talks and all the latest news on Software Freedom Day 2025: https://digitalfreedoms.org/en/sfd/blog/software-freedom-day-2025-whats-goi… You can find some of us on matrix on the #SoftwareFreedomDay channel if you want to live chat or ask questions. Please let us know how your celebrations are going. Let us know if you have any blog posts or recordings or videos to share of your event and we'll add them to our page. Hope you have fun today. On behalf of the board of the Digital Freedom Foundation, have a great Software Freedom Day 2025! Best wishes. Laura

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Tomorrow is Software Freedom Day 2025
by LM Sept. 19, 2025

Sept. 19, 2025

It's almost here. Just one more day and then Software Freedom Day 2025 will kick off all around the world in different time zones. Be sure to keep tabs on our blog page with highlights to get the latest news about Software Freedom Day: https://digitalfreedoms.org/en/sfd/blog/software-freedom-day-2025-whats-goi… I'll be summarizing resources and event news on that page. I'll also be tracking Mastodon, BlueSky and the other social media outlets where the DFF has accounts and boosting #SFD2025 posts. You can also check out #SoftwareFreedomDay on matrix if you want to chat with others live. If you have any virtual events or anything you'd like to share online, please let me know. I'd like to get the word out on those so people everywhere can participate. I'm summarizing virtual events on the blog page in hopes that we can reach more people and give people without a local Software Freedom Day event a chance to celebrate with us. Also, if you make recordings of any panels or talks, please send the links so I can share them as well. My last question on favorite software for the countdown, what are your favorite sites that list Free, Libre and Open Source software available to anyone? It could be a specialized list on a particular topic or a site that lists what you can use in place of commercial programs. What Free Software recommendation sites or web pages do you recommend to new (or experienced) users? Here are some I like to share: Libre Projects is an older list but a good starting point to introduce newcomers to Free Software when they can't install programs on their own systems. https://libreprojects.net/ PortableApps is my favorite site to introduce Windows users to the benefits of Free Software. Extra bonus, these programs avoid the Windows registry and you don't need to be an administrator on a Windows system to run them. http://portableapps.com/ Here's my list of educational games: https://codeberg.org/lmemsm/delightful-educational-games Some of them can even be played online. F-droid's a wonderful resource for Free Software for phones. Unlike smart phones with commercial apps stores, you can even create your own F-droid repository. Thought I'd highlight this repository which adds even more app choices to F-droid: https://apt.izzysoft.de/fdroid/ There were even some articles on removing more proprietary software from Android phones at the izzysoft.de site. How can I not mention the K.Mandla blog which is the place to go to find lightweight software that works well on older computers? https://kmandla.wordpress.com/software/ Plus, the great Inconsolation site by the same author: https://inconsolation.wordpress.com/index/ Don't forget sites like https://alternativeto.net/ I'll be sharing my own list of favorites at my Software Freedom Day event. Have you created your own lists or do you have sites that you recommend when you want to share Free Software with others? Please share your favorite Free Software lists. Have a wonderful Software Freedom Day 2025. If you have any last minute questions or want to find events or share resources with others, feel free to reach out to us. Best wishes. Laura

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virtual SFD 2025 from NOSK
by LM Sept. 19, 2025

Sept. 19, 2025

An opening talk for SoftwareFreedomDay2025 will be delivered virtually by none other than our own Jurgen Gaeremyn, DFF Board member and FreeSoftware advocate. Register for the Software Freedom Day 2025 Virtual Edition from NOSK to attend: https://luma.com/e1gz9zpy #SFD2025

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2 days and counting
by LM Sept. 18, 2025

Sept. 18, 2025

Free Software is a great resource in an emergency. You can freely give copies of the software to anyone who needs it. You have the source code, so you can modify it for your specific needs if it doesn't quite do the job. Here's the list I put together for Hardware Freedom Day for Open Hardware and Free Software that could be useful in an emergency or during a power outage: https://codeberg.org/lmemsm/delightful-off-grid-open-tech I would love to hear your suggestions for useful Free Software to have in an emergency. Do you know of other useful lists of FLOSS for emergency situations? Please share the links. Also, if you have any other suggestions (Free/Open hardware, software, etc.) that I can add to my Off Grid Open Tech list, please let me know. Have a great Software Freedom Day 2025 and be safe. Sincerely, Laura

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