[Foundation-l] Document Freedom Day announced for 26 March 2008

[Brianna Laugher]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Georg C. F. Greve <greve at fsfeurope.org>
Date: 21 Feb 2008 02:52
Subject: [Icommons] Document Freedom Day announced for 26 March 2008
To: icommons at lists.ibiblio.org


FYI - the following went out today.

 [ 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,
 OpenDocument 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" [*], it's fundamental in the
 emerging market for people to be free to use any software they desire to
 handle their data. I fully support the goals of Document Freedom."
 [*] http://docs.google.com/View?docid=dhb29vwq_3dzb2cs

 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 today
 and 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 the 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 at documentfreedom.org

  Graham Taylor      graham at openforumeurope.org
  Ivan Jelic         jelic at fsfeurope.org
  Kerri Catallozzi   kcatallo at redhat.com
  Marino Marcich     mmarcich at odfalliance.org
  Marko Milenovic    milenovic at fsfeurope.org
  Terri Molini       terri.molini at sun.com
  FSFLA              info at fsfla.org


 --
 Georg C. F. Greve                                 <greve at fsfeurope.org>
 Free Software Foundation Europe                  (http://fsfeurope.org)
 Join the Fellowship and protect your freedom!     (http://www.fsfe.org)


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