[en] Introducing Document Freedom Day

[info en fsfla.org]

[ 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


== About FSFLA

FSFLA joined in 2005 the FSF network, previously formed by Free
Software Foundations in the United States, in Europe and in India.
These sister organizations work in their corresponding geographies
towards promoting the same Free Software ideals and defending the same
freedoms for software users and developers, working locally but
cooperating globally.  For more information about FSFLA and to
contribute to our work, visit our web site at http://www.fsfla.org or
write to info en fsfla.org.  To join our workgroup on Free Open
Standards, subscribe:
http://www.fsfla.org/mailman/listinfo/stdlib