[Discussioni] Introducing Document Freedom Day - 26 March: A global day for document liberation

[Francesco Potorti`]

------- Start of forwarded message -------
[ 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 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