Re: Education pages on fsfeurope.org

[Christian Selig]

Hello all,

it seems that the guy who cooperates on the newopenness.de with me has
forgotten to pay the bill, so I won't have proper mail access till, at
least, Monday. Anyway, I can read your replies through the archives, so
I'll answer in a "batched" way. I'm very sorry for this inconvient
method, but it will be only temporary.

Jean Peyratout wrote:
> Do you want a French adaptation ? 
> Feel free to send me the file(s) you want me to tranlate.

When we are sure what the content should be, translations can start. So
please be patient :-)

Richard Smedley wrote:
> Could you put the UK's effort on the list
> OSiE (Open Source in Education)
> http://sourceforge.net/projects/osie
> (draft site up at:
> http://osie.sourceforge.net/dynamic/osieweb/
> )

I can, but someone will surely complain about the term "open source".
What do you (all on this list) think?

> I'll have a think about content. Education will probably highlight
> quite a few differences between European countries (well certainly
> with regard to the UK anyway...  =^/ 

Yep, the biggest problem with education in Europe is that it's very
divergent.

Hilaire Fernandes wrote:
> I do not think it is wise citing in a FSF page organizations promoting
> the value of non free software.
> This may look rude but we have no choice otherwise we may
> look like fool.

Yep. At least if we do so, we should clearly state our position on their
position (see below).

> Therefore I want to suggest you to remove the  "Freie Software und Bildung 
> e.V." link
> or ask them to change their policy concerning the promotion of non
> free software. In some case non-free software are promoted instead
> of free software  (This is the case with the non-free geometry software
> Cinderella when there are several free alternatives (DrGeo, Kseg, Keuclide 
> and DrGenius))

As a member of the FSuB, I have to clarify the position. Most members
are very conscious about the importance and the value of Free Software.
But there are still some gaps, especially concerning educational
software which some members think have to be filled with non-free
software. In the case of Cinderella, you are surely right. The page's
author should be informed (I have Cc'd him). Perhaps the pages should
also _clearly_ indicate wether a software package is free or not.

Would it be okay to put a notice on our pages that we appreciate the
effort of promoting GNU/Linux, but do not endorse the FSuB's acceptance
of proprietary software on free platforms?
Same for the OSIE, stating that we support the idea but that we think
the term "Open Source" is inappropriate (link to gnu.org/philsophy/...)?

Bye,
  Christian