Hi Folks, Software Freedom Day is coming up later this year. Mark it in your diaries! Ben Celebrating Software Freedom in Melbourne ----------------------------------------- Media Release: 30 May 2010 Software Freedom Day Melbourne Saturday 18 September 2010 10am–4pm at State Library of Victoria Free of charge Software Freedom Day is an event held all over the world to celebrate and raise awareness of free software and open source software. Software Freedom Day Melbourne is on Saturday 18 September 2010, 10am–4pm at the State Library of Victoria. “Our vision is to empower all people to freely connect, create and share in a digital world that is participatory, transparent, and sustainable.” — Software Freedom Day vision statement The day will feature a wide selection of inspiring presentations and interactive workshops. We welcome participants of all ages or experience levels. Many software-related community groups will also be exhibiting their projects. This is a great way to meet others and learn a little more about these important issues. Topics for the day include: - an introduction to free software - installing GNU/Linux and how to use free software programs - community knowledge and data projects such as Wikipedia and OpenStreetMap - social problems such as software patents and digital restrictions management (DRM) - public-standard formats such as OpenDocument - hardware hacking with Arduino - Creative Commons licensing to promote sharing and reuse This is a free of charge event. Put the date it your diary. We look forward to seeing you there! For more information, visit http://www.softwarefreedomday.org/melb. Who runs Software Freedom Day Melbourne? ---------------------------------------- This is a community event, run by committee of volunteers interested in free software, open source software and general freedom for computer users. The event is coordinated by members of Linux Users Victoria. We greatly appreciate the generous support of VicNet and the State Library of Victoria. What is free software and open source software? ----------------------------------------------- Free software and open source software are two distinct community movements. Both movements agree that we should be able to: use software for any purpose, study how it works, modify it to suit your needs and distribute copies. The open source movement reason that this provides pragmatic benefits, such as more reliable software. The free software movement cites ethical benefits, such as freedom to control your own computing. While these movements differ in philosophy, they are good friends.