Euro Elections 2009
Resources
- list of MEP candidate contact details
- 2004 Euro letter to candidates on software patents
- anti-swpat resources
- Free Software Pact
Letter
Dear <candidate name>,
We are writing to you on behalf of free software users in the <region> Euro region. Free software is a growing movement with over twenty years of history, and refers not to price, but to freedom - it is software which allows its users to see how it works, make changes and share those changes with others. Examples of popular free software include the Firefox web browser, the OpenOffice suite, and the GNU/Linux operating system.
Free software has clear social benefits - it is developed by communities of businesses and individuals choosing to share their talents, and enables communities to enhance software in ways which would be unprofitable for software developed solely for profit. For example, blind users might adapt software to work better with screen readers, or speakers of less common languages like Welsh might translate software into their native tongue.
Free software also has economic benefits. Because users can examine and modify it, it becomes impossible for a vendor to control markets. This encourages co-operation and a truly free market between businesses. As a result, free software has lower costs associated with it - both up front and in maintenance. Government, educational and business organisations are increasingly turning to free software for its economic as well as social benefits.
However, free software is under threat from the European Union.
[Free Software pledge, software patents]
[More links inc. Stephen Fry]
Yours,
Manchester Free Software [other organisations?]
