Because Documents Want to be Free!

[Ted Roche]

Forwarding an interesting message I got from the Software Freedom Day 
folks. This is not an affiliate of theirs, but raises all the usual 
questions. Have fun!


  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, 
Open Document 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 
tohandle their data. I fully support the goals of Document Freedom ."

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 todayand 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 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