Bonum Certa Men Certa

Matthias Kirschner (et al) Should Not Have Taken Microsoft Money, as Per the Agreement With the Free Software Foundation (FSF)

15 years ago this was unthinkable; and Microsoft has not changed (except its entryism strategy)

FSFE Donors in 2005
People and firms that supported FSFE a year after the current President had joined



Summary: The corrosive impact of Microsoft money and why the FSFE wasn't supposed to take it; supporting members would likely disapprove because Microsoft stands for the very things they sought to put an end to

WE RECENTLY wrote about the problematic payment from Microsoft to Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE), which was founded 19 years ago, 5 years before the Software Freedom Conservancy (SFC). The FSF-Relationship-Framework (2005) document is shown below, as it appeared sort of publicly on the Free Software Fellowship's mailing list.



To quote: "These things will never be done by any FSF: [...] Formally ally itself with an organization or person that develops or distributes non-free software or non-free software documentation."

"The biggest fact is the memorandum," told us a reader, "which has never been published."

The reader saw it in the above mailing list. "Notice it is not a legal document," the reader said, and "it doesn't have the usual clauses that would allow FSF to terminate the agreement and protect their trademark. Maybe FSF was just naive, we can't be sure. This document seriously dilutes the value of the FSF brand."

"Months after SFC took money from Microsoft the SFC's Web site called for the resignation/removal of RMS."As we noted before, after RMS was 'ousted' (from the FSF's Board, which he left after pressure) the FSF 'lifted its kimono' like the Linux Foundation had done, hoping to attract sponsors for LibrePlanet, which was eventually canceled due to the pandemic and became just a webstream (like many other cancelled events, still in denial about their cancellation in order to save face, calling webstreams "virtual events" or something ridiculous along those lines).

"Unfortunately," our reader concludes, "anybody holding this document could go and create an FSF today."

And then take money from Microsoft...

Marked in/as bold below is one of several relevant bits:

$Id: FSF-Relationship-Framework.txt 2221 2005-09-02 08:21:16Z greve $



Written by Lisa M. Goldstein, opus@gnu.org, and Richard M. Stallman, rms@gnu.org

A Relationship Framework for FSFs.

This a draft framework for the relationship between the FSF sister organizations in various parts of the world. It says which activities are to be carried out which FSFs, either individually or working together.

FSF-NA refers to the original Free Software Foundation with headquarters in Boston. A "major FSF" refers to an FSF that covers a region which is a whole continent or contains a large fraction of the population of the continent it is in. The hope is that the number of major FSFs will be limited.

A. The following activities will be carried out initially by the FSF-NA after consultation with the other FSFs. We intend, in the future, after we have gained experience working together, to develop a system wherein these decisions are approved jointly by a specific list of several major FSFs.

1. Set policy regarding free software licenses, including the criteria for free software, the development of licenses, and the criteria for choosing the license to use for a program.

2. Define official positions on major new circumstances, such as new technologies, new legal issues, etc, which globally impact the Free Software movement or our licenses, and publish position papers to state these positions.

3. Make major changes in the management of the GNU Project.

4. Approve translations of licenses into languages other than English. (Translation of licenses requires special care and we will have to approach this cautiously.)

5. Decide whether an organization qualifies as an FSF.

B. The following activities will be carried out by one particular FSF initially, and may be extended to individual other major FSFs if need arises:

1. FSF-NA: Certify as a service to businesses that products comply with the GPL.

2. FSF-NA: Be the official copyright holder on GNU software and manuals (when the developers do not keep the copyright).

3. FSF-NA: Hold the primary copies of the copyright assignments themselves.

4. FSF-Europe: Manage and operate the GNU Business Network.

C. The following activities are to be carried out by every FSF:

1. Encourage the development of globally-useful free software packages.

2. Develop new free software and manuals, and adapt existing free software and manuals, to meet its region's special cultural and linguistic needs.

3. Following the overall policy set as in A, create and issue official positions for local events and new local laws that may have impact on the Free Software movement or its licenses.

4. Translate FSF position papers into local languages.

5. Advocate FSF official positions developed in A to national and local governments.

5a. Study possible local threats to software freedom and possible countermeasures.

6. Recruit more volunteers for the GNU Project and other free software projects.

7. Raise funds to spend on free software development and other free software activities.

8. Sell copies of free (as in freedom) software, free manuals, and other products to raise funds to pay for local staff and local events. FSFs will resell their products to each other at cost for redistribution in other countries by sister groups.

9. Develop media relations to create awareness of the FSF and Free Software positions and events.

10. Advise free software developers on licensing matters and technical questions.

11. Enforce and defend the GPL and its sister licenses internationally for software that it holds copyright on.

12. Assist, in its region, efforts by other FSFs to enforce and defend the GPL and its sister licenses for the software they hold the copyright on.

13. When asked to, hold duplicate copies of copyright assignments and other legal papers for other FSFs.

14. Maintain a speaker's bureau.

15. Develop free (as in freedom) class materials for training and education in use of GNU and other free software.

16. Raise awareness of the unethical and antisocial nature of non-free software.

17. Assist other organizations in upholding the GPL and other activities that benefit the free software cause.

18. Encourage general cooperation with the GNU Project.

19. Send information about its main projects to the other FSFs.

19a. Keep its board of directors in contact with the boards of other FSFs, and keep its executives in contact with the executives of other FSFs.

20. Cooperate generally with all other FSFs.

D. These things will never be done by any FSF:

1. Distribute or develop non-free software or non-free software documentation.

2. Promote or encourage the use of any non-free program or non-free software documentation.

3. Formally ally itself with an organization or person that develops or distributes non-free software or non-free software documentation.



If FSFE is willing to take money from Microsoft -- as SFC did last year and this year (in effect selling Microsoft a keynote speech in a conference about something Microsoft viciously attacks) -- who next? What next? Days ago they spoke about their accomplishment in Munich. Will they still 'disparage' Microsoft (sponsor) by speaking about what Microsoft did to GNU/Linux in Munich? Months after SFC took money from Microsoft the SFC's Web site called for the resignation/removal of RMS. Guess what the FSFE said in its press release when RMS stepped down (and before).

Imagine giving a portion of your salary for several years to support the same FSFE (or SFC) that treats the very founder of Free software like that. While taking money from Microsoft...

Recent Techrights' Posts

An Update About Soylent News, With Jan Rinok "Back in the Saddle"
Burnout or "near burnout" a possibility when having to curate abuse
Rejecting 'Snoop-Phones' and Turning "Old" Phones (or Tablets) Into Freedom-Respecting Appliances
Paul Fernhout (pdfernhout.net) wrote back to Akira Urushibatathis this past weekend
Apple is the Company of Dictators and Worse
Apple is just another greedy corporation in search of sweatshops and even pedophiles (especially the high-profile ones)
Counting Unhatched Eggs Is Not Counting Chickens
Everything here will persist as normal
The "Infinite Bread"
The biblical story of Jesus feeding the 5,000 has software parallels
In Many Cases and in Many Different Ways, Technology Became Less Durable and Less Reliable Over Time
The "modern" things are more complex. And complexity is a foe or reliability and repair-ability.
 
The Register MS Selling Slop for Microsoft (Vapourware, Ponzi Scheme, False Claims)
What will be left of The Register MS if it keeps repeating falsehoods and looking to profit from Ponzi schemes?
analytics.usa.gov Says Less Than 14% of Web Requests (to Government Sites) Come From Vista 11
Vista 11 was released more than 4 years ago!
People Who Attempt to Take Down Correct Information Need a Doctor a Day
“Journalism is printing something that someone does not want printed. Everything else is public relations.” ― George Orwell
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, October 20, 2025
IRC logs for Monday, October 20, 2025
Vista 11 is Sinking While Microsoft is PIPing (Mass Layoffs But Silent Layoffs)
We're witnessing a shift in platform dominance
Richard Stallman is Having a Good Week Already (Stallman Was Right About 'Clown Computing')
That alone is worth bringing up in his talk
When Prominent GNU/Linux Distros Are Run by Spies
What has Microsoft Canonical become?
More Publishers and Companies Nowadays Say "GNU/Linux", Not "Linux"
It's not to see InstallAware saying GNU/Linux this week
Google News is Now Promoting a Parasitic Slopfarm Called "findarticles.com", Where Plagiarism of "Linux" Articles is Rampant
Does Google even care about the slop epidemic? Google itself is a vendor of slop now (and it calls it "Gemini")
Gemini Links 20/10/2025: Pumpkin Carving, "Hey Hi", and Other Buzzwords
Links for the day
Slopwatch: Google News Promoting Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt (FUD)
What is the value of Google News if so many results in it are fake 'articles?
Our Uptime This Year Was Better Than AWS (Also a Lot Cheaper)
We never used "the cloud"
Amazon Web Shenanigans
An ongoing, experimental endeavour
Death of Elias Diem: FSFE mailing list archives hidden
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Links 20/10/2025: Louvre Museum Reveals Weakness, About 7 Million Protest US Turning Into Oligarchy/Monarchy
Links for the day
They Should Have Listened to Techrights Over a Month Earlier (Xubuntu Site Compromised)
we reported this issue about 40 days earlier and nobody did anything about it
Richard Stallman to Give Another Talk Today in Bavaria (Bavarian Academy of Science)
Tomorrow at 6 PM he speaks in Munich
Barry Kauler Explains That Puppy Linux and EasyOS Exclude Systemd to Keep Things Simple
Barry Kauler's Puppy Linux is in the community's hands. He now focuses on EasyOS and more.
Half a Year After Brian Fagioli Got Kicked Out of BetaNews for Slop He's Still Doing LLM Slop and Slop Images Targeting 'Linux' (Plagiarising Original Works)
If the Web gets polluted or flooded by slopfarms such as these, and Slashdot then sends traffic so these slopfarms (Slashdot probably doesn't do this intentionally), then real writers with real knowledge of GNU/Linux will lose the spark for publishing
Microsoft's LinkedIn is Losing Money, Traffic, and Hope; Now It Wants to Sell Its Users' Lifeblood (and Data)
Let this be a reminder of what social control media really is about
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, October 19, 2025
IRC logs for Sunday, October 19, 2025
Campaign of FUD Against Framework Laptops and GNU/Linux (Using Microsoft's Attack on Linux, 'Secure Boot')
Ritual Defamation Cult has turned its attention over to Framework
Microsoft Lunduke: Freedom of Speech Means Spreading What I Have to Say and Banning People I Disagree With
4Chan is one he aims for and he is siccing 4Chan trolls at people he doesn't like
Liberation From 'The Feed'
They rank things based on the editor's choice/ideology (he or she knows the sponsors, hence the masters)
Microsoft's Killing of Vista 10 Seems to Have Resulted in More Articles About GNU/Linux (But Also FUD)
We not only saw a rise in traffic, we also saw a remarkable rise in the number of articles
Today (a Day Before Richard Stallman Talk at TUM) There's a Patent Propaganda Event at TUM
Perhaps an opportunity for Dr. Stallman to rebut this "invention to patent" nonsense/fantasy (conflating monopolies with innovation)
OpenSource or "Open Source" as a Brand is Dying, Let's Get Back to Talking About Software Freedom
Those of us who actually want to reform the industry and put users in control of their systems/devices will recognise that "Open Source" was selling a lie or got-co-opted by liars
19 Years in Numbers: Techrights' Anniversary Countdown and Retrospective
In 2019 we began improving our workflows and, accordingly/predictably, we became a lot more productive
Slop Turns People Off (LLMs Lack Intelligence, They're Just Plagiarism Powerhouses That Fail to Deliver Any Real, Measurable Value)
"More" (or "MOAR") isn't always better
IBM Red Hat Has Re-calibrated or Adjusted to Bubble Economics, False Promises, and Slop/Plagiarism
This won't end well
Fake Numbers, Fake Claims, Fake Economy, and Media Grifters That Prop Up Fraud
Grifters like The Register MS won't be looked upon kindly after the bubble implodes
For Some, the GNU Web Site is Not Accessible This Week
They seem to have gone into some kind of lock-down mode
Richard Stallman Back at the "Rudolf-Diesel" Hörsal "MW 2001" in About 40 Hours
He spoke there before; there's a very high seating capacity there
Symptoms of Upcoming Microsoft Layoffs in XBox
A crashing franchise
Psychiatrist confession: Germanwings crash & Debian toxic culture recognized before suicides
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Gemini Links 19/10/2025: Scentjacking 101, Slop Hype Boosters, and Steam Next Fest
Links for the day
Slopwatch: The Serial Slopper, LinuxSecurity, and Google News
Let's hope slopfarms die as soon as possible
Links 19/10/2025: Cambodia Scam Centres, Slop Hurting Wikipedia Traffic
Links for the day
As Economies Crumble Free as in Beer Will Matter, Not Just Free as in Freedom/Libre (Libertad)
French regions choosing to embrace Software Freedom
25 Years Ago, an Explanation of How Reducing Free Software to 'Apps' Would Interfere With Freedom Goals
there's nothing unreasonable about it
A List of 63 Known Gemini Clients (Software to Browse Geminispace Content With Gemini Protocol)
Not counting browser plugins for Web browsers
Gemini Links 19/10/2025: "Firma Odin Is Transforming" and Bot Attacks While "AFK"
Links for the day
US Government: 6.1% of Site Visitors Use GNU/Linux
GNU/Linux has a considerable share and it is growing
LLM Slop Could Not Rise to Prominence Without Media Complicity and Artificial Hype
Inane garbage disguised as "journalism"
Why the FSF No Longer Recommends Debian, as Explained by Richard Stallman This Month
some weeks ago
All the Latest Half Dozen Articles by Mehedi Hasan (UbuntuPIT) Only Admit at the End That He's Using LLM Slop
Disclosure is OK, but the practice of using slop is not
The 'Modern' Web of Fake Security and Easy Censorship of Whole Domains
Each year it gets worse
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, October 18, 2025
IRC logs for Saturday, October 18, 2025