[FSF] Free Software Supporter -- Issue 16, July 2009

[John Sullivan]

# Free Software Supporter 
Issue 16, July 2009

Welcome to the Free Software Supporter, the Free Software Foundation's
monthly news digest and action update -- being read by you and 21,209
other activists.

Encourage your friends to subscribe and help us build an audience by
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<http://www.fsf.org/free-software-supporter>.

Multilingual? Send translations of the Supporter to <address@hidden>.

* Deadline for Fall internship applications is Monday
* Why free software shouldn't depend on Mono or C#
* Starting my internship at the FSF 
* The Challenge of Change
* Introducing Holmes Wilson, The New Campaigns Manager.
* GNU spotlight with Karl Berry
* Richard Stallman's speaking schedule and other FSF events
* Take action with the FSF!

## Deadline for Fall internship applications is Monday!

If you are interested in being an intern at the Free Software
Foundation for the Fall, from August 31st to December 4th, it's time
to send your application! We've extended the deadline by a few days,
but please make sure we receive your application by this Monday, July
20th.

  * <http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/fall-internships>

## Why free software shouldn't depend on Mono or C#

Debian's decision to include Mono in its principal way of installing
GNOME, for the sake of Tomboy, which is an application written in C#,
leads the community in a risky direction. It is dangerous to depend on
C#, so we need to discourage its use. The problem is not unique to
Mono; any free implementation of C# would raise the same issue.

  * <http://www.fsf.org/news/dont-depend-on-mono>

## Starting my internship at the FSF 

I am one of the Free Software Foundation's newest interns, which is a
little surprising because less than a year ago, I didn't even know
what an operating system was. While interning here, I hope to help
myself and others become more educated about free software. I also
hope to introduce free software as something that is very accessible,
easy to use, and most importantly, as something that does not restrict
users' freedoms.
  
  * <http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/sarah-mcintire-introduction>

## The Challenge of Change 

I am very excited to announce that I will be interning with the Free
Software Foundation this summer. Since I am going into my junior year
of high school, the FSF has assigned me a project that is long
overdue: figuring out a way to get young people involved in free
software.
  
  * <http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/challenge-of-change>

## Introducing Holmes Wilson, the new campaigns manager

Hello everyone. My name's Holmes and I just started at the Free
Software Foundation as a campaigns manager. I'm still getting set up,
so I'll hold off on a longer post. But here's a quick introduction to
me and what I'm hoping to focus on in my work here.

  * <http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/introductions-holmes>

## GNU Spotlight with Karl Berry

Updated GNU packages for this month:

cpio-2.10        dfarc-3.2.2          findutils-4.4.2    freeipmi-0.7.10
gengen-1.3       gengetopt-2.22.2     gnuradio-3.2.1     gsasl-1.2
guile-1.8.7      libasn1-0.1.0        libgsasl-1.2       libiconv-1.13.1
libidn-1.15      libtasn1-2.2         libunistring-0.9.1 libzrtpcpp-1.4.5
pexec-1.0rc7     sed-4.2.1            serveez-0.1.7      sipwitch-0.5.6
solfege-3.14.5   source-highlight-3.1 tramp-2.1.16       vc-dwim-1.1
xlogmaster-1.6.2 zile-2.3.8

To get announcements of most new GNU packages, subscribe to the
info-gnu mailing list:
<http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/info-gnu>. Nearly all GNU
software is available from <http://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/>, or preferably
one of its mirrors (<http://www.gnu.org/prep/ftp.html>).

I'd like to give a warm welcome to Christian Campos, newly-dubbed
maintainer of gnutrition. Also, thanks to Niels Moeller, already
maintainer of GNU lsh, for the new GNU package nettle, and to Leo
Jackson (maintainer of maverik), for taking over the GNU leg package.

Several GNU packages are looking for maintainers and other assistance.
Please see <http://www.gnu.org/server/takeaction.html#unmaint> if
you'd like to help. The general page on how to help GNU is at
<http://www.gnu.org/help/help.html>. To submit new packages to GNU,
see <http://www.gnu.org/help/evaluation.html>.

As always, please feel free to write to me, <address@hidden>, with any
GNUish questions or suggestions for future installments.

## Richard Stallman's speaking schedule and other FSF events

* Jul 17 | El Movimiento del Software Libre -- Caracas, Venezuela
* Jul 22 | El Movimiento del Software Libre -- San Cristobal, Venezuela
* Aug 23 | El Software Libre en la Ética y en la Práctica Cordoba, Agentina
* Aug 24 | Software Libre en la Ética y en the Práctica -- Buenos Aires, 
Argentina

### Take action with the FSF

Contributions from thousands of individual members enable the FSF's
work. You can contribute by joining at <http://www.fsf.org/join>. If
you're already a member, you can help refer new members (and earn some
rewards) by adding a line with your member number to your email
signature like:

  I'm an FSF member -- Help us support software freedom!
  <http://www.fsf.org/jf?referrer=2442>

The FSF is also always looking for volunteers
(<http://www.fsf.org/volunteer>). From rabble-rousing to hacking, from
issue coordination to envelope stuffing -- there's something here for
everybody to do. Also, head over to our campaign section
(<http://www.fsf.org/campaigns>) and take action on software patents,
DRM, free software adoption, OpenDocument, RIAA and more.

###

Copyright © 2009 Free Software Foundation, Inc.

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-No
Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. To view a copy of this
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