*Please consider adding to your address book, which will ensure that our messages reach you and not your spam box.*
*Read and share online: *
Welcome to the *Free Software Supporter*, the Free Software Foundation's (FSF) monthly news digest and action update -- being read by you and 227,477 other activists. That's 605 more than last month!
### LibrePlanet 2022 returns online: Submit your session proposal by December 1 *From October 6th*
The fourteenth edition of the Free Software Foundation's (FSF) conference on technology and social justice will be held in spring 2022, online. The Call for Sessions is now open, and will close on December 1, 2021. Potential talks should examine free software through the lens of this year's theme: Living Liberation.
* * *
## TABLE OF CONTENTS
* FSF job opportunity: Outreach and communications coordinator * Free Software Awards: Nominate those who help us live liberation by November 30th * Life's better together when you avoid Windows 11 * Pumpkins, markets, and one bad Apple * EmacsConf schedule is now live! * Software Freedom Conservancy files right-to-repair lawsuit against California TV manufacturer Vizio Inc. for alleged GPL violations * Release announcement: Trisquel 9.0.1 Etiona security update * Ecodesign directive: FSFE calls for device neutrality and upcycling of software * Canon sued for disabling printer scanners when devices run out of ink * Donald Trump’s new social network violated software-licensing terms, tech org says * Trump's new social media platform found using Mastodon code * From ‘guix environment’ to ‘guix shell’ * Honoring Elliot Harmon—EFF Activism Director, Poet, Friend—1981-2021 * October GNU Emacs news * Join the FSF and friends in updating the Free Software Directory * LibrePlanet featured resource: Skype replacement * GNU Spotlight with Mike Gerwitz: 8 new GNU releases! * FSF and other free software events * Thank GNUs! * GNU copyright contributions * Translations of the *Free Software Supporter* * Take action with the FSF!
View this issue online here:
Encourage your friends to subscribe and help us build an audience by adding our subscriber widget to your Web site.
* Subscribe: * Widget:
Miss an issue? You can catch up on back issues at .
Want to read this newsletter translated into another language? Scroll to the end to read the *Supporter* in French, Spanish, or Portuguese.
***
### FSF job opportunity: Outreach and communications coordinator
*From September 2nd*
Reporting to the executive director, the outreach and communications coordinator works closely with our campaigns, licensing, technical, and operations teams to plan, write, edit, publish, and promote high-quality, effective materials, both digital and printed. These materials are a critical part of advancing the FSF's work in support of the GNU Project, free software adoption, copyleft licensing, and freedom on the Internet; and against Digital Restrictions Management (DRM), software patents, and proprietary software. Nearly every publication from the FSF goes through this public-facing position, tying together our work across various constituencies.
*
### Free Software Awards: Nominate those who help us live liberation by November 30th
*From October 28th*
The dedication of the developers, documentation writers, community organizers, and volunteers of the free software movement is what has helped us all live liberation in the years the free software movement has been active. Just using free software makes you part of our collective journey to freedom, but some go above and beyond in their dedication to the free software movement. Now, it's time for us to show those community members and projects that we appreciate their vital work.
*
### Life's better together when you avoid Windows 11
*From October 5th*
October 5th marked the official release of Windows 11, a new version of the operating system that doesn't do anything at all to counteract Windows' long history of depriving users of freedom and digital autonomy. While we might have been encouraged by Microsoft's vague, aspirational slogans about community and togetherness, Windows 11 takes important steps in the wrong direction when it comes to user freedom.
*
### Pumpkins, markets, and one bad Apple
*From October 20th*
Imagine your local farmers market: every Saturday the whole town comes together to purchase fresh and homemade goods, enjoy the entertainment, and find that there is always something for everyone. Whatever you need, you can find it here, and anyone can sign up to have their own little stand. It is a wonderful place, or so it seems. Now, imagine starting out as a pumpkin farmer, and you want to sell your pumpkins at this market. The market owner asks 30% of every pumpkin that you sell. It's steep, but the market owner -- we'll call him *Mr. Apple* -- owns all the markets in your area, so you have little choice.
Instead of trying to maintain the status quo one court case after the other, it is time to evolve, Apple, move forward with freedom, not against it. As one of the most successful and richest companies in the world, we can not let it tell us that absolute control over our user freedom is a justifiable price to pay to make sure its technology is up to par.
*
### EmacsConf schedule is now live!
*From October 28th by EmacsConf*
EmacsConf is the conference about the joy of Emacs and Emacs Lisp. The schedule for EmacsConf 2021 is now live, so help spread the word!
EmacsConf 2021 is held as an online conference again this year. We remain fully committed to freedom, and we will continue using our infrastructure and streaming setup consisting entirely of free software, much like previous EmacsConf conferences.
*
### Software Freedom Conservancy files right-to-repair lawsuit against California TV manufacturer Vizio Inc. for alleged GPL violations
*From October 19th by Software Freedom Conservancy*
Software Freedom Conservancy announced it has filed a lawsuit against Vizio Inc. for what it calls repeated failures to fulfill even the basic requirements of the General Public License (GPL).
The lawsuit alleges that Vizio’s TV products, built on its SmartCast system, contain software that Vizio unfairly appropriated from a community of developers who intended users to have very specific rights to modify, improve, share, and reinstall modified versions of the software.
This minor update to the 9.x "Etiona" series is intended to provide an up to date set of ISO images, both for use as an installation medium and as a live environment with newer packages.
In other news, the development of Trisquel 10 is ongoing at great pace, with initial ISO images being now available for testing.
*
### Ecodesign directive: FSFE calls for device neutrality and upcycling of software
*From October 15th by FSFE*
As a contribution to the revisal of the EU ecodesign directive and to help understand the impact of software obsolescence, the FSFE publishes a study on the sustainability of software. The findings of the study culminate in five core demands for a more sustainable digitization, covering the interplay of devices, software, and infrastructure.
*
### Canon sued for disabling printer scanners when devices run out of ink
*From October 19th by Karl Bode*
For more than a decade now, computer printer manufacturers have been engaged in an endless quest called: "let's be as annoying as humanly possible." That quest, driven by a desire to monopolize and boost the sale of their own printer cartridges, has resulted in all manner of obnoxious Digital Restrictions Management (DRM) and other restrictions designed to make using cheaper, third-party printing cartridges a monumental headache. Often, software or firmware updates have been designed to intentionally grind printing to a halt if you try to use these alternative options.
*
### Donald Trump’s new social network violated software-licensing terms, tech org says
*From October 22nd by Todd Spangler*
The Software Freedom Conservancy, which enforces free software software agreements, said Trump’s Truth social Web site — launched by the newly formed Trump Media & Technology Group — failed to provide the source code to users, as required under the Affero General Public License (AGPL), a “copyleft license” published by the Free Software Foundation.
*
### Trump's new social media platform found using Mastodon code
*From October 29 by Eugen Rochko*
On Oct 26, we sent a formal letter to Truth Social’s chief legal officer, requesting the source code to be made publicly available in compliance with the license. According to AGPLv3, after being notified by the copyright holder, Truth Social has 30 days to comply or the license may be permanently revoked.
*
### From ‘guix environment’ to ‘guix shell’
*From October 26th by Ludovic Courtès*
There are times when what looked like the right design choice some years back comes out as an odd choice as time passes. The beloved guix environment tool is having that fate. Its command-line interface has become non-intuitive and annoying for the most common use cases. Since it could not be changed without breaking compatibility in fundamental ways, we devised a new command meant to progressively replace it; guix shell -- that’s the name we unimaginatively ended up with -- has just landed after a three-week review period, itself a follow-up to discussions and hesitations on the best course of action.
This post introduces guix shell, how it differs from guix environment, the choices we made, and why we hope you will like it.
It is with heavy hearts that we mourn and celebrate our friend and colleague Elliot Harmon, who passed away peacefully on Saturday morning following a lengthy battle with melanoma. We will deeply miss Elliot’s clever mind, powerful pen, generous heart, and expansive kindness. We will carry his memory with us in our work.
We at the FSF greatly appreciate the work Elliot did as an advocate for user freedom, and are deeply saddened by this loss.
*
### October GNU Emacs news
*From October 25th by Sacha Chua*
In these issues: The Emacs 28 release branch, Consult-dir and Embark, beginner guides, emacs-light, and more!
### Join the FSF and friends in updating the Free Software Directory
Tens of thousands of people visit directory.fsf.org each month to discover free software. Each entry in the Directory contains a wealth of useful information, from basic category and descriptions to version control, IRC channels, documentation, and licensing. The Free Software Directory has been a great resource to software users over the past decade, but it needs your help staying up-to-date with new and exciting free software projects.
To help, join our weekly IRC meetings on Fridays. Meetings take place in the #fsf channel on Libera.Chat, and usually include a handful of regulars as well as newcomers. Libera.Chat is accessible from any IRC client -- Everyone's welcome!
The next meeting is Friday, November 5th from 12pm to 3pm EDT (16:00 to 19:00 UTC). Details here:
*
### LibrePlanet featured resource: Skype replacement
Every month on [the LibrePlanet wiki](https://libreplanet.org/wiki/Main_Page), we highlight one resource that is interesting and useful -- often one that could use your help.
For this month, we are highlighting Skype Replacement, which provides information about real-time voice and video chat protocols and clients to help you and your loved ones communicate in freedom. You are invited to adopt, spread and improve this important resource.
*
Do you have a suggestion for next month's featured resource? Let us know at .
### GNU Spotlight with Mike Gerwitz: 8 new GNU releases!
8 new GNU releases in the last month (as of October 24, 2021):
For announcements of most new GNU releases, subscribe to the info-gnu mailing list: .
To download: nearly all GNU software is available from , or preferably one of its mirrors from . You can use the URL to be automatically redirected to a (hopefully) nearby and up-to-date mirror.
A number of GNU packages, as well as the GNU operating system as a whole, are looking for maintainers and other assistance: please see if you'd like to help. The general page on how to help GNU is at .
If you have a working or partly working program that you'd like to offer to the GNU project as a GNU package, see .
### FSF and other free software events
* November 5-6, Seattle, Washington, [SeaGL 2021](https://seagl.org/) * November 6, online, [Legal Education Day (LED)](https://fsfe.org/news/2021/news-20211008-01.en.html) * November 27-28, online, [EmacsConf 2021](https://emacsconf.org/2021/) * December 3-4, Hyatt Regency Columbus, [OLF](https://olfconference.org/)
### Thank GNUs!
We appreciate everyone who donates to the Free Software Foundation, and we'd like to give special recognition to the folks who have donated $500 or more in the last month.
*
This month, a big Thank GNU to:
* David Joseph Sworin Trust * Trevor Spiteri * Camille Akmut * Steve Ayerhart * Joseph Cox
You can add your name to this list by donating at .
### GNU copyright contributions
Assigning your copyright to the Free Software Foundation helps us defend the GNU GPL and keep software free. The following individuals have assigned their copyright to the FSF (and allowed public appreciation) in the past month:
* Jai Thomas Crooks Flack (GNU Emacs) * Corwin Edward Brust (GNU Emacs) * Christophe Troestler (GNU Emacs) * Tyler Jeffrey Grinn (GNU Emacs) * Genki SATO (GNU Emacs)
Want to see your name on this list? Contribute to GNU and assign your copyright to the FSF.
*
### Translations of the *Free Software Supporter*
El Free Software Supporter está disponible en español. Para ver la versión en español haz click aqui:
**Para cambiar las preferencias de usuario y recibir los próximos números del Supporter en español, haz click aquí:**
Le Free Software Supporter est disponible en français. Pour voir la version française cliquez ici:
**Pour modifier vos préférences et recevoir les prochaines publications du Supporter en français, cliquez ici:**
O Free Software Supporter está disponível em português. Para ver a versão em português, clique aqui:
**Para alterar as preferências do usuário e receber as próximas edições do Supporter em português, clique aqui:**
### Take action with the FSF!
Contributions from thousands of individual associate members enable the FSF's work. You can contribute by joining at . 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!
The FSF is always looking for volunteers (). From rabble-rousing to hacking, from issue coordination to envelope stuffing -- there's something here for everybody to do. Also, head over to our campaigns section () and take action on software patents, Digital Restrictions Management (DRM), free software adoption, OpenDocument, and more.
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit .
-- * Follow us on Mastodon at , GNU social at , PeerTube at , and on Twitter at -at-fsf. * Read about why we use Twitter, but only with caveats at . * Subscribe to our RSS feeds at . * Join us as an associate member at . * Read our Privacy Policy at .
Sent from the Free Software Foundation,
51 Franklin St, Fifth Floor Boston, Massachusetts 02110-1335 United States
You can unsubscribe from this mailing list by visiting
Welcome to the Free Software Supporter, the Free Software Foundation's (FSF) monthly news digest and action update -- being read by you and 227,477 other activists. That's 605 more than last month!
LibrePlanet 2022 returns online: Submit your session proposal by December 1
From October 6th
The fourteenth edition of the Free Software Foundation's (FSF) conference on technology and social justice will be held in spring 2022, online. The Call for Sessions is now open, and will close on December 1, 2021. Potential talks should examine free software through the lens of this year's theme: Living Liberation.
Want to read this newsletter translated into another language? Scroll to the end to read the Supporter in French, Spanish, or Portuguese.
FSF job opportunity: Outreach and communications coordinator
From September 2nd
Reporting to the executive director, the outreach and communications coordinator works closely with our campaigns, licensing, technical, and operations teams to plan, write, edit, publish, and promote high-quality, effective materials, both digital and printed. These materials are a critical part of advancing the FSF's work in support of the GNU Project, free software adoption, copyleft licensing, and freedom on the Internet; and against Digital Restrictions Management (DRM), software patents, and proprietary software. Nearly every publication from the FSF goes through this public-facing position, tying together our work across various constituencies.
Free Software Awards: Nominate those who help us live liberation by November 30th
From October 28th
The dedication of the developers, documentation writers, community organizers, and volunteers of the free software movement is what has helped us all live liberation in the years the free software movement has been active. Just using free software makes you part of our collective journey to freedom, but some go above and beyond in their dedication to the free software movement. Now, it's time for us to show those community members and projects that we appreciate their vital work.
October 5th marked the official release of Windows 11, a new version of the operating system that doesn't do anything at all to counteract Windows' long history of depriving users of freedom and digital autonomy. While we might have been encouraged by Microsoft's vague, aspirational slogans about community and togetherness, Windows 11 takes important steps in the wrong direction when it comes to user freedom.
Imagine your local farmers market: every Saturday the whole town comes together to purchase fresh and homemade goods, enjoy the entertainment, and find that there is always something for everyone. Whatever you need, you can find it here, and anyone can sign up to have their own little stand. It is a wonderful place, or so it seems. Now, imagine starting out as a pumpkin farmer, and you want to sell your pumpkins at this market. The market owner asks 30% of every pumpkin that you sell. It's steep, but the market owner -- we'll call him Mr. Apple -- owns all the markets in your area, so you have little choice.
Instead of trying to maintain the status quo one court case after the other, it is time to evolve, Apple, move forward with freedom, not against it. As one of the most successful and richest companies in the world, we can not let it tell us that absolute control over our user freedom is a justifiable price to pay to make sure its technology is up to par.
EmacsConf is the conference about the joy of Emacs and Emacs Lisp. The schedule for EmacsConf 2021 is now live, so help spread the word!
EmacsConf 2021 is held as an online conference again this year. We remain fully committed to freedom, and we will continue using our infrastructure and streaming setup consisting entirely of free software, much like previous EmacsConf conferences.
Software Freedom Conservancy files right-to-repair lawsuit against California TV manufacturer Vizio Inc. for alleged GPL violations
From October 19th by Software Freedom Conservancy
Software Freedom Conservancy announced it has filed a lawsuit against Vizio Inc. for what it calls repeated failures to fulfill even the basic requirements of the General Public License (GPL).
The lawsuit alleges that Vizio’s TV products, built on its SmartCast system, contain software that Vizio unfairly appropriated from a community of developers who intended users to have very specific rights to modify, improve, share, and reinstall modified versions of the software.
This minor update to the 9.x "Etiona" series is intended to provide an up to date set of ISO images, both for use as an installation medium and as a live environment with newer packages.
In other news, the development of Trisquel 10 is ongoing at great pace, with initial ISO images being now available for testing.
Ecodesign directive: FSFE calls for device neutrality and upcycling of software
From October 15th by FSFE
As a contribution to the revisal of the EU ecodesign directive and to help understand the impact of software obsolescence, the FSFE publishes a study on the sustainability of software. The findings of the study culminate in five core demands for a more sustainable digitization, covering the interplay of devices, software, and infrastructure.
Canon sued for disabling printer scanners when devices run out of ink
From October 19th by Karl Bode
For more than a decade now, computer printer manufacturers have been engaged in an endless quest called: "let's be as annoying as humanly possible." That quest, driven by a desire to monopolize and boost the sale of their own printer cartridges, has resulted in all manner of obnoxious Digital Restrictions Management (DRM) and other restrictions designed to make using cheaper, third-party printing cartridges a monumental headache. Often, software or firmware updates have been designed to intentionally grind printing to a halt if you try to use these alternative options.
Donald Trump’s new social network violated software-licensing terms, tech org says
From October 22nd by Todd Spangler
The Software Freedom Conservancy, which enforces free software software agreements, said Trump’s Truth social Web site — launched by the newly formed Trump Media & Technology Group — failed to provide the source code to users, as required under the Affero General Public License (AGPL), a “copyleft license” published by the Free Software Foundation.
Trump's new social media platform found using Mastodon code
From October 29 by Eugen Rochko
On Oct 26, we sent a formal letter to Truth Social’s chief legal officer, requesting the source code to be made publicly available in compliance with the license. According to AGPLv3, after being notified by the copyright holder, Truth Social has 30 days to comply or the license may be permanently revoked.
There are times when what looked like the right design choice some years back comes out as an odd choice as time passes. The beloved guix environment tool is having that fate. Its command-line interface has become non-intuitive and annoying for the most common use cases. Since it could not be changed without breaking compatibility in fundamental ways, we devised a new command meant to progressively replace it; guix shell -- that’s the name we unimaginatively ended up with -- has just landed after a three-week review period, itself a follow-up to discussions and hesitations on the best course of action.
This post introduces guix shell, how it differs from guix environment, the choices we made, and why we hope you will like it.
It is with heavy hearts that we mourn and celebrate our friend and colleague Elliot Harmon, who passed away peacefully on Saturday morning following a lengthy battle with melanoma. We will deeply miss Elliot’s clever mind, powerful pen, generous heart, and expansive kindness. We will carry his memory with us in our work.
We at the FSF greatly appreciate the work Elliot did as an advocate for user freedom, and are deeply saddened by this loss.
Join the FSF and friends in updating the Free Software Directory
Tens of thousands of people visit directory.fsf.org each month to discover free software. Each entry in the Directory contains a wealth of useful information, from basic category and descriptions to version control, IRC channels, documentation, and licensing. The Free Software Directory has been a great resource to software users over the past decade, but it needs your help staying up-to-date with new and exciting free software projects.
To help, join our weekly IRC meetings on Fridays. Meetings take place in the #fsf channel on Libera.Chat, and usually include a handful of regulars as well as newcomers. Libera.Chat is accessible from any IRC client -- Everyone's welcome!
The next meeting is Friday, November 5th from 12pm to 3pm EDT (16:00 to 19:00 UTC). Details here:
Every month on the LibrePlanet wiki, we highlight one resource that is interesting and useful -- often one that could use your help.
For this month, we are highlighting Skype Replacement, which provides information about real-time voice and video chat protocols and clients to help you and your loved ones communicate in freedom. You are invited to adopt, spread and improve this important resource.
We appreciate everyone who donates to the Free Software Foundation, and we'd like to give special recognition to the folks who have donated $500 or more in the last month.
Assigning your copyright to the Free Software Foundation helps us defend the GNU GPL and keep software free. The following individuals have assigned their copyright to the FSF (and allowed public appreciation) in the past month:
Jai Thomas Crooks Flack (GNU Emacs)
Corwin Edward Brust (GNU Emacs)
Christophe Troestler (GNU Emacs)
Tyler Jeffrey Grinn (GNU Emacs)
Genki SATO (GNU Emacs)
Want to see your name on this list? Contribute to GNU and assign your copyright to the FSF.
Contributions from thousands of individual associate members enable the FSF's work. You can contribute by joining at https://my.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:
The FSF is always looking for volunteers (https://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 campaigns section (https://www.fsf.org/campaigns) and take action on software patents, Digital Restrictions Management (DRM), free software adoption, OpenDocument, and more.
*Please consider adding to your address book, which will ensure that our messages reach you and not your spam box.*
*Read and share online: *
Welcome to the *Free Software Supporter*, the Free Software Foundation's (FSF) monthly news digest and action update -- being read by you and 227,477 other activists. That's 605 more than last month!
### LibrePlanet 2022 returns online: Submit your session proposal by December 1 *From October 6th*
The fourteenth edition of the Free Software Foundation's (FSF) conference on technology and social justice will be held in spring 2022, online. The Call for Sessions is now open, and will close on December 1, 2021. Potential talks should examine free software through the lens of this year's theme: Living Liberation.
* * *
## TABLE OF CONTENTS
* FSF job opportunity: Outreach and communications coordinator * Free Software Awards: Nominate those who help us live liberation by November 30th * Life's better together when you avoid Windows 11 * Pumpkins, markets, and one bad Apple * EmacsConf schedule is now live! * Software Freedom Conservancy files right-to-repair lawsuit against California TV manufacturer Vizio Inc. for alleged GPL violations * Release announcement: Trisquel 9.0.1 Etiona security update * Ecodesign directive: FSFE calls for device neutrality and upcycling of software * Canon sued for disabling printer scanners when devices run out of ink * Donald Trump’s new social network violated software-licensing terms, tech org says * Trump's new social media platform found using Mastodon code * From ‘guix environment’ to ‘guix shell’ * Honoring Elliot Harmon—EFF Activism Director, Poet, Friend—1981-2021 * October GNU Emacs news * Join the FSF and friends in updating the Free Software Directory * LibrePlanet featured resource: Skype replacement * GNU Spotlight with Mike Gerwitz: 8 new GNU releases! * FSF and other free software events * Thank GNUs! * GNU copyright contributions * Translations of the *Free Software Supporter* * Take action with the FSF!
View this issue online here:
Encourage your friends to subscribe and help us build an audience by adding our subscriber widget to your Web site.
* Subscribe: * Widget:
Miss an issue? You can catch up on back issues at .
Want to read this newsletter translated into another language? Scroll to the end to read the *Supporter* in French, Spanish, or Portuguese.
***
### FSF job opportunity: Outreach and communications coordinator
*From September 2nd*
Reporting to the executive director, the outreach and communications coordinator works closely with our campaigns, licensing, technical, and operations teams to plan, write, edit, publish, and promote high-quality, effective materials, both digital and printed. These materials are a critical part of advancing the FSF's work in support of the GNU Project, free software adoption, copyleft licensing, and freedom on the Internet; and against Digital Restrictions Management (DRM), software patents, and proprietary software. Nearly every publication from the FSF goes through this public-facing position, tying together our work across various constituencies.
*
### Free Software Awards: Nominate those who help us live liberation by November 30th
*From October 28th*
The dedication of the developers, documentation writers, community organizers, and volunteers of the free software movement is what has helped us all live liberation in the years the free software movement has been active. Just using free software makes you part of our collective journey to freedom, but some go above and beyond in their dedication to the free software movement. Now, it's time for us to show those community members and projects that we appreciate their vital work.
*
### Life's better together when you avoid Windows 11
*From October 5th*
October 5th marked the official release of Windows 11, a new version of the operating system that doesn't do anything at all to counteract Windows' long history of depriving users of freedom and digital autonomy. While we might have been encouraged by Microsoft's vague, aspirational slogans about community and togetherness, Windows 11 takes important steps in the wrong direction when it comes to user freedom.
*
### Pumpkins, markets, and one bad Apple
*From October 20th*
Imagine your local farmers market: every Saturday the whole town comes together to purchase fresh and homemade goods, enjoy the entertainment, and find that there is always something for everyone. Whatever you need, you can find it here, and anyone can sign up to have their own little stand. It is a wonderful place, or so it seems. Now, imagine starting out as a pumpkin farmer, and you want to sell your pumpkins at this market. The market owner asks 30% of every pumpkin that you sell. It's steep, but the market owner -- we'll call him *Mr. Apple* -- owns all the markets in your area, so you have little choice.
Instead of trying to maintain the status quo one court case after the other, it is time to evolve, Apple, move forward with freedom, not against it. As one of the most successful and richest companies in the world, we can not let it tell us that absolute control over our user freedom is a justifiable price to pay to make sure its technology is up to par.
*
### EmacsConf schedule is now live!
*From October 28th by EmacsConf*
EmacsConf is the conference about the joy of Emacs and Emacs Lisp. The schedule for EmacsConf 2021 is now live, so help spread the word!
EmacsConf 2021 is held as an online conference again this year. We remain fully committed to freedom, and we will continue using our infrastructure and streaming setup consisting entirely of free software, much like previous EmacsConf conferences.
*
### Software Freedom Conservancy files right-to-repair lawsuit against California TV manufacturer Vizio Inc. for alleged GPL violations
*From October 19th by Software Freedom Conservancy*
Software Freedom Conservancy announced it has filed a lawsuit against Vizio Inc. for what it calls repeated failures to fulfill even the basic requirements of the General Public License (GPL).
The lawsuit alleges that Vizio’s TV products, built on its SmartCast system, contain software that Vizio unfairly appropriated from a community of developers who intended users to have very specific rights to modify, improve, share, and reinstall modified versions of the software.
This minor update to the 9.x "Etiona" series is intended to provide an up to date set of ISO images, both for use as an installation medium and as a live environment with newer packages.
In other news, the development of Trisquel 10 is ongoing at great pace, with initial ISO images being now available for testing.
*
### Ecodesign directive: FSFE calls for device neutrality and upcycling of software
*From October 15th by FSFE*
As a contribution to the revisal of the EU ecodesign directive and to help understand the impact of software obsolescence, the FSFE publishes a study on the sustainability of software. The findings of the study culminate in five core demands for a more sustainable digitization, covering the interplay of devices, software, and infrastructure.
*
### Canon sued for disabling printer scanners when devices run out of ink
*From October 19th by Karl Bode*
For more than a decade now, computer printer manufacturers have been engaged in an endless quest called: "let's be as annoying as humanly possible." That quest, driven by a desire to monopolize and boost the sale of their own printer cartridges, has resulted in all manner of obnoxious Digital Restrictions Management (DRM) and other restrictions designed to make using cheaper, third-party printing cartridges a monumental headache. Often, software or firmware updates have been designed to intentionally grind printing to a halt if you try to use these alternative options.
*
### Donald Trump’s new social network violated software-licensing terms, tech org says
*From October 22nd by Todd Spangler*
The Software Freedom Conservancy, which enforces free software software agreements, said Trump’s Truth social Web site — launched by the newly formed Trump Media & Technology Group — failed to provide the source code to users, as required under the Affero General Public License (AGPL), a “copyleft license” published by the Free Software Foundation.
*
### Trump's new social media platform found using Mastodon code
*From October 29 by Eugen Rochko*
On Oct 26, we sent a formal letter to Truth Social’s chief legal officer, requesting the source code to be made publicly available in compliance with the license. According to AGPLv3, after being notified by the copyright holder, Truth Social has 30 days to comply or the license may be permanently revoked.
*
### From ‘guix environment’ to ‘guix shell’
*From October 26th by Ludovic Courtès*
There are times when what looked like the right design choice some years back comes out as an odd choice as time passes. The beloved guix environment tool is having that fate. Its command-line interface has become non-intuitive and annoying for the most common use cases. Since it could not be changed without breaking compatibility in fundamental ways, we devised a new command meant to progressively replace it; guix shell -- that’s the name we unimaginatively ended up with -- has just landed after a three-week review period, itself a follow-up to discussions and hesitations on the best course of action.
This post introduces guix shell, how it differs from guix environment, the choices we made, and why we hope you will like it.
It is with heavy hearts that we mourn and celebrate our friend and colleague Elliot Harmon, who passed away peacefully on Saturday morning following a lengthy battle with melanoma. We will deeply miss Elliot’s clever mind, powerful pen, generous heart, and expansive kindness. We will carry his memory with us in our work.
We at the FSF greatly appreciate the work Elliot did as an advocate for user freedom, and are deeply saddened by this loss.
*
### October GNU Emacs news
*From October 25th by Sacha Chua*
In these issues: The Emacs 28 release branch, Consult-dir and Embark, beginner guides, emacs-light, and more!
### Join the FSF and friends in updating the Free Software Directory
Tens of thousands of people visit directory.fsf.org each month to discover free software. Each entry in the Directory contains a wealth of useful information, from basic category and descriptions to version control, IRC channels, documentation, and licensing. The Free Software Directory has been a great resource to software users over the past decade, but it needs your help staying up-to-date with new and exciting free software projects.
To help, join our weekly IRC meetings on Fridays. Meetings take place in the #fsf channel on Libera.Chat, and usually include a handful of regulars as well as newcomers. Libera.Chat is accessible from any IRC client -- Everyone's welcome!
The next meeting is Friday, November 5th from 12pm to 3pm EDT (16:00 to 19:00 UTC). Details here:
*
### LibrePlanet featured resource: Skype replacement
Every month on [the LibrePlanet wiki](https://libreplanet.org/wiki/Main_Page), we highlight one resource that is interesting and useful -- often one that could use your help.
For this month, we are highlighting Skype Replacement, which provides information about real-time voice and video chat protocols and clients to help you and your loved ones communicate in freedom. You are invited to adopt, spread and improve this important resource.
*
Do you have a suggestion for next month's featured resource? Let us know at .
### GNU Spotlight with Mike Gerwitz: 8 new GNU releases!
8 new GNU releases in the last month (as of October 24, 2021):
For announcements of most new GNU releases, subscribe to the info-gnu mailing list: .
To download: nearly all GNU software is available from , or preferably one of its mirrors from . You can use the URL to be automatically redirected to a (hopefully) nearby and up-to-date mirror.
A number of GNU packages, as well as the GNU operating system as a whole, are looking for maintainers and other assistance: please see if you'd like to help. The general page on how to help GNU is at .
If you have a working or partly working program that you'd like to offer to the GNU project as a GNU package, see .
### FSF and other free software events
* November 5-6, Seattle, Washington, [SeaGL 2021](https://seagl.org/) * November 6, online, [Legal Education Day (LED)](https://fsfe.org/news/2021/news-20211008-01.en.html) * November 27-28, online, [EmacsConf 2021](https://emacsconf.org/2021/) * December 3-4, Hyatt Regency Columbus, [OLF](https://olfconference.org/)
### Thank GNUs!
We appreciate everyone who donates to the Free Software Foundation, and we'd like to give special recognition to the folks who have donated $500 or more in the last month.
*
This month, a big Thank GNU to:
* David Joseph Sworin Trust * Trevor Spiteri * Camille Akmut * Steve Ayerhart * Joseph Cox
You can add your name to this list by donating at .
### GNU copyright contributions
Assigning your copyright to the Free Software Foundation helps us defend the GNU GPL and keep software free. The following individuals have assigned their copyright to the FSF (and allowed public appreciation) in the past month:
* Jai Thomas Crooks Flack (GNU Emacs) * Corwin Edward Brust (GNU Emacs) * Christophe Troestler (GNU Emacs) * Tyler Jeffrey Grinn (GNU Emacs) * Genki SATO (GNU Emacs)
Want to see your name on this list? Contribute to GNU and assign your copyright to the FSF.
*
### Translations of the *Free Software Supporter*
El Free Software Supporter está disponible en español. Para ver la versión en español haz click aqui:
**Para cambiar las preferencias de usuario y recibir los próximos números del Supporter en español, haz click aquí:**
Le Free Software Supporter est disponible en français. Pour voir la version française cliquez ici:
**Pour modifier vos préférences et recevoir les prochaines publications du Supporter en français, cliquez ici:**
O Free Software Supporter está disponível em português. Para ver a versão em português, clique aqui:
**Para alterar as preferências do usuário e receber as próximas edições do Supporter em português, clique aqui:**
### Take action with the FSF!
Contributions from thousands of individual associate members enable the FSF's work. You can contribute by joining at . 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!
The FSF is always looking for volunteers (). From rabble-rousing to hacking, from issue coordination to envelope stuffing -- there's something here for everybody to do. Also, head over to our campaigns section () and take action on software patents, Digital Restrictions Management (DRM), free software adoption, OpenDocument, and more.
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit .
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Welcome to the Free Software Supporter, the Free Software Foundation's (FSF) monthly news digest and action update -- being read by you and 227,477 other activists. That's 605 more than last month!
LibrePlanet 2022 returns online: Submit your session proposal by December 1
From October 6th
The fourteenth edition of the Free Software Foundation's (FSF) conference on technology and social justice will be held in spring 2022, online. The Call for Sessions is now open, and will close on December 1, 2021. Potential talks should examine free software through the lens of this year's theme: Living Liberation.
Want to read this newsletter translated into another language? Scroll to the end to read the Supporter in French, Spanish, or Portuguese.
FSF job opportunity: Outreach and communications coordinator
From September 2nd
Reporting to the executive director, the outreach and communications coordinator works closely with our campaigns, licensing, technical, and operations teams to plan, write, edit, publish, and promote high-quality, effective materials, both digital and printed. These materials are a critical part of advancing the FSF's work in support of the GNU Project, free software adoption, copyleft licensing, and freedom on the Internet; and against Digital Restrictions Management (DRM), software patents, and proprietary software. Nearly every publication from the FSF goes through this public-facing position, tying together our work across various constituencies.
Free Software Awards: Nominate those who help us live liberation by November 30th
From October 28th
The dedication of the developers, documentation writers, community organizers, and volunteers of the free software movement is what has helped us all live liberation in the years the free software movement has been active. Just using free software makes you part of our collective journey to freedom, but some go above and beyond in their dedication to the free software movement. Now, it's time for us to show those community members and projects that we appreciate their vital work.
October 5th marked the official release of Windows 11, a new version of the operating system that doesn't do anything at all to counteract Windows' long history of depriving users of freedom and digital autonomy. While we might have been encouraged by Microsoft's vague, aspirational slogans about community and togetherness, Windows 11 takes important steps in the wrong direction when it comes to user freedom.
Imagine your local farmers market: every Saturday the whole town comes together to purchase fresh and homemade goods, enjoy the entertainment, and find that there is always something for everyone. Whatever you need, you can find it here, and anyone can sign up to have their own little stand. It is a wonderful place, or so it seems. Now, imagine starting out as a pumpkin farmer, and you want to sell your pumpkins at this market. The market owner asks 30% of every pumpkin that you sell. It's steep, but the market owner -- we'll call him Mr. Apple -- owns all the markets in your area, so you have little choice.
Instead of trying to maintain the status quo one court case after the other, it is time to evolve, Apple, move forward with freedom, not against it. As one of the most successful and richest companies in the world, we can not let it tell us that absolute control over our user freedom is a justifiable price to pay to make sure its technology is up to par.
EmacsConf is the conference about the joy of Emacs and Emacs Lisp. The schedule for EmacsConf 2021 is now live, so help spread the word!
EmacsConf 2021 is held as an online conference again this year. We remain fully committed to freedom, and we will continue using our infrastructure and streaming setup consisting entirely of free software, much like previous EmacsConf conferences.
Software Freedom Conservancy files right-to-repair lawsuit against California TV manufacturer Vizio Inc. for alleged GPL violations
From October 19th by Software Freedom Conservancy
Software Freedom Conservancy announced it has filed a lawsuit against Vizio Inc. for what it calls repeated failures to fulfill even the basic requirements of the General Public License (GPL).
The lawsuit alleges that Vizio’s TV products, built on its SmartCast system, contain software that Vizio unfairly appropriated from a community of developers who intended users to have very specific rights to modify, improve, share, and reinstall modified versions of the software.
This minor update to the 9.x "Etiona" series is intended to provide an up to date set of ISO images, both for use as an installation medium and as a live environment with newer packages.
In other news, the development of Trisquel 10 is ongoing at great pace, with initial ISO images being now available for testing.
Ecodesign directive: FSFE calls for device neutrality and upcycling of software
From October 15th by FSFE
As a contribution to the revisal of the EU ecodesign directive and to help understand the impact of software obsolescence, the FSFE publishes a study on the sustainability of software. The findings of the study culminate in five core demands for a more sustainable digitization, covering the interplay of devices, software, and infrastructure.
Canon sued for disabling printer scanners when devices run out of ink
From October 19th by Karl Bode
For more than a decade now, computer printer manufacturers have been engaged in an endless quest called: "let's be as annoying as humanly possible." That quest, driven by a desire to monopolize and boost the sale of their own printer cartridges, has resulted in all manner of obnoxious Digital Restrictions Management (DRM) and other restrictions designed to make using cheaper, third-party printing cartridges a monumental headache. Often, software or firmware updates have been designed to intentionally grind printing to a halt if you try to use these alternative options.
Donald Trump’s new social network violated software-licensing terms, tech org says
From October 22nd by Todd Spangler
The Software Freedom Conservancy, which enforces free software software agreements, said Trump’s Truth social Web site — launched by the newly formed Trump Media & Technology Group — failed to provide the source code to users, as required under the Affero General Public License (AGPL), a “copyleft license” published by the Free Software Foundation.
Trump's new social media platform found using Mastodon code
From October 29 by Eugen Rochko
On Oct 26, we sent a formal letter to Truth Social’s chief legal officer, requesting the source code to be made publicly available in compliance with the license. According to AGPLv3, after being notified by the copyright holder, Truth Social has 30 days to comply or the license may be permanently revoked.
There are times when what looked like the right design choice some years back comes out as an odd choice as time passes. The beloved guix environment tool is having that fate. Its command-line interface has become non-intuitive and annoying for the most common use cases. Since it could not be changed without breaking compatibility in fundamental ways, we devised a new command meant to progressively replace it; guix shell -- that’s the name we unimaginatively ended up with -- has just landed after a three-week review period, itself a follow-up to discussions and hesitations on the best course of action.
This post introduces guix shell, how it differs from guix environment, the choices we made, and why we hope you will like it.
It is with heavy hearts that we mourn and celebrate our friend and colleague Elliot Harmon, who passed away peacefully on Saturday morning following a lengthy battle with melanoma. We will deeply miss Elliot’s clever mind, powerful pen, generous heart, and expansive kindness. We will carry his memory with us in our work.
We at the FSF greatly appreciate the work Elliot did as an advocate for user freedom, and are deeply saddened by this loss.
Join the FSF and friends in updating the Free Software Directory
Tens of thousands of people visit directory.fsf.org each month to discover free software. Each entry in the Directory contains a wealth of useful information, from basic category and descriptions to version control, IRC channels, documentation, and licensing. The Free Software Directory has been a great resource to software users over the past decade, but it needs your help staying up-to-date with new and exciting free software projects.
To help, join our weekly IRC meetings on Fridays. Meetings take place in the #fsf channel on Libera.Chat, and usually include a handful of regulars as well as newcomers. Libera.Chat is accessible from any IRC client -- Everyone's welcome!
The next meeting is Friday, November 5th from 12pm to 3pm EDT (16:00 to 19:00 UTC). Details here:
Every month on the LibrePlanet wiki, we highlight one resource that is interesting and useful -- often one that could use your help.
For this month, we are highlighting Skype Replacement, which provides information about real-time voice and video chat protocols and clients to help you and your loved ones communicate in freedom. You are invited to adopt, spread and improve this important resource.
We appreciate everyone who donates to the Free Software Foundation, and we'd like to give special recognition to the folks who have donated $500 or more in the last month.
Assigning your copyright to the Free Software Foundation helps us defend the GNU GPL and keep software free. The following individuals have assigned their copyright to the FSF (and allowed public appreciation) in the past month:
Jai Thomas Crooks Flack (GNU Emacs)
Corwin Edward Brust (GNU Emacs)
Christophe Troestler (GNU Emacs)
Tyler Jeffrey Grinn (GNU Emacs)
Genki SATO (GNU Emacs)
Want to see your name on this list? Contribute to GNU and assign your copyright to the FSF.
Contributions from thousands of individual associate members enable the FSF's work. You can contribute by joining at https://my.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:
The FSF is always looking for volunteers (https://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 campaigns section (https://www.fsf.org/campaigns) and take action on software patents, Digital Restrictions Management (DRM), free software adoption, OpenDocument, and more.
