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Linux Jahresrückblick 2024: Die Windows-Alternative findet immer mehr Anhänger

03. Januar 2025 um 10:30

Lange fristete Linux im privaten Umfeld ein Nischendasein. Doch seit dem Steam Deck erfährt das Betriebssystem auf dem Desktop einen spürbaren Aufwind, tausenden funktionierenden Windows-Spielen sei Dank. Und mit dem Aus für Windows 10 in diesem Jahr könnten noch mehr Nutzer hellhörig werden. Ein Jahresrückblick mit Ausblick.

T minus 23 years until 2048

02. Januar 2025 um 23:00

T minus 23 years until 2048

"What will happen in the movement for software freedom in 2025? It is hard for me to make such predictions. What the past 20 years working for the Free Software Foundation Europe have taught me is to be prepared for the things you cannot predict." - Below a message from our president Matthias Kirschner to our readers.

While predicting the future is always hard, we know what we are aiming to accomplish in the long run.

Last year, we discussed what the world might would look like in the different areas of our work in 2048, if the FSFE is successful. Why 2048? Because the likelihood of any of us still being alive in 4096 is quite low ;)

This is our vision for the year 2048:

  • Everyone has the right to remove and install any software on any of their devices! As part of our work for device neutrality, we are already defending Free Software against Apple at the European Court of Justice, while we continue to advocate for router freedom. The push for device neutrality will be a cornerstone of our work in 2025 and beyond.
  • All public funding for software should be for Free Software only! This principle has been at the heart of our efforts, and we continue to advance it through various initiatives under the "Public Money? Public Code!" motto. Last year, we further supported public administrations in their transition to Free Software; in December we were invited to participate as experts in a hearing in the German parliament; as part of our watchdog role we held decision-makers accountable for their work in this area; and in 2025 we will pilot a new event format on "Public Money? Public Code!".
  • All regulatory frameworks encourage the use and development of Free Software. In recent years we have witnessed an increase in regulation in our field of work. Last year, we were engaged with the Cyber Resilience Act (CRA), the Product Liability Directive (PLD), the AI Act, the Interoperable Europe Act, and other regulations. In 2025 and beyond, we will continue to serve as an independent voice for individual contributors and users and we will ensure that decision-makers understand and value the contributions by Free Software companies to society. And we want regulatory frameworks to recognise those contributions, by incentivising companies and organisations to develop and use Free Software.
  • Licensing and legal decisions are based on facts, rather than fear, uncertainty, and doubt. Free Software contributors should be able to focus on contributing to society without constantly worrying about legal issues. As in 2024, we will keep providing a safe and neutral space for controversial legal and licensing discussions with the FSFE's Legal & Licensing Workshop. We will continue our decades of work supporting Free Software contributors with their legal questions. In 2025, we will launch a new format for our work on legal education, in addition to our Licensing and Legal FAQs.
  • Young people have the opportunity to tinker, experiment and code with Free Software as the default. As well as calling for “Public Money? Public Code!” for the education sector, we are encouraging young people to code and experience how much fun it is to shape technology! In 2025 we will be conducting the fourth edition of our European programming competition "Youth Hacking 4 Freedom". In this contest, teenagers across Europe can win €1024, €2048, or €4096 for their Free Software project. Our goal is for young people from all over Europe to see what others in their peer group can accomplish with software, and to get inspired and motivated. We bring the winners together in Brussels to celebrate their hard persistent work, connect with each other in person, receive their awards, have a good time, and show their parents that what their children are doing is great, even if they might not fully understand anything about computers themselves. And we help them connect more with the Free Software community. Besides that, we will continue to translate and publish the "Ada & Zangemann" book and the movie, and help people organising events to spark children's interest in technology.

You see, there is a lot of work ahead of us over the next 23 years. As in the past 40 years of our movement, it will not be easy. We will have to work hard every day to accomplish this and I am confident that we will also accomplish some of those goals before 2048.

I am thankful to all the FSFE supporters, who are part of the FSFE's ongoing efforts. I promise you that, today and in the next years, the FSFE will work hard to make our goals for 2048 a reality. Together we will make a positive impact on our society. Let us make sure that whenever we have a look back, we will be proud of our joint efforts for software freedom!

All the best, Matthias Kirschner President, Free Software Foundation Europe

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Nobara 41: Neue Version der Gaming-Linux-Distribution veröffentlicht

Von:MK
02. Januar 2025 um 13:30

Das Nobara-Projekt hat die neueste Version seiner Fedora-basierten Distribution für Gamer veröffentlicht: Nobara 41. Diese Version bringt einzigartige Tools, zahlreiche Leistungsverbesserungen und basiert auf Fedora Linux 41. Ein wichtiges Update ist die Umstellung auf den Open-Source-Treiber für NVIDIA-Grafikkarten als Standard. Zusätzlich bietet Nobara 41 eine cuda-devel-Option für CUDA-Pakete sowie die neuesten stabilen Vulkan-Treiber. Auch das […]

Der Beitrag Nobara 41: Neue Version der Gaming-Linux-Distribution veröffentlicht erschien zuerst auf fosstopia.

KDE Plasma 6.2.5: Letzte Version der 6.2-Serie veröffentlicht

Von:MK
02. Januar 2025 um 07:00

Über einen Monat nach der Version 6.2.4 hat das KDE-Team die neueste und finale Bugfix-Version der 6.2-Serie veröffentlicht: KDE Plasma 6.2.5. Neue Funktionen gibt es nicht, stattdessen konzentriert sich das Update auf die Verbesserung bestehender Features und die Behebung von Fehlern. Zu den Highlights gehört eine Optimierung im Modul KScreenLocker, das nun den Sperrbildschirm stabiler […]

Der Beitrag KDE Plasma 6.2.5: Letzte Version der 6.2-Serie veröffentlicht erschien zuerst auf fosstopia.

Debian 13 Trixie: Erste Alpha-Version des Installers veröffentlicht

Von:MK
01. Januar 2025 um 12:39

Am letzten Tag des Jahres 2024 hat Debian die erste Alpha-Version des Installers für die kommende Version Debian 13 „Trixie“ veröffentlicht. Bei der Hardwareunterstützung gibt es einige Änderungen. Die Architekturen *armel und i386 bleiben zwar im Archiv, erhalten jedoch keine eigenen Installer-Builds mehr. Die Architektur mipsel, die bereits letztes Jahr entfernt wurde, fehlt ebenfalls. Neu […]

Der Beitrag Debian 13 Trixie: Erste Alpha-Version des Installers veröffentlicht erschien zuerst auf fosstopia.

The FSFE promotes freedom of software, hardware, and data

30. Dezember 2024 um 23:00

The FSFE promotes freedom of software, hardware, and data

The ZOOOM (3Os) Initiative promotes innovation based on freedom of software, hardware, and data. With its recent conclusion, the FSFE hopes to inspire broader use and effective application of Free Software by business, academia, and the public sector.

Free Software, Open Data and Open Hardware are essential building blocks for a sustainable and trustworthy industrial and commercial ecosystem. Nevertheless, business, academia, and the public sector sometimes lack important fundamental understandings of these topics, and as a result many industries often develop systemic problems by matching business models with inappropriate licensing frameworks, or even without sufficient frameworks at all.

To help solve these problems, the FSFE became a partner of the ZOOOM Initiative (3Os – Open Source Software, Open Data, Open Hardware), that started in 2022. This European project funded by the European Commission aimed to build competence and raise awareness on the importance of proper management of these three open assets (Software, Hardware, and Data). The FSFE contributed specifically in the research and the development of educational materials on various topics related to Free Software, tailored for industrial and commercial needs. We are pleased to share the outcomes of our collaborative work with our ZOOOM partners over the past 2 years.

Innovative research involving open assets

Together with our ZOOOM consortium partners, we have conducted innovative research to understand commonalities and interactions on the issues faced when dealing collectively with Free Software, Open Hardware, and Open Data. The results have been documented in a report that assists stakeholders with understanding the 3Os and proposes strategies to align their business models with the complexities characterizing each of these open ecosystems.

To support this reporting, the FSFE also conducted extensive research and analysis on Free Software legal issues for business and innovation. As a result of this work, we have contributed to a review of legal cases on issues related to the 3Os, specifically on legal cases related to Free Software. Those interested in an overview of legal issues in open hardware and open data will also find this review useful.

The ZOOOM project broke AI down into its most fundamental elements, so research involving Free Software licensing is facilitated.

Recommendations on Free Software AI licensing

Another significant outcome of this European project was the creation of a comprehensive paper on Free Software and openness in the area of artificial intelligence development. This paper examined the convergence of Free Software and AI focusing on the legal aspects of licensing

In the paper, we considered the necessity to promote openness in a manner that respects the principles of Free Software, especially in light of the various challenges in achieving such openness in AI licensing. In particular, we highlighted the uncoordinated growing proliferation of licenses claiming to be “free and open source” in the AI scene, but that actually impose extra limitations on software freedom and that may lead to license incompatibility.

To improve the situation, we proposed three important recommendations:

  1. Preserving openness in AI by safeguarding the Four Freedoms of Free Software;
  2. Keeping licensing of AI technologies cohesive and interoperable with Free Software licenses;
  3. Encouraging engagement with civil society actors in initiatives aimed to make AI more open, accessible, transparent, and auditable.

The drafting of these papers with our ZOOOM consortium partners has also enabled us to raise awareness among the academic community about the importance of Free Software and open concepts, as they relate to software, hardware, and data.

The hybrid nature of AI, involving data and code, poses challenges for licensing. The ZOOOM project analysed this in detail from the perspective of Free Software.

Development of training materials

In addition to these research activities, we contributed to the development of training materials intended for any organisation – private or public – to equip users with the knowledge and skills needed to navigate Free Software, open hardware, and open data. The training toolkit can be especially useful for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) across Europe with the necessary skills to adopt strategies and evaluate business modules that relate to open technologies.

Check out our Legal Education Day playlist

Successful outreach in Europe for Free Software

The ZOOOM project also engaged in an extensive awareness campaign to promote our work, and general awareness of the principles of Free Software, Open Hardware, and Open Data. As part of this campaign, more than 40 events were organised. The FSFE spoke at various conferences and events across Europe, including at FOSDEM 2024, DORS/CLUC 2024, and SFSCon 2022

Additionally, the ZOOOM consortium organized exclusive meetups and events involving a broad range of stakeholders (academia, public sector and business), to further promote Free Software in Ljubljana, Trento, and Brussels.

The ZOOOM project allowed the FSFE to reach university students, academics, and science folks to raise awareness for the importance of Free Software.

Sustainability goal: open science

In only two years, the ZOOOM project produced comprehensive research merging aspects of Free Software, Open Data and Open Hardware. Focusing on the importance of these assets for the future of AI, the initiative not only produced scientific materials tackling legal and business issues regarding Free Software, but also developed a series of recommendations. The next steps are to deploy further the material produced, engaging with organisations and individuals interested in reusing and developing further the materials.

If you are interested in knowing more about the wealth of knowledge produced by ZOOOM, feel free to reach out!

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