A poem about the impact of the process of software compilation over Freedom. Who can affirm that the meal we give you to eat is in correlation with the recipe we said it was made of ? Provocative thought.

"I discovered this older article by Terry Hancock, but find that it is still an excellent overview on the issues surrounding the possibility of free hardware development..."

Former Microsoft employee Keith Curtis publishes new book After the Software Wars on lulu.com. The key to faster technological progress is making software free, he writes. The difference between free, and non-free or proprietary software, is similar to the divide between science and alchemy.

"The following is a post from a guest, Ian Elwood, who has been involved in social justice movements for some time and has tried to bring the Free Software and Free Culture movements to them. We post it here because it expresses a voice in the discussion of free network services. Indymedia London recently considered questions very much like these. Ian Elwood’s thoughts follow..."

"October marked the beginning of a planning phase in FSFE. As well as planning our campaigns for next year, we've been working on some actions for around the upcoming festive season. Alongside the internal discussions, we've been asking the community for ideas when we go to events or hold Fellowship meetings.

Following up on the "IPR in ICT Standardisation" Workshop two weeks ago in Brussels, FSFE president Georg Greve analysed the conflicts between patents and standards. The resulting is paper about the most harmful effects of patents on standards, the effectiveness of current remedies, and potential future remedies.

"Every generation has its philosopher — a writer or an artist who captures the imagination of a time. Sometimes these philosophers are recognized as such; often it takes generations before the connection is made real. But recognized or not, a time gets marked by the people who speak its ideals, whether in the whisper of a poem, or the blast of a political movement.

"...Twenty-five years ago on September 27, 1983, I announced a plan to create a completely free operating system called GNU —- for 'GNU is not Unix' -- there are many ways you can help GNU and free software. One basic way is to join the Free Software Foundation as an Associate Member. -- Richard Stallman ..."