opensource
Free Software Foundation
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FSF Logo

Founding

October 4th, 1985[1]

Headquarters

Boston, Massachusetts

President

Geoffrey Knauth

Website

fsf.org

The Free Software Foundation is a nonprofit organization that promotes the use and creation of Free and Open Source Software. The Free Software Foundation runs many campaigns and is actively involved in may open source projects.

About

The Free Software Foundation maintains a variety of resources for open source developers to create FOSS software. The Free Software Foundation also runs campaigns to promote open source software. The Free Software Foundation also owns the copyrights to many programs (although they license them under GPL). This gives them the ability to sue companies and individuals who violate the license. They also have guides for users on how to find open source software and how they can use it. This allows many users who do not know much about computers to easily adopt more open source programs.

Campaigns

The Free Software Foundation runs many campaigns to try to improve the internet and software landscape for everybody. Their campaigns range from fighting for the right to repair all, free hardware, and working to eliminate DRM.

Freedom Ladder

The Freedom Ladder campaign is a campaign that works to help users get into the open source landscape and start to switch to open software. It consists of a guide that helps users start with free software, and it helps them move away from proprietary software.[2]

Fight to Repair

Fight to Repair is a campaign which is working to support right to repair initiatives around the world. This consists of convincing companies to allow repairing devices, as well as working to get legislation passed with mandates right to repair in computer hardware.[3]

Free JavaScript

The Free JavaScript campaign is working to get websites to use free JavaScript. Many sites use JavaScript to run everything from menus to buttons to music. Since JavaScript is code, it is eligible for copyright. This campaign works to convince website to only run JavaScript which is open sourced so that users aren't forced to run proprietary code.[4]

Secure Boot vs Restricted Boot

Secure Boot is a feature added to computer BIOS's which allows the computer to verify the correct operating system is loading on startup. This helps prevent sophisticated viruses called rootkits. However, some manufactures may abuse this feature to restrict what operating systems can be loaded on a computer. This campaign works to insure that this feature does not get abused and is used for security only.[5]

Resist Surveillance

This campaign is a response to the NSA surveillance that was revealed in 2013. The FSF recommends switching to open software to help avoid surveillance. It would be very difficult to surveil open source programs since their code can be viewed by anyone, which means that people could discover the surveillance code and remove it. Additionally, they are working to get the United States and other countries to outlaw such surveillance.[6]

Upgrade from Windows

This campaign is self-explanatory. It advocates for users to move from Windows to Linux (or, as the FSF calls it, GNU/Linux).

Defective by Design

This campaign works to get rid of DRM in programs. DRM is a part of programs which restricts their use in some way. Usually, it prohibits running unauthorized copies of such programs. However, DRM typically has problems in it that can prevent legitimate users from using the software. The FSF believes that DRM limits the rights of users since they can't freely distribute or use the program.

Play Ogg

This campaign urges users to use the .ogg file format instead of MP3 or other formats. However, this campaign has been largely rendered obsolete since the MP3 patent has expired, which means that it is also free software now.[7]

End Software Patents

This campaign works to end software patents, as the name suggests. Software Patents are patents that prevent people other than the patent holder from creating programs that preform a certain action without a license. The FSF says that this has been abused in the past because some of the patents are very generic and they restrict the ability to create competing software, which means that everyone suffers, except for the patent holder.

Campaign for OpenDocument

This campaign works to convince governments to release their documents in open file formats, such as .odf instead of .docx (Microsoft Word's file format). The FSF believes that forcing users to use non-opensource document formats violates user rights since they force them to use a non-free license.[8]

Campaign for Hardware that Supports Free Software

This campaign works to help people find hardware that supports free and open source software. It also works to convince hardware manufactures to support free software with their products.

Free BIOS Campaign

The Free BIOS Campaign works to create BIOS code that is open source. Since the FSF believes that everything should be open source, they want to make sure that people can run a BIOS that is written in open source code. They also help users find out how to get a Free BIOS.

Funding

The Free Software Foundation is funded well for its current operations. They are able to promote free software and help enforce licenses. In 2017 they had $1,373,645 in funding.[9]

References

  1. ↑ https://corp.sec.state.ma.us/CorpWeb/CorpSearch/CorpSummary.aspx?sysvalue=AYJWph6_goaQ0uN4EZuhbV50Wm3aPPBRHI8_5qC0vtI-
  2. ↑ https://libreplanet.org/wiki/Group:Freedom_Ladder
  3. ↑ https://www.fsf.org/campaigns/fight-to-repair
  4. ↑ https://www.fsf.org/campaigns/freejs
  5. ↑ https://www.fsf.org/campaigns/campaigns/secure-boot-vs-restricted-boot
  6. ↑ https://www.fsf.org/campaigns/surveillance
  7. ↑ https://www.fsf.org/campaigns/playogg/en/
  8. ↑ https://www.fsf.org/campaigns/opendocument
  9. ↑ file:///C:/Users/brand/AppData/Local/Temp/Form990_FY2014.pdf