Free Software Foundation Europe, Germany
AssociaÇão Nacional para o Software Livre,
Portugal
Association ABUL, France
Association For Free Software, UK
Association Pour la Promotion et la Recherche en Informatique
Libre, France
Centro Tempo Reale, Italy
DIST-Università di Genova, Italy
Easter-eggs, France
Groupe des Ecoles de Telecommunications (GET), France
g10 Code GmbH, Germany
Intevation GmbH, Germany
MandrakeSoft, France
LinuxTag e.V., Germany
Prosa Progettazione Sviluppo Aperto S.r.l., Italy
Verein zur Förderung Freier Software, Austria
Verein zur Förderung Informationen und Software e.V.,
Germany
V2 Organisation, Institute for the Unstable Media,
Netherlands
VIPS Lab, Italy
[wearlab]@TZi, Germany
werk21, Germany
Free Software - sometimes also referred to as ``Libre software'' or ``Open Source Software'' [*] - is best defined by the following four freedoms:
Free Software provides a new concept, a new discipline as a
stable basis for the information age and the knowledge economy. Its
working principles are changing the IT sector towards a more
stable, lasting and sustainable approach with higher dynamics and
increased efficiency.
Any region adopting Free Software on a larger basis can benefit
in terms of
Greater independence from foreign interests | |
Increased sustainability | |
Freedom from foreign mono- and oligopolies | |
Alternative hard- and software possibilities | |
Strengthened domestic market and local industries | |
Better cooperation between research and economy | |
Encouraged transdisciplinary research | |
Better protection of civil rights |
For a more detailed explanation, please see the
Recommendation of the Free Software Foundation Europe (FSF
Europe) and supporting parties for the European Community framework
programme 2002-2006 of April 30th, 2002, [*]in which the FSF
Europe with support of about 50 European companies, research
institutes and associations explains in more detail why and how
Free Software offers these advantages.
This integrated project is aimed towards mass adoption of Free Software in all IT fields.
Software is the lifeblood, medium and fundament of the
information society and knowledge economy. Therefore, providing and
furthering the strongest and most durable infrastructure has to be
a goal of any region willing to participate in the information
age.
Because of its significant advantages, it is obvious that the first
region to adopt and support research and implementation in Free
Software on a larger scale can profit enormously and get a
head-start in the information society.
Other regions are beginning to get ready to capitalise on these
advantages, as - for instance - the recent activities in Peru have
shown. [*]
Europe, however, is given a uniquely favorable position to
become the global leader in the Information Economy due to its
vibrant Free Software community. It has already begun taking small
steps in this direction within the 5th Framework Programme that
should be built upon now.
LAFIS intends to promote an Integrated Project to solve problems
and close gaps which are present or will arise in Free Software
development and production. In doing so, it will complete the
infrastructure needed for global mass adpotion of Free Software in
Europe by end-users, companies, governmental institutions
etc.
Through this, LAFIS will lay the foundations for a European information society.
Although the 6th Framework Programme and Europe in general would
profit immensely from the mass-adoption of Free Software, the
current structure of the FP6 makes it difficult to provide adequate
support for Free Software. There are several reasons for this that
we would like to bring into the FP6 thought process.
First of all, Free Software is not limited to a single domain or
thematic area, its positive effects transcend research disciplines,
markets, society. The Free Software paradigm changes the workings
and rules of software towards a climate that rewards cooperative
efforts and stronger integration. This sort of climate change,
although very obvious, is hard to quantify.
The paradigms are shifted away from a supply-driven IT industry
towards a demand-driven model. In other words: The user truly
becomes a determining factor. Therefore the direction of important
Free Software projects is often hard to predict. Demand may
overrule the ideas of supply and give the project a new direction.
This very positive effect - some people go as far as calling it
``collateral use'' - makes Free Software harder to predict.
Also: Players in the Free Software field can currently not be
judged by their finances. Competence, not money is the most
important capital of Free Software players today. Although this is
likely to change with a greater adoption of Free Software, it is a
problem we face in relation with the FP6.
The ``Funding by size'' paradigm is one that is likely to fail for
Free Software, because in the current situation it would usually
further the least competent parties.
These problems should be addressed and discussed to find a solution that will allow Europe to capitalise on the advantages of Free Software in the best and most efficient way.
The objectives of LAFIS are finding and completing powerful
solutions for fundamental technical and technological problems,
fill strategically important gaps in Free Software and to promote
it along with the ethical principles that underlie its production
towards mass adoption in every information technology field as the
preferrable solution.
Some current gaps, needs and problems are:
LAFIS approaches the objectives by assembling a consortium of
the most knowledgeable and strongest European players in the Free
Software field to coordinate multiple sub-projects to research and
development in the fields touched by the problems listed in
section 1.2 and
tasks/projects necessary for their success.
The purpose of this approach is to give the European Free Software
community an active and efficient way of getting involved in
essential solutions to current problems of strategic interest.
Software has not only become a seminal economic and cultural
property, it also provides the grounds upon which the information
society and economy will be built.
Those who depend on foreign interests to uphold their own
economy, communication, education and research will most likely not
become key players in the information age. Becoming and remaining
independent >From foreign hardware and software oligopolies is a
crucial step towards a sustainable and lasting approach.
As laid out in the recommendation referenced on page [*] in
section 1, Free Software
offers protection from foreign and internal hardware and software
monopolies, encourages freedom of markets, protects privacy and
therefore trust in information technologies, furthers research and
education and empowers all Europeans to become active participants
in the information society.
Through LAFIS, Europe will not only gain the necessary foundations for the desired knowledge economy, it will also make a leap towards becoming the global leader and region of competence for these technologies.
The main objective of LAFIS is to find optimal answers for the needs arising out of the shift towards a knowledge society as described in section 1.2. Many of these solutions have not yet been found, nor can they be found in the current development trend of Free Software. Finding them requires fundamented research and development, which would best be done within a the organisation of an integrated project of the size and partnership as outlined in the 6th EC Framework Programme. As such, the ambitions of LAFIS are:
The objectives stated in section 1.2 on page [*] will best be reached through the following activities:
In order to reach these objectives and to set up these activities, a consortium of the most knowledgeable and most experienced Free Software players in Europe will be constituted, including
Organisation | Country | Web page | |
---|---|---|---|
Area of Excellence | |||
Role in Project | |||
1 | FSF Europe | Germany | http://fsfeurope.org |
Competence center; Partner ``AGNULA'' (IST-2001-34879); Co-maintainer of GPL/LGPL and GNU Project | |||
Coordination, Community-interaction, Competence, Vision, Integration, Business-models, Legal Aspects | |||
2 | ABUL | France | http://www.abul.org |
Free Software association furthering Education; Organiser Libre Software Meeting | |||
Events, Education, Community-interaction & local competence | |||
3 | ANSOL | Portugal | http://www.ansol.org |
Free Software association furthering Free Software in Portugal | |||
Community-interaction & local competence | |||
4 | AFFS | United Kingdom | http://www.affs.org.uk |
Free Software association furthering Free Software in the UK | |||
Community-interaction & local competence | |||
5 | APRIL | France | http://www.april.org |
Free Software association furthering Free Software in France | |||
Community-interaction & local competence | |||
6 | Centro Tempo Reale | Italy | http://www.centrotemporeale.it |
Center devoted to music research, production and education. Coordinator AGNULA project (IST-2001-34879) | |||
Audio & Multimedia, development | |||
7 | DIST-Università | Italy | http://infomus.dist.unige.it |
Multimedia lab, EC projects: MEGA, CARE-HERE, MoSART | |||
Multimedia and expressive/emotional software, development | |||
8 | Easter-Eggs | France | http://www.easter-eggs.com |
Company for Free Software & GNU/Linux | |||
Business integration, development | |||
9 | GET | France | http://www.get-telecom.fr |
Consortium of the seven major French Graduate Schools for Information Technology | |||
Communcation technology & research, development | |||
10 | g10 Code GmbH | Germany | http://www.g10code.de |
Home of GnuPG, only supported major OpenPGP implementation; Project partner ``Egypt'' (BSI) | |||
Cryptography & Security, Business integration, development | |||
11 | Intevation GmbH | Germany | http://www.intevation.de |
Geographic Information Systems, Strategic Free Software consulting; Project partner ``Egypt'' (BSI) | |||
GIS, Business integration, usability design, development | |||
12 | LinuxTag e.V. | Germany | http://www.linuxtag.org |
Largest Free Software event organiser; Organiser of LinuxTag | |||
Events & Conferences, development | |||
13 | MandrakeSoft | France | http://www.mandrakesoft.com |
Producer and publisher of ``Mandrake'' GNU/Linux distribution | |||
End-user interaction, packaging, business integration, development | |||
14 | Prosa | Italy | http://www.prosa.it |
Services around GNU/Linux and Free Software | |||
Business integration, development | |||
15 | FFS | Austria | http://www.ffs.or.at |
Free Software association furthering Free Software in Austria | |||
Community-interaction & local competence | |||
16 | ffis | Germany | http://www.ffis.de |
Free Software association furthering Free Software in Germany | |||
Community-interaction & local competence | |||
17 | V2 | Netherlands | http://www.v2.nl |
Free Software in art, culture, engineering | |||
Multimedia, art, communication, development | |||
18 | VIPS Lab | Italy | http://vips.sci.univr.it |
Coordinator SOb project IST-2000-25287; Partner ARROV; Organiser COST-G6 Conference in 2000 | |||
Computer vision, pattern recognition, image and sound processing, development | |||
19 | [wearlab]@TZi | Germany | http://www.wearlab.de |
Center for mobile/wearable computing at University of Bremen | |||
Mobile/wearable computing, development | |||
20 | werk21 | Germany | http://www.werk21.de |
Agency for communication & design, organiser ``Bundestux'' | |||
Publications, material, end-user integration |