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news → FSF reboots its High Priority list with a grant and call for input

FSF reboots its High Priority list with a grant and call for input

BOSTON, Massachusetts, USA -- Wednesday, October 1, 2008 -- The Free Software Foundation (FSF) today announced a "reboot" of its High Priority Projects list with an accompanying $10,000 grant from Worldlabel.com Inc. The grant will seed a new fund to promote projects on the list, and the FSF is calling for a community conversation about the biggest challenges computer users face using free "as in freedom" software.

Russell Ossendryver, owner of www.WorldLabel.com, said, "smaller companies and individuals can pool their resources in support of critical free software projects, but awareness is key. There are many threats from proprietary software and I wanted to contribute to a program that can help solve those problems. I am looking forward to working with the FSF to find creative ways to promote the cause."

FSF campaigns manager Joshua Gay emphasized that the list is not considered static or complete, and that the FSF is seeking community input. "The FSF is asking the community of free software users who understand the critical issues that free software faces to tell us about the areas where they face problems. Problems that affect the most users are of the highest priority."

The list is online at http://www.fsf.org/campaigns/priority.html. It includes Gnash, a project to replace Adobe's proprietary Flash player; Coreboot, a free software replacement for proprietary BIOSes; a call for a free software replacement for the VOIP and multimedia chat program Skype; a free software membership and donor transaction and contact system for non-profit organizations; a free software replacement for Google Earth; and several more.

While the FSF doesn't itself develop or take credit for these projects, it seeks to use its position and visibility in the community to help bring them beneficial help and attention.

About the Free Software Foundation

The Free Software Foundation, founded in 1985, is dedicated to promoting computer users' right to use, study, copy, modify, and redistribute computer programs. The FSF promotes the development and use of free (as in freedom) software -- particularly the GNU operating system and its GNU/Linux variants -- and free documentation for free software. The FSF also helps to spread awareness of the ethical and political issues of freedom in the use of software, and its Web sites, located at fsf.org and gnu.org, are an important source of information about GNU/Linux. Donations to support the FSF's work can be made at http://donate.fsf.org. Its headquarters are in Boston, MA, USA.