In the summer of 2022, The Lunduke Journal signed an open letter -- penned by The Free Software Foundation Europe -- entitled "The universal right to install any software on any device".
That letter was hand delivered to the Chair of the Digital Affairs Committee at the German Bundestag on November 14th, 2023.
That open letter contained four key requests of legislators in the European Union:
Users have the right to freely choose operating systems and software running on their devices
Users have the right to freely choose between service providers to connect their devices with
Devices are interoperable and compatible with open standards
Source code of drivers, tools, and interfaces are published under a free license
That first request being of particular interest to The Lunduke Journal -- the ability to install whatever software you wish (including any operating system) is critical to the future of computing.
The Lunduke Journal was joined by a number of organizations and companies who also signed the letter, including: GNOME, /e/ Foundation, Fairphone, KDE, Purism, The Software Freedom Conservancy, and many others.
Upon receiving the letter, the Chair of the Digital Affairs Committee, Tabea Rößner, stated the following:
“So many devices end up on the scrapyard after just two or three years. But the devices are still in good condition and could be made to last with new software. We could bring them back to life, especially with Free Software. It would be a real sustainability effect if we had the right to install any software on any device. That's why this initiative is absolutely worth supporting.”
What impact this will have remains to be seen.
For the moment, all we can say for certain is that Tabea Rößner stated that she would hand over the letter to Germany's Federal Minister for "the Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety and Consumer Protection".
Which, at least, is something. It's not a lot, mind you. Little more than someone taking a piece of paper and saying "I'll make sure this gets all the attention it deserves." But, just the same, it never hurts to try.
