For this year's "I love Free Software Day" I would like to thank the maintainers of Free Software documentation, and here especially the maintainers of the ArchWiki . Maintainers in general, and maintainers of documentation most of the time get way too little recognition for their contributions to software freedom. Myself, Arch Project Leader Levente, ArchWiki maintainer Ferdinand (Alad), and…
On 27 November 2024 together with over 800 guests, most of them children, we had the German premiere of "Ada & Zangemann - Tale of Software, Skateboards, and Raspberry Ice Cream" the movie. It was screened in the biggest cinema in Germany, the Lichtburg in Essen. This day was one of the greatest days in my life. I still get goose bumps, when I think about the moment when Laura Knöll, a moderator…
Many books have influenced my life. Especially when I was a kid and others would read to me. Sitting cosily on a sofa, imagining the story being brought to life by the beloved voice reading it aloud. One of my highlights was the time my, at that time, favourite author did a reading in our school; an experience that left a deep impression on me. That is why, due to my own experience, I consider it…
On today's "I love Free Software Day" I would like to thank again Bram Moolenaar, creator of the widely used Vim text editor and all the people active in the community around VIM. While many people in the movement for software freedom know about VI, VIM, NeoVim, or other flavours, for many people outside our movement this software is installed on their computers, but often without them actively…
As you might have seen, the French version "Ada & Zangemann - Un conte sur les logiciels, le skateboard et la glace à la framboise" is now available from C & F éditions . On their website, you can also get access to the e-book, which thanks to the "French Department of Digital for Education" is available free of charge. Many things happened around the French version. On 4 December 2023, the French…
In July this year I participated at Digitalcourage 's "Aktivcongress", a yearly meeting for activists in Germany. Digitalcourage has been campaigning for a world worth living in the digital age since 1987. I participated in sessions about Free Software, had a lightning talk about the "I love Free Software day" , and I did two readings of the book "Ada & Zangemann - A Tale of Software, Skateboards,…
Recently I received an e-mail with pictures which touched me, and which showed me how important it is to think about diversity when creating illustrations. The photos were taken in a school at a hospital run by an international medical organisation that operates in the Middle East and showed children reading the Arabic translation of Ada & Zangemann - A Tale of Software, Skateboards, and Raspberry…
My English book Ada & Zangemann - A Tale of Software, Skateboards, and Raspberry Ice Cream can be pre-ordered at No Starch Press with the coupon code "Hacking4Freedom" . This still feels a bit like a wonderful dream to me and I am so thankful it all worked out. I hope you will enjoy reading the book yourself and to others, that you share it with children around you to inspire their interest in…
In June, I did several readings of "Ada & Zangeamnn - A tale of software, skateboards, and raspberry ice cream" in German. The first one was on 2 June at the public library in Cologne Porz, which also acts as a makerspace. There I was reading the book to visitors of the public library, which resulted in a quite diverse audience considering age and technical background. At this reading, I also for…
In February 2020, I was giving a talk titled "The core values of software freedom" at FOSDEM's largest auditorium ( video recording ). It was great to talk to such a large audience and have all those great discussions afterwards. Briefly afterwards, in March 2020, I gave the same talk at FOSS Backstage ( video recording ), especially enjoying the Q&A afterwards. Unfortunately, then the pandemic…