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Software Freedom Day (SFD) is an annual worldwide celebration of Free Software organized by the 
SFD wiki
contains individual team pages describing their plans as well as helpful information to get them up to speed. Events themselves varies between conferences explaining the virtues of Free and Open Source Software, to workshops, demonstrations, games, planting tree ceremonies, discussions and InstallFests.
Press coverage
Software Freedom Day
Intellectual property activism International observances Unofficial observances September observances Saturday observances Holidays and observances by scheduling (nth weekday of the month) Recurring events established in 2004
Software Freedom Day (SFD) is an annual worldwide celebration of Free Software organized by the Digital Freedom Foundation
Digital Freedom Foundation (DFF) is a non-profit organization established in 2004. The group is the lead organizer of Software Freedom Day, and Hardware Freedom Day, as well as other "freedom days".
History
The organization was founded in 2 ...
(DFF). SFD is a public education effort with the aim of increasing awareness of Free Software and its virtues, and encouraging its use.
SFD was established in 2004 and was first observed on 28 August of that year. About 12 teams participated in the first Software Freedom Day. Since that time it has grown in popularity and while organisers anticipated more than 1,000 teams in 2010 the event has stalled at around 400+ locations over the past two years, representing a 30% decrease over 2009.
Since 2006 Software Freedom Day has been held on the third Saturday of September. In 2022, this event will be held on 17 September.
Organization
Each event is left to local teams around the world to organize. Pre-registered teams (2 months before the date or earlier) receive free schwag sent by DFF to help with the events themselves. ThSFD wiki
contains individual team pages describing their plans as well as helpful information to get them up to speed. Events themselves varies between conferences explaining the virtues of Free and Open Source Software, to workshops, demonstrations, games, planting tree ceremonies, discussions and InstallFests.
Past events
Note on the figures above: it is difficult to find figures of the early years. The maps on the SFD website are only reliable after 2007, however some years such as 2009 saw extra teams from two different sources which did not "officially" register with DFF. There was about 80 teams from China and a hundred from the Sun community (OSUM) who heavily subsidized goodies for their teams. In the early year of SFD the map was an optional component not connected with the registration script and therefore some teams did not go through the troubles of adding themselves.Sponsors
The primary sponsor from the start was Canonical Ltd., the company behind Ubuntu, aLinux distribution
A Linux distribution (often abbreviated as distro) is an operating system made from a software collection that includes the Linux kernel and, often, a package management system. Linux users usually obtain their operating system by downloading one ...
. Then IBM, Sun Microsystems
Sun Microsystems, Inc. (Sun for short) was an American technology company that sold computers, computer components, software, and information technology services and created the Java programming language, the Solaris operating system, ZFS, the ...
, DKUUG, Google, Red Hat
Red Hat, Inc. is an American software company that provides open source software products to enterprises. Founded in 1993, Red Hat has its corporate headquarters in Raleigh, North Carolina, with other offices worldwide.
Red Hat has become ass ...
, Linode, Nokia and now MakerBot Industries
MakerBot Industries, LLC is an American desktop 3D printer manufacturer company headquartered in New York City. It was founded in January 2009 by Bre Pettis, Adam Mayer, and Zach "Hoeken" Smith to build on the early progress of the RepRap Proje ...
have joined the supporting organisations as well as the FSF and the FSFE. IBM and Sun Microsystems
Sun Microsystems, Inc. (Sun for short) was an American technology company that sold computers, computer components, software, and information technology services and created the Java programming language, the Solaris operating system, ZFS, the ...
are currently not sponsoring the event. In terms of media coverage DFF is partnering with '' Linux Magazine'', ''Linux Journal
''Linux Journal'' (''LJ'') is an American monthly technology magazine originally published by Specialized System Consultants, Inc. (SSC) in Seattle, Washington since 1994. In December 2006 the publisher changed to Belltown Media, Inc. in Houston ...
'' and '' Ubuntu User''. Each local team can seek sponsors independently, especially local FOSS supporting organisations and often appears in local medias such as newspapers and TV.See also
*Outline of free software
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to free software and the free software movement:
Free software – software which can be run, studied, examined, modified, and redistributed freely (without any cost). ...
*Document Freedom Day
Document Freedom Day (DFD) is an annual event to "celebrate and raise awareness of Open Standards". It is celebrated on the last Wednesday of March each year. Document Freedom Day was first celebrated on 26 March 2008, and has continued to be cele ...
*Hardware Freedom Day
Hardware Freedom Day is an annual celebration organized by the Digital Freedom Foundation. The goal of Hardware Freedom Day is to celebrate the spirit of Open-source hardware, open hardware and make more people aware of using and contributing to fr ...
*Culture Freedom Day
Culture Freedom Day is an observance of free culture. It takes place annually on the third Saturday of May. It aims at educating the worldwide public about the benefits of using and encouraging free culture as well as providing an international da ...
*Public Domain Day
Public Domain Day (PDD) is an observance of when copyrights expire and works enter into the public domain. This legal transition of copyright works into the public domain usually happens every year on January 1 based on the individual copyright ...
*International Day Against DRM
International Day Against DRM (IDAD), sometimes called just Day Against DRM or anti-DRM day, is a grassroots international observance of protests against digital rights management (DRM) technology. The event is intended as "a counterpoint to the ...
, promoted by the Free Software Foundation in its Defective by Design campaign
References
External links
{{commons categorySoftware Freedom Day
Intellectual property activism International observances Unofficial observances September observances Saturday observances Holidays and observances by scheduling (nth weekday of the month) Recurring events established in 2004