Battleangel

I got a mail from the Thank Poland campaign. They encourage supporters to visit the EV50 (European of the Year) poll and make a stand against software patents.

The founder of the NoSoftwarePatents.com campaign, Florian Mueller, is currently running in an Internet poll for the “European of the Year” against such celebrities as U2 frontman Bono and politicians like Schroeder, Merkel and Blair. For voting recommendations and further information, please click here:

http://www.nosoftwarepatents.com/en/m/ev50/vote.html

When I was in Warsaw, I learned from Polish politicians that Florian’s NoSoftwarePatents.com campaign website has had a significant impact among them. Two Polish politicians have told me personally that they had printed out information from NoSoftwarePatents.com and used it to inform other politicians about the issue. Florian, who had come to Warsaw for the “Thank Poland” ceremony, also played a key role during the press conference afterwards.

In view of all this, I have no doubt that Florian deserves to win those “Campaigner of the Year” and “European of the Year” awards. There is a realistic chance that we can, by voting for him on the Internet, make him the new “European of the Year”, which would demonstrate to politicians, the press and the public that software patents are highly unpopular. Hence, every vote for Florian is a strong vote for freedom from software patents.

It is necessary to vote for one candidate in each of the ten categories. Florian is running in two of them, and there are also other categories in which we can support those who opposed software patents and vote against those who wanted to make software legally patentable in Europe.

To reiterate, voting suggestions can be found on no software patents.com. Mueller is nominated as “Campaigner of the Year” and “European of the Year.” Oh and by the way, steer clear of McCreevy. Needless to say, Florian Müller is up against some pretty stiff competition. But I am confident that we will again show the establishment what a unified and powerful force we can be when we choose to.