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https://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/look-at-what-weve-achieved-together

Dear Ruben Safir,

When the Free Software Foundation (FSF) began forty years ago,
its primary focus was providing a legal home for the GNU
operating system and developing vital GNU software like Bash and
the GNU Core Utilities (Coreutils). As time has gone on, our work
advocating for free software rather than simply writing it has become
more varied and elaborate, partially in response to the billions of
dollars corporations like Microsoft and Apple spend promoting
proprietary software that denies its users freedom. We now have more
campaigns than ever, some targeting threats like
surveillance and Digital Restrictions Management, others
introducing users to free software or fighting for the right to
repair. All our campaigns defy dystopia and work toward a future
in which all users can enjoy user freedom.

Twice a year, the tech, licensing, and campaigns teams inform you,
the FSF's supporters, on what we've accomplished.

We're proud to present to you what the campaigns team has accomplished
with the help of the community in just these last six months:

• Together with free software enthusiasts all over the world, we had
  twenty-nine LibreLocal meetups in May alone. The FSF
  supported several of these meetups with a financial contribution,
  and almost all of them with coordination and promotion. FSF staff
  spoke at eight community meetups around the world, two of which
  were recorded and published on our PeerTube channel so that
  others can watch Greg Farough's introduction to the FSF and
  the LibrePlanet community for the Shiraz, Iran event and my
  presentation for the Thessaloniki, Greece meetup. We have great
  news for those who enjoyed the LibreLocal meetups: there are still
  more to come.




• We voiced our outrage about Microsoft's latest injustice to require
  a hardware TPM module for Windows 11 users as part of our
  Defective by Design campaign. We then asked you to keep
  putting pressure on Microsoft, since Microsoft tyrannically
  decided to cease security updates for Windows 10;




• Parts of the IRS tax filing software, Direct File, got
  released to the people as free software, thanks to your letters to
  the IRS in response to our call to advocate for freedom-respecting
  tax filing software.




• We sourced our now well-known FSF40 logo from the free
  software community through a logo contest;




• We cataloged historic items that speak to the history of the
  free software movement and entrusted a select number of them to the
  community in the first ever FSF memorabilia auction;




• We were, and still are, busy organizing the FSF40 hackathon
  as well as the celebration event we're planning for October 4;




• We highlighted a bunch of free software activists in our Working
  Together for Free Software series to inspire others to do the
  same;




• We recorded video tutorials on how to edit the LibrePlanet
  wiki, as well as how to open a terminal, and move around
  when using the command line. All these tutorials were
  published our PeerTube channel;




• We facilitated a smooth running of the board process. This
  led to the introduction of several new, permanent FSF board and
  voting members, meaning the FSF's organizational structure is
  stronger and more committed than ever;




• We invited the free software community to submit nominations for
  the 2024 Free Software Awards;




• Campaigns manager Greg Farough continued to serve as your software
  freedom advocate on the machine learning safety consortium of
  the US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST); and




• As always, we reported on important news about software freedom
  such as the US Social Security Administration reversing its
  freedom-impeding identity verification policy and threats to
  user freedom such as Amazon tightening the digital handcuffs.

In sum, we've written, thoroughly reviewed, and published thirty-two
blog posts and press releases, plus six newsletters in English,
French, and Spanish, and–not to forget–the spring Bulletin
with five special articles, which should reach you soon!

We're only halfway through 2025, and the best is yet to come. To give
you just a few examples: there are more LibreLocal meetups to
come, the in-person celebration on October 4, and the FSF40
hackathon. On top of our existing campaigns for software
freedom, we also plan to give more talks and workshops, turn our
command line videos into a series, and launch a training program
for volunteers so that they can visit schools in their area to educate
students and teachers about free software.

In a world where technology is becoming increasingly predatory, a
dystopian reality seems unavoidable. It can feel like a small number
of people are dictating how we live our lives. Free software can stand
against the aspects of dystopia caused by proprietary software. It is
the antithesis to a dystopian reality instilled in software subjection,
because with libre software, you, the user, have full control over the
software vital to your daily life.

Defy dystopia with free software!

The FSF has been campaigning for your user freedom for forty years and
won't stop until we have achieved software freedom for all computer
users. However, we can't prevent a dystopian future alone -- we need you.

Can you join us in our crucial work to guard user freedom and defy
dystopia? Become an associate member today! Every associate
member counts, and every new member will help us reach our fundraising
goal of 200 new members. By supporting us today, you help defy
dystopia.

We know not everyone is in a position to donate $140 USD or more,
which is why we also offer the Friends membership at $35 USD that
comes with a few less benefits. In addition, you can now apply
to receive a sponsored FSF membership.

Our advocacy will continue to grow and expand as needed -- until
we've defeated dystopia for good. We rely on your commitment to
software freedom to help fuel our own. With every refusal to use a
nonfree program, and promotion of a free one in its place, we come
closer to an autonomous digital future for all.

Thank you for your support,

Miriam Bastian

Program Manager

"Fight Dystopia" © 2025 by the Free Software Foundation, Inc. This image is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license.