[Linux-aus] Vote for European of the Year & against software patents

[Arjen Lentz]

Hi all,

As you may or may not have heard ;-), there is an ongoing election for
European of the Year. And you don't have to live in the EU to vote.

Florian Mueller (from nosoftwarepatents.com), who led the successful
fight against software patents in the EU earlier this year, is one of
the nominees. Wouldn't it be great if he became the winner?

But there have been hurdles for those who wish to vote. Sure you can
vote at http://www.ev50.com/poll/, but honestly, do you know whether you
would prefer Anna Marszalek of Rzeczpospolita or Alina Mungiu-Pippidi of
the Romanian Academic Society to become Journalist of the Year? At least
I strongly dislike the risk of voting against my own true opinion, and
just in order to vote against Software Patents by voting for Florian
Mueller, one is required to express an opinion in ten different areas.

FFII and Florian Mueller, with some PHP coding help from MySQL AB, just
made it easier. For those who are informed about Software Patents, it’s
a no-brainer to support Michel Rocard for MEP of the year and not to
support Charlie McCreevy for Commissioner of the Year. That, and other
thoughts, are now collected into a PHP script which is shameless enough
to come with a suggestion on how to vote. Try it out at
http://www.nosoftwarepatents.com/en/m/ev50/vote.html, and then see if
you feel comfortable to vote at http://www.ev50.com/poll/. BTW, if you
vote, you’ll still have to confirm your vote by replying to an email
automatically sent to you by EV50.

Please note that you must only vote ONCE. The system is such that if you
try to vote multiple times, ALL your votes become void.

Regards,
Arjen.
-- 
Arjen Lentz, Community Relations Manager
MySQL AB, www.mysql.com

MySQL Users Conference 2006 (Santa Clara CA, 24-27 April)
Call for Papers deadline 7 Nov 2005: http://www.mysqluc.com/