The online store for the FSF summer fundraiser is full of really neat stuff… and it’s for a good cause.
With a currently and (hopefully) temporarily dysfunctional United States celebrating a birthday today, I thought this would be as good a time as any to tell you about the FSF summer fundraiser. The folks at the Free Software Foundation started it up a few weeks back, and it’s scheduled to run until July 28. Up for grabs: FSF40 gear, books, and more. It’s all for a good cause, of course. FSF has been keeping tech free since 1985: four years before the GPL was released and 13 years before the term “open source software” was minted.
What this means is that from now until July 28, you can buy your FSF gear at the GNU Press Shop. What kind of gear would that be? Well, there’s the launch of the FSF’s 40th anniversary shirt, styled in what the FSF folks are calling a summery yellow. They’re taking orders for those until July 28 and then having them printed — meaning that if you order one, you should have it in your hands sometime between the middle and the end of August.
Also, there are copies of Ada & Zangemann: A Tale of Software, Skateboards, and Raspberry Ice Cream, which is Matthias Kirschner’s modern fairy tale meant to introduce children (and adults) to the concepts of tinkering, software freedom, and the importance of having control over technology. Oh, and if you’re trying to read it outdoors, you can order a GNU baseball cap to shield your eyes. It’s quite attractive: pitch black, adorned with brilliant gold embroidery.
“The GNU Press Shop has plenty of other goodies, new and old, and we encourage you to explore!” the FSF said in a statement. “Your purchases support the mission of the FSF and help us empower the world through the use of free software.”
While you’re in the process of helping the FSF out by buying some cool merch, you might want to consider becoming an FSF associate member at the same time. If you do that sooner rather than later (meaning within the next week) you’ll help them reach their summer fundraising goal of getting 200 associate members signed up before July 11 (I know, I should have told you earlier, mea culpa).
You probably need to know that the way shipping works with the 40th anniversary t-shirts isn’t an outlier. The FSF summer fundraiser is an all-volunteer endeavor, which means they’ll be doing the shipping after the fundraiser ends on the 28th. You can email sales@fsf.org with any questions regarding shipping, GNU Press merchandise, suggestions for new products, inquiries regarding your order, or anything else. In the meantime, I’m recommending that you just go to the fundraiser’s online store and buy yourself some cool stuff.
You can also help make this a community event:
“If you happen to be in the Boston area in July, and would like to support the FSF’s work, we are looking for volunteers to help pack and ship our orders. If you would like to have a great time meeting other free software enthusiasts and swapping stories, send a message to sales@fsf.org to let us know when you’re available!”
Christine Hall has been a journalist since 1971. In 2001, she began writing a weekly consumer computer column and started covering Linux and FOSS in 2002 after making the switch to GNU/Linux. Follow her on Twitter: @BrideOfLinux
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