Summary
April is an association for the promotion of free software in the French-speaking world. Since its inception in 1996, April has maintained a close relationship with the Free Software Foundation, establishing a working group[1] to undertake a French-language exposition of the GNU project's philosophy.[2]
The group's name is an acronym standing for Association pour la Promotion et la Recherche en Informatique Libre (meaning Association for the Promotion and Study of Free Computing).[3] Regarding the name, the French term libre always means "free-as-in-freedom" and never "free-as-in-beer".
Membership is open to both physical persons and institutions. Annual dues for individuals are 10 euro.[4] Dues for institutional memberships are assessed on a sliding scale according to size, total sales, or budget as appropriate.[5]
Important dates edit
- November 1998: April welcomes Richard Stallman at its conference at Université Paris 8 for the first time.[6]
- April 2001: Frédéric Couchet, Loïc Dachary and Raphaël Rousseau establish FSF France by modifying Gna.org.[citation needed]
- June 2009: The association's enlistment reaches 5000 members.[7]
References edit
- April's website
- ^ (in French) April press materials, page 10 (pdf). Retrieved 17 January 2013
- ^ (in French) Philosophy of GNU project (French translation). Retrieved 17 January 2013
- ^ (in French) April press materials, page 14 (pdf). Retrieved 17 January 2013
- ^ (in French) membership FAQ | dues. Retrieved 17 January 2013
- ^ (in French) schedule of institutional dues. Retrieved 17 January 2013
- ^ (in French) rms address at Paris-8 on 10 November 1998 Archived 2 September 2012 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 17 January 2013
- ^ (in French) April's successful membership drive (3 June 2009). Retrieved 17 January 2013