Programmers Without Frontiers (PWF)

This was a United Nations proposal during the Summer 2003 preparatory meetings for the World Summit on the Information Society supporting open source software in developing countries. The proposal was toned down during later meetings ending up non-commital after heavy lobbying by proprietary interests.

Free Software prominently represented at the UN-Conference
Press release of FSF Europe announcing the participation of Georg Greve, president of the FSF Europe, in the July preparative conference as a nominee from the coordinating circle of the German Civil Society . The July meeting came out strongly supporting open source but the position was later on weakened.

UN Summit Tones Down Open-Source Stance
By Kevin Murphy, Computer Business Review Online, September 9, 2003. Reviews the whole affair.

Follow up:

• "Understanding WSIS: An Institutional Perspective on the UN World Summit on the Information Society"
  Georgia Institute of Technology, School of Public Policy, Internet & Public Policy Project (IP3).
  An assessment of the summit.

We have separate pages for:

• Open Source United Nations
• Open Source Third World Development
• WIPO Meeting Affair
• Microsoft Against Open Source

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