I vote a.
----- Original Message ----- | From: "René de Hesselle" dehesselle@icloud.com | To: "Inkscape Board" inkscape-board@lists.inkscape.org | Sent: Friday, April 17, 2026 11:28:20 AM | Subject: [Inkscape-board] Vote: show support for a German petition to strengthen recognition for open source | volunteer work | | Dear PLC, | | sorry, wall of text, but it's on purpose so that you are | well-informed. | | We have the opportunity to show our support for a German petition | (https://www.ehrenamt-opensource.de/en/) that aims to strengthen and | enable official public recognition for volunteer work in open source | projects. Germany already has legislation that recognizes volunteer | work in more traditional areas like fire fighters, social work, | caring for the elderly etc., so this petition is about to broaden | that circle and provide more equality among volunteer workers. | | On the one hand the government already recognizes the importance of | open source by advocating its adoption and running more and more | initiatives to replace proprietary software with open source, but on | the other hand it is often only enjoying the benefits of this | ecosystem without contributing much back/ensuring its survival. This | petition wants to influence German lawmakers so that volunteer work | in open source is no longer at a disadvantage compared to other | areas. | | What is a petition in Germany? | - It's the first of many steps how the German populace can exert its | democratic rights to get the government to concern itself with a | given topic/request. This is done by getting people to sign a | petition to reach a certain threshhold as German law dictates "if | you have at least xyz signatures, the government needs to concern | itself witih this". In other words: this is not some random person's | personal endeavor, this is an official and public democratic process | according to German law. | | What would happen if this petition succeeds? | - It makes open source volunteer work more attractive. It opens the | door to various government programs, tax benefits, boasting about it | on your resume. It will turn "a hobby for nerds" into "a good cause | for the public good" over night. This will be huge in the long run. | | What does supporting this petition mean for Inkscape? | - This is a marketing thing (compare it with our sponsors page), | there are no other obglitations, there is no cost (I have confirmed | this with the organizer). The petition runs a website with a section | where it collects and shows logos of supporting organizations (same | link as above, scroll down a bit) in order to emphasize/show off how | many people feel this to be of great importance. Inkscape would | officially allow them to show our name/logo, basically putting our | reputation behind this. We will be mentioned in their social media. | And Inkscape would publish an accomodating news article on our | website, declaring our support for maximum media coverage. | | Why should Inkscape support a petition that is local to Germany? | - Because of the big picture. Strengthening the public recognition | for open source is something we need to rally behind, no matter | where it originates. Today it's Germany, tomorrow it might be | somewhere else. The open source community as a whole does benefit | from local improvements. Just how we iterate over our code, every | improvement helps. There is also the promise of creating precedence | and of creating a domino effect. | | How did we come across this? | - Media coverage in Germany. This is a well-known thing for open | source developers in Germany. | | I'd like to manage this. Not that it has to mean anything, but the | petition's organizer lives in my area (20 minute drive). Who knows, | could be useful. | | Please vote: | | a.) allow the petition to show our logo/name and mention us on social | media and we publish a news article ourselves | b.) do not support the petition | c.) other/I have questions | | | René | _______________________________________________ | Inkscape Board of Directors mailing list -- | inkscape-board@lists.inkscape.org | To unsubscribe send an email to | inkscape-board-leave@lists.inkscape.org |