April (French association)

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

  • 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.
  • June 2009: The association's enlistment reaches 5000 members.[7]

References

  1. ↑ (in French) April press materials, page 10 (pdf) accessed January 17, 2013
  2. ↑ (in French) Philosophy of GNU project (French translation) accessed January 17, 2013
  3. ↑ (in French) April press materials, page 14 (pdf) accessed January 17, 2013
  4. ↑ (in French) membership FAQ | dues accessed January 17, 2013
  5. ↑ (in French) schedule of institutional dues accessed January 17, 2013
  6. ↑ (in French) rms address at Paris-8 on November 10, 1998 accessed January 17, 2013
  7. ↑ (in French) April's successful membership drive (June 3, 2009) accessed January 17, 2013


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