*Please consider adding <
[email protected]> to your address book, which
will ensure that our messages reach you and not your spam box.*
*Read and share online: <[link removed]>*
Dear Free Software Supporter,
A company offers you a tool to make your life easier, but, when you
use it, you find out that the tool forces you to use it only in the
way the tool's manufacturer approves. Does this story ring a bell?
It's what millions of software users worldwide experience again and
again, day after day. It's also the story of Wendell the Elf and the
ShoeTool.
[**Watch the fairy tale of Wendell the Elf and the ShoeTool**][1] to
remind yourself why you shouldn't let your tools tell you how to use
them. Or, you can share the holiday fairy tale with your loved ones so
that they can learn not to let their tools control them. If we use
free software, we don't need anyone's permission to, for example,
modify our tools ourselves or install modifications shared by
others. We don't need permission to ask someone else to tailor our
tools to serve our wishes, exercise our creativity. The Free Software
Foundation (FSF) believes that everyone deserves full control over
their computers and phones, and we hope this video helps you explain
the importance of free software to your friends and family.
[1]: [link removed]
You can use the short URL <[link removed]> to share the
ShoeTool video on [social media][2] and combine it with the
[#shoetool][3] hashtag and some of these [**ShoeTool**
images][4]. Want to share [the video][5] with a friend or family
member who doesn't speak English? We have subtitles of the video in
Arabic, Basque, Dutch, Esperanto, French, German, Greek, Italian,
Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Spanish, Tamil, Turkish, and Ukrainian!
You can also embed the video on your website or blog with this code:
```
<video style="width: 100%; max-width: 640px;" controls="controls" poster="[link removed]" crossorigin="anonymous"><source src="[link removed]" type="video/webm" /><source src="[link removed]" type="video/ogg"/><source src="[link removed]" type="video/mp4" /><track kind="subtitles" label="English" srclang="en" src="[link removed]" default="default" /></video>
```
And, of course, you can adapt the video to your liking after
[downloading the source files][6]. Don't forget to like the video on
[Peertube's FSF channel][7].
[2]: [link removed]
[3]: [link removed]
[4]: [link removed]
[5]: [link removed]
[6]: [link removed]
[7]: [link removed]
**Did you already see that we have a [three days matching
challenge][8] running starting today?** Generous FSF supporters
offered to *triple* every donation up to $15,500 made between Tuesday,
December 12 and Thursday, December 14, 23:59 EST (04:59 UTC on
December 15). Can you help us meet the matching challenge by [ensuring
a contribution][9]? By supporting us today, you help us develop
further educational resources like the *ShoeTool* video and thereby
educate the public what free software is all about.
[8]: [link removed]
[9]: [link removed]
We hope you enjoy watching and sharing the video!
Happy holidays,
Your Free Software Foundation staff,
Anouk, Craig, Dawn, Devin, Greg, Ian, Jeanne,
Krzysztof, Michael, Miriam, and Zoë
*ShoeTool* by the [Free Software Foundation][16] Copyright © 2019 is
licensed under the [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0
International License][17].
[16]: [link removed]
[17]: [link removed]
--
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