"We believe that the combination of Free Software and Free Content is not only beneficial," remarked Sebastian Kügler, a KDE e.V. board member, "but the next logical step towards a mature, organised Free Culture community." Kügler explains the idea behind opening the shared office, "Being able to tap into the expertise of an organisation in a different field, but with very similar goals and principles, provides us with an opportunity to grow and gain experience that I hope to see more often, both within our projects and those of our peers."

Kügler added that the shared office space is not the only organisational improvement under way for the KDE e.V. The founding of the office in Frankfurt coincides with the hiring of an administrative assistant, the e.V.'s first employee. "This will help the KDE e.V. become more efficient in our work of supporting the KDE community. With eight developer meetings and presence at many events already planned for 2008, a dedicated administrative assistant enables an even faster growth of the K Desktop Environment."

Wikimedia Deutschland (the German Wikimedia chapter), which established its office originally in October 2006, is also happy to be able to expand its activities together with KDE. "Back then, we were the first national section of the Wikimedia Foundation to open its own office. Before that, we were a purely voluntary-driven organisation. Opening an office was new and unchartered territory for us", says Arne Klempert, Wikimedia Deutschland's executive secretary. "We're now glad to share the experiences we've made during that first period with KDE e.V. That said, due to the collaboration with KDE it is also much easier for us to extend our office and activities. Both organisations can share a lot of resources this way, resources that both would have had to carry individually if we weren't collaborating."

The new address is on the KDE e.V. website. A big welcome to Claudia Rauch, our new administrator.

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