French Military Police Switches to Firefox 407
Oslo_the_CKC writes to tell us that French Magazine Linux Pratique recently published an interview with General Brachet of the Gendarmie Nationale. In the interview he discusses why they have moved over 100,000 personnel over to Firefox and Thunderbird (70,000 and 45,000 respectively). This follows on last year's switch to OpenOffice.org so it seems like the French Military Police are enjoying the success of open source.
French Military Police Surrenders to Firefox (Score:2, Funny)
Re:French Military Police Surrenders to Firefox (Score:3, Funny)
Film at 11.
Re:French Military Police Surrenders to Firefox (Score:4, Funny)
But I am le tired.
Okay, take a nap, and then fire ze fox!
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Voltaire once said that the Holy Roman Empire was neither holy, nor roman, nor an empire. Could we say that Firefox was neither Firebird, nor Phoenix, nor....
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Let them eat cookies.
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It was the best of browsers, it was the worst of browsers, it was the age of compliance, it was the age of popups, it was the era of ACID success, it was the era of ACID 2 failure, it was the summer of CSS, it was the winter of <blink>....
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At least they didn't contract Apple to create the iFel Tower -- it would be made of white plastic, be the smallest thing in the city, and charge 99 francs admission to everyone.
Damn (Score:2, Funny)
Firefox Extension To Allow Chatting Real Time (Score:5, Interesting)
Anyway, check out this kickass firefox extension that allows users anywhere to chat with other users viewing the same website as them. (It'd be cool to see a few slashdot.org people!) =)
Try the QuickChat [dnsalias.com] extension out
Re:Firefox Extension To Allow Chatting Real Time (Score:2)
A few people have already mentioned a few of the obvious things like tab integration and chat window-resizing (even make it undockable somehow), but I could see this really taking off if it catches on.
- Install a protocol handler that will launch the extension automatically (and even pass parameters, such as usernames --
- Website-hosted IRC server (rather tha
Wow (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Wow (Score:2)
Is it a blow against Microsoft? Yes. Is the French government the ideal ally of OS? No, but I guess my enemy's enemy is
Re:Wow (Score:3, Interesting)
You mean like the 80% tax on steel imports ?... Uh.. no, this was the US, sorry.
Re:Wow (Score:2)
Actually, that would be foreign news
The whole article (Score:5, Informative)
Linux Pratique: What are the most important features of Firefox 1.5?
Général Brachet: These features are independent of the version number. The most important things about Firefox are its compliance with W3C standards and its availability on several platforms (Microsoft, Linux and Mac). When the Gendarmerie will deliver application on-line to homeland security organisations and, in the future, to citizens, it will not request the users to use any particular platform or piece of software from specific vendors. Using Firefox or any other Web-standards-compliant browser will be requested, independently of the platform (...)
Linux Pratique : How many seats are going to be deployed, and how long will it take?
Général Brachet : Starting January 1st, 2006, Firefox will be the browser of choice for the Gendarmerie. (...) This migration will impact every PC connected to the Intranet and the Internet, totalling 70,000 seats, before the end of the year 2006. Most of the Web services will be W3C-compliant by then. (...)
Linux Pratique : OpenOffice.org (last year), now Firefox, when will you swich to Linux?
Général Brachet : Thunderbird will be deployed as the only mail client on 45,000 seat in 2006. The idea is to provide every unit with a workstation and have it used daily. Every Gendarme will have four tools at his disposal: a bureautique suite, for writing documents and doing procedural work, a browser to access the Information Systems, a mail client to communicate and an antivirus. Our first goal is to migrate all the upper layers of the workstation to Open Source Software to be independent of the Operating System.(...)
It's a great pleasure to see this important project being finally revealed to the general public, and to see Gendarmerie Nationale understand the importance of Open Source Software and Web standards. It uses them, and even gives back some code the the community, while telling the world about it. If I had a wish for 2006, it would be to see large users do the same, and tell publicly that they use Open Source projects. For them, it would be a way to give back to these projects something they really need: visibility.
bureautique suite? (Score:2, Funny)
Re:bureautique suite? (Score:2)
As mentioned elsewhere, they switched to OpenOffice a while back. Bureau can be translated as Office but that term has been used in France for at least two decades to mean a software office suite.
Re:Favorite quote (Score:5, Insightful)
A quote would be:
Note the omission marks. Or more correctly
100,000 personnel (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:100,000 personnel (Score:4, Funny)
Re:100,000 personnel (Score:2)
As a French myself, I couldn't tell the differences beetween the regular Police Nationale and the Gendarmerie. They both give you fines for speeding, control your alcohol level, or look for fugitives. I think the difference is maybe the Gendarmerie
Re:100,000 personnel (Score:3, Informative)
Re:100,000 personnel (Score:2)
Re:100,000 personnel (Score:2)
Re:100,000 personnel (Score:5, Informative)
Re:100,000 personnel (Score:4, Informative)
KFG
Re:100,000 personnel (Score:2)
Re:100,000 personnel (Score:5, Informative)
Re:100,000 personnel (Score:2)
From Wikipedia:
Its missions include:
The policing of countryside areas and of small towns, usually populations under 10000, outside of the jurisdiction of the French National Police.
Criminal investigations under judiciary supervision.
Crowd control and other security activities.
The security of airports and military installations, as well as all
Re:100,000 personnel (Score:2, Interesting)
The french used to have to a year or two of national service, which could be done either in the armed forces or in the Gendarmerie Nationale. I had a friend who was a physics major who
Re:100,000 personnel (Score:2)
Re:100,000 personnel (Score:2)
I believe it is being phased out now, but compulsary military service does cause a bit of bloat in French military/public service. People who are not actually suited to being in the army (ie, most of them) would wind up working in foreign arms of the public service or (shudder) French engineering firms where they would serve as free labour, because they are funded by the government.
Re:100,000 personnel (Score:2)
Mirrordot to the rescue (Score:3, Informative)
Mirrordot link! [mirrordot.org]
Whoa! (Score:2)
This just isn't funny if it isn't guns, is it?
Comment removed (Score:4, Insightful)
Comment removed (Score:5, Funny)
Re:All the French-bashing aside . . . (Score:4, Informative)
The US has a lot to thank the French for, in the way of underwriting the Revolution (for all their motives were questionable). There were more French at Yorktown than Colonials, and the French fleet was key at Virginia Capes (though later kindling in the West Indies).
Would that more Yanks had clue #1 about history.
Re: (Score:2)
Re:History? (Score:2)
Of the kingdoms rising from the ashes of the Roman Empire, only that of the Franks had a name surviving to modern times.
French Gendarmerie (Score:3, Informative)
It does not mean the actual French Military Police as we would think of it; the police force of the miltary.
the french army only has 136,000~ soldiers!
France Pro-Open Source or Not? (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:France Pro-Open Source or Not? (Score:2)
Large organizations tend to not be very coherent. Branches of government seem to live completely in their own little world. Every so often they run into each other, and the results c
Re:France Pro-Open Source or Not? (Score:5, Insightful)
70.000 switchers (Score:2, Funny)
Woah, I hope they all use my "Spread Firefox" referrer button!
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Superb hosting [tinyurl.com] 2400MB Storage, 120GB bandwidth, ssh, $7.95
Good for them (Score:5, Insightful)
How do you think Dept. of Homeland Security would feel if all of their computers were running on a closed OS manufactured by China?
It's like outsorcing your whole communication infrastructure to a different country.
Foreign countres would do well to consider switching all of their government computation to open source OSs, or developing their own. Firefox and OO are a good start though.
This after making file sharing legal? (Score:4, Funny)
Stock prices (Score:2, Offtopic)
In a related news, U.S. stocks climbed today as shares of office furniture manufacturers like Chairs Inc. (CHR) rose and investors were optimistic that sells are going to increase in the area around Seatle. Based on the latest available data, CHR ended up 39.54 points, or 4.31 percent, at 1,880.95.
Re:Stock prices (Score:2)
Funny though.
-Rick
Insp. Jacques Clouseau (Score:2)
Sultan: A flaw?
Gem dealer 2: The slightest flaw, your excellency.
Gem dealer 1: If you look deep into the browser source code, you will perceive the tiniest discoloration. The fix resembles an animal.
Sultan: An animal?
Gem dealer 1: A little fox.
Sultan: Yes! A fox. Come here, Monkey Ballmer. A gift to your father from his grateful people. Some day it will be yours. The most fabulous browser in all the world. Come close...
Interesting (Score:2)
Oh and good on them for the switch.
Re:Interesting (Score:2)
Converting the right way (Score:5, Insightful)
To me, this was the single most interesting line in the entire article. Telling everyone that they must migrate to another operating system in one big step is bound to meet resistance and hassles. Instead they get people familiar with their day-to-day software tools, so that migrating to Linux/OSX/whatever later is largely irrelevant. If people's word processor and email system are still the same, they won't much care what OS is running.
With this strategy Windows loses its special status and becomes just a commodity, providing only storage and network access. It also becomes replacable on a whim (or close to it).
I wonder how they will manage upgrades (Score:3, Informative)
I just didn't find a way to do it reliably and automatically, preserving the few installed extensions and plugins (Flash, QuickTime+ Real Alternative).
In the end, I had to physically go to each computer and check everything, making sure I also checked everybody's roaming profile.
I love Firefox for myself (it's my main browser since it was called Phoenix), but next time I deploy it in a company, it will need to have clear instructions on how to do that without a physical install/configuration/plugins and extensions install/etc.
I don't mind having to write a few Perl scripts to do it, if I can get clear instructions.
If the French military deployed it to 100000 people, maybe they have documented how they did it? Or maybe they just don't know about the upgrade hell yet?
After all, initial install was easy using FFdeploy. It's the upgrades that are a problem
Re:I wonder how they will manage upgrades (Score:2)
Re:I wonder how they will manage upgrades (Score:2)
Anyway, 1.0.3 didn't have it, and overwriting the Firefox directory while leaving the user profile unchanged didn't work.
Well, actually... (Score:3, Interesting)
As to the Army as a whole accpting it, your guess is as good as mine. I only showed the more tech-savvy guys Firefox, some of the dudes around here didn't exactly sign their contract as much as put a bite mark on the dotted line, if you catch my drift. I really don't think that they're the ones that are targeted by Firefox - and that very well could be part of the problem. Most IT/IA soldiers that are outside the Linux / Open Source world see things like Firefox as a waltzing bear. Right or wrong, that's a perception that is going to have to be overcome before this is accepted as a standard, or even as a useable piece of software by those outside "the know".
eh? (Score:2)
FireFox (Score:2, Funny)
Military Police? (Score:2)
The Gendarmerie Nationale isn't military in the UK/US sense. They are the people who investigate murders and give out speeding tickets on national highways. In other words, it's the police force, it just happens to be set up a bit like an army. (By memory, it's responsible to the interior minister, to counterbalance the power of the defence minister in the case of a coup, but I could be imagining that bit..)
As mascots for bleeding edge Open Source adoption go, we could do better. The best Hollywood portray
French math (Score:3, Interesting)
You can't just add them that way! The 70K that use Firefox likely account for almost all of the 45k that use Tbird, it's very unlikely that anywhere near 100k personnel are involved if there are only 70k Firefox users.
Good numbers still for one organization, but an awful flawed statement to have found it's way into a Slashdot front page. How did this get past our meticulous editors?
Re:100,000 Personnel ?? (Score:3, Informative)
Re:100,000 Personnel ?? (Score:2)
My $0.02 or should that be Euros...
Re: (Score:2)
Re:100,000 Personnel ?? (Score:2)
Re:More surrender crap?? (Score:3, Funny)
Re:More surrender crap?? (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Mod me down... (Score:5, Insightful)
The more bricks that start falling out of the Microsoft monopoly will encourage extra bricks to fall and might take the entire wall down after some time. Don't forget street credibility! Every small step in the right direction is a small step in the right direction...
Re:Mod me down... (Score:2)
Re:Why the switch? (Score:5, Insightful)
20 comments - the majority of which are 'French surrender' jokes.
1) Some originality would be nice.
2) I thought 2006 was the year the American public would wake up to the way they're manipulated (can you remember having the same contempt for the french prior to their [justified] opposition to Iraq II?)
3) Leave the french-hatred to countries that have a reason to hate the french. Like New Zealand [wikipedia.org] or just about anywhere in the South Pacific [abc.net.au]
4) Some originality would be nice. Every time there's a French story, its like reading fark.
5) Please see points 1 and 5.
Re:Why the switch? (Score:3, Informative)
2b) Yes, I can remember having contempt for France for as long as I knew their histo
Re:Why the switch? (Score:2)
Meanwhile, as the Pentagon continues to use Microsoft products, there are unconfirmed reports of torture and rape of civilians at the Redmond headquarters of that company. Not all military jokes are funny, even if they're historically accurate.
Without the French there wouldn't be a USA! (Score:4, Insightful)
I don't get it, just because they refused to send their young men and women into Iraq to fight for basically American politcal interests, folks hated them?! And don't give me this shit about the Iraq war is part of the War on Terror. Show me some evidence that Hussein was in fact harboring terrorists and/or financing them!
Re:Without the French there wouldn't be a USA! (Score:2, Insightful)
And without the USA there wouldn't be a France.... twice.
Re:Without the French there wouldn't be a USA! (Score:2, Interesting)
1. That French government went the way of the dodo bird when they executed the monarchy. Plus, even then, they were doing it as a way to sxtick it to the English.
2. The only times French governements have stepped in to help the USA in war is when they could stick it to England.
3. Many brave French citizens died resisting the Nazis. Unfortunately, just as many were assisting the Nazis. The rest were just ducking for cover.
4. We also saved their nation in World War
Re:Without the French there wouldn't be a USA! (Score:2, Informative)
Without French Monarchy there would be no USA (Score:3, Insightful)
No, we paid that debt in WWI. "On the 4th of July [1917], the 2nd Battalion, 16th Infantry (2-16), paraded through the streets of Paris to bolster the sagging French spirits. At Lafayette's tomb, one of General John J. Pershing's staff uttered the famous words, "Lafayette, we are here!"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._1st_Infantry_Di v ision [wikipedia.org]
So, to use *your* phraseology, not mine, they owe us one.
Also, the Fre
USA rescued the Brits, not the French, in WWII (Score:5, Insightful)
(Apart from that I agree with the parent post. The anti-France stuff is just another reminder that a lot of high-school kids post to Slashdot.)
WWII (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:WWII (Score:3, Funny)
Justified? (Score:2, Insightful)
calm down, it's called satire (Score:3, Insightful)
Did it occur to you that we're making fun of all the people with an irrational hatred of the French, especially by making such
Re:calm down, it's called satire (Score:2)
Re:Why the switch? (Score:2)
Some overviews of French military history (Score:5, Interesting)
Seriously kicked the Romans Butts many times as Galacia.
Did so again under Charlemange.
Kicked the English's butts under William the conqueror.
Kicked the English's butts again several times during the 100 years war.
Supported the rebels during the American Revolution.
Nearly united europe during the napoleonic wars (then foolishly tried to invade Russia during the winter).
Held off the german forces in WW I
When invaded by germany in WW II, held out just long enough for the British Expiditionary force to sail from Dunkirk.
After WW II the French failed to re-occupy Indochina due to resistance from the formerly US-backed Viet Minh. They pulled out of Indochina in 1954. The US also failed to gain power in Indochina.
Seriously... It's only from 1940 to 1954 that France's military record is any worse than any other, and when you consider what they were up against (USSR was still operating under the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact when France was invaded, and on continental europe only France stood against the Axis), they really were no worse.
Re:Some overviews of French military history (Score:3)
They didn't invade during winter. They invaded during summer, and were having problems initially due to heat and humidity. It's just that the Russians managed to make the invasion drag on until winter, and Napoleon (unwisely, as it turned out) tried to keep pushing on, and was then caught by the cold weather.
Re:Why the switch? (Score:2)
Personally, I really started to dislike the French as a whole after a trip to Europe. Spaniards, Enlgishmen, Germans, and Italians were all so much nicer than the French. It seemed like the French looked down their noses at us. The Germans seemed a little distant, but that is just how Germans are. I think many French people really think they are better than Americans, and probably everyone else.
Re:Why the switch? (Score:2)
...
4) Some originality would be nice. Every time there's a French story, its like reading fark.
...
5) Please see points 1 and 5.
Meant to be ironic?
But anyway, yes, people have hated the French for quite a long time. I'm guessing that it started when people hated the French for many of the same reasons people hate Americans now.
Re:Why the switch? (Score:4, Insightful)
I bet you still go around yelling "I'M RICK JAMES, BITCH!" at friends...
Re:Why the switch? (Score:2)
Re:Why the switch? (Score:2)
It's a fucking joke. Sensitivity is fast becoming a reactionary trait, anyway.
Did you miss Points 1, 4 & 5?
Hmmmmn, seems like maybe I realised it was a joke - but wanted a little originality?
Seems like you're a little sensitive about the fact that you've been making the same goddamn joke for the last four years.
Re:Why the switch? (Score:2)
Re:Why the switch? (Score:3, Insightful)
Many people use political humor as a cheap way of advancing an unsupportable opinion. They
Re:Why the switch? (Score:2, Offtopic)
Re:Why the switch? (Score:2)
Re:Why the switch? (Score:5, Informative)
1) How can you claim that it had nothing to do with 75% of the French public opposing the invasion? After all, it's not like leaders in democracies who act contrary to the will of 75% of their populace on major issues tend to have trouble getting reelected.
2) What is the logic of France risking their trade with the US to make a small fraction of the few billion dollars involved in the Oil For Food program? This trade involves 2,400 French subsidiaries in the US employing 500,000 people with 160B$ turnover, and the converse (US subsidiaries in France, which employ 580,000 people with 135B$ turnover). France owns 143B$ of US stock, a fourfold increase in the past decade. The US owns 55B euros of French stock, doubling over the past decade. In 2003, the US imported 23B euros worth of French goods; France imported 22.4B euros worth from America.
3) The oil for food program involved roughly 4-5B$ (over its decade long lifespan) in kickbacks to the *Iraqi government*. Most people here are painfully unaware of how it worked, so let me clarify - it occured just the same way that it happens in third world nations all over the world to enrich the pockets of government officials. An unscrupulous company
offers to sweeten the pot (in this case, to the Iraqi government) by raising their prices artificially. The government selects the contract of the overpriced goods. The company then discretely pays the extra money under the table to the Iraqi government. The company gets the contract, and the kickback-receiving party (the Iraqi government) manages to divert money from protected funds to their pockets.
Many people confuse kickbacks with the accused payoffs of officials. Some payoffs have been confirmed, and resulted in convictions. Others have been proven to be false, and resulted even in successful libel suits against the accusors. Part of the problems in the list of the accused may be the source - it came from the Iraqi Oil Ministry, which at the time was run by the Iraqi National Congress (not exactly a beacon of truthful information). The payoffs tend to be small - usually a few tens to a few hundred thousand dollars (compared to the billions in kickbacks under OFF, and tens of billions in oil smuggling). The highest ranking French official accused is former interior minister Charles Pasqua and his aide Bernard Guillet. Not only has Pasqua denied all of the charges (and is actively working to clear his name), and not only would the interior minister not be prominant in a decision to go to war, but he hasn't even been in office since 1995. There are two other French former officials under investigation - Jean-Bernard Merimee and Serge Boidevaix - but they likewise had not been in office when the alleged crimes took place.
Re:Why the switch? (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Why the switch? (Score:3, Funny)
--Joey
Re:Let's bash the French (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:open-source-poster-child dept? (Score:2)
-Rick
Re:In other news ... (Score:2)
Or was that supposed to be a joke or something...
Re:In Other News, Ballmer... (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Please reply French-bashing by Chirac-bashing (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Please reply French-bashing by Chirac-bashing (Score:3, Informative)