EU's Tech Sovereignty Package Includes 9+ Pages on Open Source, Says Open Source Initiative (opensource.org) 18
Friday the Open Source Initiative welcomed the EU's new tech sovereignty package, noting that "over a third of the 29-page document is devoted to Open Source."
The nonprofit OSI — maintainers of the Open Source definition — submitted their official feedback in February, and notes that "many" of their key requests were addressed, "as well as some exciting new announcements!" One of the biggest barriers to Open Source adoption has been public procurement. Too often, tenders have been designed around proprietary solutions, ignoring the benefits of Open Source and locking public institutions into closed ecosystems. The OSI called for procurement rules that prioritize interoperability, reusability, and vendor independence. The package takes a major step forward in this area. The EU pledges to make the public sector an anchor consumer for Open Source solutions. The Commission plans to reform procurement rules to remove barriers for Open Source, provide better guidance to EU countries on procurement criteria to avoid excluding Open Source, and uphold the "public money, public code" principle when procuring software development. Both proposals align with the OSI's feedback. The next critical step is the EU's public procurement law reform. The OSI will continue advocating to ensure these pledges translate into action.
Beyond procurement, the OSI highlighted challenges faced by Open Source communities in Europe, particularly difficulties accessing investment and expertise to commercialize and scale projects. The Commission has responded by committing to ensure Open Source companies are considered for funding under the European Competitiveness Fund (ECF). It also plans to create "Open Source business accelerators" that will offer mentorship, training, legal and licensing consulting, and business development support, including marketing. Additionally, the Commission will work to raise industry awareness of Open Source solutions by leveraging the EU's existing business support networks. These measures directly address the OSI's concerns and could significantly boost the Open Source ecosystem in Europe...
[I]n our feedback, we called for the continuation of the Next Generation Internet (NGI) initiative that has funded many Open Source projects, and for the creation of a European Sovereign Tech Fund to fund ongoing maintenance and features development to meet the EU's needs. We also highlighted the need to mainstream Open Source in other funding opportunities (like the €100bn+ Horizon Europe programme). The Commission's strategy addresses these requests. The NGI will be scaled up under the new name "Open Internet Stack." A new Open Source Maintenance Instrument will fund the "maintenance and security upkeep of essential components." The Commission will also create a list of critical and security-relevant Open Source dependencies to inform funding decisions and promote Open Source solutions as the default approach in Horizon Europe funding.
Friday's announcement from the Open Source Initiative notes that the EU is already leading by example in Open Source adoption. It applauds the EU for "deploying a Matrix-based communications system and the openDesk collaboration environment internally, trialing an alternative operating system to replace Windows, which is currently widely used in EU institutions, and expanding its presence on the Fediverse, with Commissioners and key departments already joining the EU's Mastodon server.'
The nonprofit OSI — maintainers of the Open Source definition — submitted their official feedback in February, and notes that "many" of their key requests were addressed, "as well as some exciting new announcements!" One of the biggest barriers to Open Source adoption has been public procurement. Too often, tenders have been designed around proprietary solutions, ignoring the benefits of Open Source and locking public institutions into closed ecosystems. The OSI called for procurement rules that prioritize interoperability, reusability, and vendor independence. The package takes a major step forward in this area. The EU pledges to make the public sector an anchor consumer for Open Source solutions. The Commission plans to reform procurement rules to remove barriers for Open Source, provide better guidance to EU countries on procurement criteria to avoid excluding Open Source, and uphold the "public money, public code" principle when procuring software development. Both proposals align with the OSI's feedback. The next critical step is the EU's public procurement law reform. The OSI will continue advocating to ensure these pledges translate into action.
Beyond procurement, the OSI highlighted challenges faced by Open Source communities in Europe, particularly difficulties accessing investment and expertise to commercialize and scale projects. The Commission has responded by committing to ensure Open Source companies are considered for funding under the European Competitiveness Fund (ECF). It also plans to create "Open Source business accelerators" that will offer mentorship, training, legal and licensing consulting, and business development support, including marketing. Additionally, the Commission will work to raise industry awareness of Open Source solutions by leveraging the EU's existing business support networks. These measures directly address the OSI's concerns and could significantly boost the Open Source ecosystem in Europe...
[I]n our feedback, we called for the continuation of the Next Generation Internet (NGI) initiative that has funded many Open Source projects, and for the creation of a European Sovereign Tech Fund to fund ongoing maintenance and features development to meet the EU's needs. We also highlighted the need to mainstream Open Source in other funding opportunities (like the €100bn+ Horizon Europe programme). The Commission's strategy addresses these requests. The NGI will be scaled up under the new name "Open Internet Stack." A new Open Source Maintenance Instrument will fund the "maintenance and security upkeep of essential components." The Commission will also create a list of critical and security-relevant Open Source dependencies to inform funding decisions and promote Open Source solutions as the default approach in Horizon Europe funding.
Friday's announcement from the Open Source Initiative notes that the EU is already leading by example in Open Source adoption. It applauds the EU for "deploying a Matrix-based communications system and the openDesk collaboration environment internally, trialing an alternative operating system to replace Windows, which is currently widely used in EU institutions, and expanding its presence on the Fediverse, with Commissioners and key departments already joining the EU's Mastodon server.'
Snowdown proved (Score:2)
Get the name right. (Score:2)
His name is Edward Snowden.
Re: (Score:2)
I'm still in awe (Score:4, Insightful)
... at just how incredibly thoroughly Microsoft managed to fumble the back.
All you daft motherfuckers had to do was to not shit where you eat; all you had to do, was to keep the enterprise product serious, conservative and solid. Nobody would have cared if you tested your AI slop in code and AI slop in runtime and all the spyware you could have possibly thought of *in freemium tier windows for the riffraff*. All you had to do was to stick to your own market segmentation and release a real operating system for the biz and the gov. But you decided to treat nation state government employees like a product, and put it into your fucking public marketing that you do. Great fucking job. I mean, I won't miss you.
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In my opinion, Microsoft didn't sh.t the bed as much as you stated in your post with regards to their Server-lineup of software. But a Windows-backend is usually put in place for a Windows-based environment, which includes the front-end as well.
Windows 11 I consider frontend and that is where the "minions" do have to deal with the crap MS shuffles day in and out with their AI-coded slop, slop in general and their borderline assault of pushing everything to their subscription-based software services and AI o
Needed additions to Double Commander to match DO? (Score:2)
What does Directory Opus have that, say, Double Commander does not?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
"The basic concept of operation traces its roots to the popular Norton Commander for DOS. While Double Commander can be operated by mouse just like other modern file managers, it also enables easy operation by keyboard only, like its conceptual predecessors did.
The file manager features
Re: (Score:2)
One should keep in mind how Microsoft hehaved in Brussels in the past. It has a legacy of worst lobbying. Now we see the likes ot BSA and CCIA prepared to go after the Tech Sovereignty Package. These policies have strong acking from MEPs, get involved in dirty lobbying, hire tobacco lobbyists again and you will end like the toacco industry. Brussels politicians are completely fed up with Microsoft. There is nothing Lisa Monaco can do.
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All you daft motherfuckers had to do was to not shit where you eat; all you had to do, was to keep the enterprise product serious, conservative and solid.
When was their enterprise product solid? When it was Xenix?
Trump will cost Microsoft and others $$Billions$$ (Score:5, Insightful)
Red Hat won't be complaining about Europe's change to Open Source Software.
I would like to see the right wing Trump supporters explain why Microsoft, Oracle, IBM etc losing billions of dollars of European revenue is a good move by Trump.
Re: (Score:1)
Trump's stupid attempt to claim Greenland and his disparaging remarks towards NATO will cost American Proprietary Software Companies $Billions.
Red Hat won't be complaining about Europe's change to Open Source Software.
I would like to see the right wing Trump supporters explain why Microsoft, Oracle, IBM etc losing billions of dollars of European revenue is a good move by Trump.
In the long run, it's for the best. Hopefully there is also some wording in there about open standards, so that new interoperable software is a possibility.
Re: (Score:3)
Do you really think these hicks care about tech?
Re: (Score:2)
Not to mention the rest of the world watching.
If EU pushes forward with OS solutions, expect the rest of the world to consider same or similar solutions as well, instead of traditional MS, Oracle, etc etc.
After all OS allows the end user to customise to exactly what they need without worrying about anything else. And if there is a need for paid support, and EU grows those, am sure the same companies can provide support in Africa, Asia and Australia or have other companies starting to provide support as well
Translation: (Score:5, Insightful)
One of the biggest barriers to Open Source adoption has been clueless bosses that are impressed by shinny presentations.
If we're being honest, this is what has driven software adoption within businesses.
To help lawyers understand FOSS (Score:4, Interesting)
As I wrote back around 2000: ....
"On Funding Digital Public Works"
https://pdfernhout.net/on-fund... [pdfernhout.net]
"The "new" model of making money with public domain content is actually an old one related to guilds. Doctors and lawyers both make excellent livings working with a large body of public domain knowledge, interpreting it, customizing it, and applying it to client's specific situations. Both doctors and lawyers create new knowledge that is effectively put into the public domain in the form of medical journal articles or court proceedings. While the average person can be their own doctor or lawyer to an extent, there is so much to know including certain ways of reasoning that in practice one is usually better off getting some assistance from a professional (as well as getting some self-education to work well with that professional) than trying to go it alone.
To help a lawyer to understand free or open source software for example, just ask her or him to think about it in terms of the law itself -- from court proceedings to legislative records. While lawyers may pay for a service like Westlaw for convenience or practical necessity, they are not paying to use the law itself, say when they make an argument in court."