Before the Danish government announced its move, Denmark’s largest cities, Copenhagen and Aarhus, had already announced plans to phase out Microsoft software and cloud services. Here’s why.

European Commission officials fear that their heavy reliance on Microsoft constitutes a clear breach of EU data rules, according to internal Commission documents seen by Euractiv, which contradict the executive’s public statements on the matter.

Sudden subscription fees, lost features causing users “death by a thousand cuts.”

Microsoft said its update wouldn’t install on Linux devices. It did anyway.

Neither side can afford to lose, but one surely must

Schleswig-Holstein, one of Germany’s 16 states, on Wednesday confirmed plans to move tens of thousands of systems from Microsoft Windows to Linux. The announcement follows previously established plans to migrate the state government off Microsoft Office in favor of open source LibreOffice.

Follows the vendor’s decision to overhaul licensing of the popular cache database

An off-the-clock Microsoft worker prevented malicious code from spreading into widely-used versions of Linux via a compression format called XZ Utils.

After breaking trains simply because an independent repair shop had worked on them, NEWAG is now demanding that trains fixed by hackers be removed from service.

In this article I bring you an interesting news, released by theItalian Linux Society, which will certainly be of interest to most Italian GNU / Linux users. The story stars Luca Bonissi, a passionate supporter of free software, champion of the right to reimbursement of the Windows license, who managed to obtain compensation of twenty thousand euros from Lenovo.

The EU’s cloud infrastructure initiative, Gaia-X, poses a great risk of destroying the European ecosystem and hopes of sovereignty after the inclusion of some of the world’s largest tech firms in the project

Munich’s flip-flop back to open source is the latest sign of Germany’s political sea change over proprietary software.

We are seeing how the monopolistic repair and lobbying practices of medical device companies are making our response to the coronavirus pandemic harder.

The Swiss Canton of Zürich will make software developed for or by its public services available as open source. On 30 September the Canton parliament accepted a proposal to change the way it develops software to increase the role of open source. The government now has two years to work out how to adapt its rules and regulations.

Politicians should value highly the technological independence provided by using free and open source software, recommends Lieutenant colonel Stéphane Dumond, head of IT at the Gendarmerie in France. Using such software puts public services in control of their technology decisions and reduces strictly pecuniary constraints, he says.

Earlier this year, Techdirt wrote about an intriguing tweet from the account of the Chancellery of the Prime Minister of Poland, which announced: “Tomorrow #Poland brings action against copyright directive to CJEU”. The hashtags for the tweet made clear what Poland was worried about: “#Article13 #Article17”.

Two years ago, researchers Billy Rios and Jonathan Butts discovered disturbing vulnerabilities in Medtronic’s popular MiniMed and MiniMed Paradigm insulin pump lines. An attacker could remotely target these pumps to withhold insulin from patients, or to trigger a potentially lethal overdose. And yet months of negotiations with Medtronic and regulators to implement a fix proved fruitless. So the researchers resorted to drastic measures. They built an Android app that could use the flaws to kill people.

Thanks to “data inference” technology, companies know more about you than you disclose.

France, with its strict regulations of digital markets and its industries, has been allowed to drive the oppressive changes in copyright that are now about to be European law. It is not too late to save European citizens from these reforms that will do serious damage to the internet, writes Amelia Andersdotter.

One of the many concerns about the upload filters of the EU’s Copyright Directive is that they could lead to censorship, even if that is not the intention. The problem is that once a filtering mechanism is in place to block unauthorized copies of materials, it is very hard to stop its scope being widened beyond copyright infringement. As it happens, the German government has just provided a good example of the kind of abuse that is likely to become a commonplace.

Microsoft has a DRM-locked ebook store that isn’t making enough money, so they’re shutting it down and taking away every book that every one of its customers acquired effective July 1. Customers will receive refunds. This puts the difference between DRM-locked media and unencumbered media into sharp contrast. I have bought a lot of MP3s…

The Copyright Directive reshapes the open web, creating a different version of the internet for Europe and for everyone else

In the wake of last week’s unfortunate decision by the EU Parliament to vote for the terrible EU Copyright Directive, Casey Newton over at the Verge has a thoughtful piece about how this could lead to the internet splitting into three.

For months now we’ve all heard the refrain: Article 13 (now Article 17) of the EU Copyright Directive would not require filters. We all knew it was untrue. We pointed out many times that it was untrue, and that there was literally no way to comply unless you implemented filters (filters that wouldn’t work and would ban legitimate speech), and were yelled at for pointing this out. Here’s the MEP in charge of the Directive flat out insisting that it won’t require filters last year:

Shortly after vote on amendments, 13 MEPs asked for vote to be recorded differently

The European Parliament has voted in favor of the final text of the Copyright Directive, controversial new legislation that redefines copyright in Europe for the internet age. Articles 11 and 13 — the ‘link tax’ and ‘upload filter’ — were both approved by European politicians

Sites including Reddit, Twitch, and PornHub are also encouraging users in the EU to contact local politicians

Experts warn about EU law that could change the architecture of the internet, forcing websites to install flawed and expensive filters that would block satirical content like memes and lead to digital monopolization.

David Kaye, the UN’s Special Rapporteur on freedom of opinion and expression, has raised the alarm over the EU’s proposals for Article 13 and its de facto filtering requirements. ‘Such sweeping pressure for pre-publication filtering is neither a necessary nor proportionate response to copyright infringement online,’ Kaye warns.

Senator Elizabeth Warren held a campaign rally in Long Island City, Queens, on Friday. She announced a plan aimed at breaking up some of America’s largest tech companies, including Amazon, Google, Apple and Facebook.

Copyright overhaul could effectively mandate automated content filtering.

In a previous editorial, I pointed out that at the heart of Article 13 in the proposed EU Copyright Directive there’s a great lie: that it is possible to check for unauthorised uploads of material without inspecting every single file. The EU has ended up in this absurd position because it knows that many MEPs would reject the idea of imposing a general monitoring obligation on online services – not least because the e-Commerce Directive explicitly forbids it. Instead, the text of Article 13 simply pretends that technical alternatives can be found, without specifying them. The recently-issued “Q and A on the draft digital copyright directive” from the European Parliament then goes on to explain that if services aren’t clever enough to come up with other ways, and use upload filters, then obviously it’s their own fault.

YouTube’s three-strikes copyright system lets anyone report a content violation — known in the community as ‘copystriking’ — but some users are putting that system to use for blackmail.

Contrats de licence illisibles, chasseurs de primes, méthodes de voyous, racket, les noms d’oiseaux fusent lorsqu’on évoque la problématique des licences logicielles auprès des DSI. Alors que les migrations vers le Cloud battent leur plein, le torchon brûle entre DSI et grands éditeurs.

Investigate Europe investigation into public IT contracting practices prompts French officials to call for a public inquiry into defence contracts handed to Microsoft.

Qui connaît le W3C? Cet organe, qui décide ce qui peut être fait ou non sur le web, comment, et dans quelle mesure, traverse une crise sans précédent. La raison? L’implémentation des DRM au sein des standards du web, bien loin de l’esprit des pionniers d’Internet.

(Nous sommes à présent sujets à un plus grand niveau de surveillance qu’à n’importe quel autre point dans l’histoire, et la plus grande part vient de la révolution numérique des dernières décennies) We are now subject to a greater level of surveillance than any point in history, and most of it is thanks to the digital revolution of the last few decades. Lucy Ingham hears from the legend Richard Stallman about how the digital transformation has dramatically eroded our privacy, and what it means for our lives

Le collectif EduNathon a été créé début 2016 suite à la signature d’une convention, fin novembre 2015, entre le Ministère de l’Éducation Nationale et Microsoft France.

(L’assemblée de l’état de New York va étudier une nouvelle proposition qui pourrait fournir des réductions d’impôts aux dévelopeurs open source) New York state’s assembly is set to consider a new bill that would provide tax breaks for open-source software developers.

(Microsft aime linux au point de l’étranger à mort avec des breverts pendant que les médias ne regardent pas) Microsoft loves Linux enough to strangle it to death with patents while the media isn’t paying attention and instead telling us that Microsoft is now a buddy or pal of GNU/Linux

(Les tribunaux ont récemment été de plus en plus hostiles aux brevets logiciels) Courts have recently grown increasingly hostile to software patents. A June Supreme Court ruling significantly limited the kinds of software inventions that are eligible for patent protection. And even before that ruling, there had been a dramatic increase in the number of legal decisions holding that software-related inventions were unpatentable.

Framsoft s’attaque aux géants de la Silicon Valley. L’association qui promeut logiciel et culture libres vient de lancer une grande campagne de dons afin de poursuivre le développement de ses outils. Objectif: proposer des services alternatifs aux applications de Google (et d’autres), qui «menacent nos vies numériques». Basta! relaie son appel.

This is a defense of the most prolific and dedicated public servant that has graced the world in my lifetime. One man has added hundreds of billions, if not trillions of dollars of value to the global economy. This man has worked tirelessly for the benefit of everyone around him. It is impossible to name a publicly traded company that has not somehow benefitted from his contributions, and many have benefitted to the tune of billions. In return for the countless billions of wealth that people made from the fruits of his labor, he was rewarded with poverty and ridicule.

(Les cours fédérales ont rejeté plus de brevets logiciels depuis que le jugement de la Cour Suprême de juin) Federal courts have rejected more software patents since a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in June tackled the question of whether—and when—computer programs can qualify for intellectual-property protection.

Back in May, I wrote about a very interesting paper discussing some potential pitfalls of the new Unified Patent Court. Given the magnitude of the change that it and the unitary patent system will bring, it is extraordinary that we still don’t really know how things will work out in practice. That makes another paper called “The Unified Patent Court (UPC) in Action - How Will the Design of the UPC Affect Patent Law?” particularly welcome, since, as its title suggests, it explores how the new UPC is likely to shape the contours of patent law in Europe.

(Deux semaines après que l’Allemagne ait laissé entendre son rejet de dispositions au coeur de l’Accord Commercial Canada-Union européenne, ses défenseurs ont probablement pensé que le terrain sur lequel ils avançaient devenait de plus en plus incertain. Hier, il s’est dérobé de sous leurs pieds) Two weeks after Germany hinted at rejecting core provisions of the Canada-EU Trade Agreement (CETA), trade advocates probably thought that the ground they were breaking was shifting uneasily. Yesterday, it fell out from under them.

(De récents rapports de Facebook et Google confirment ce que nous avons toujours su: les géants de la technologie ont un problème de diversité. Mais dans le monde open source, le problème est encore pire) Recent reports from Facebook and Google confirmed what we’ve known all along: the giants of tech have a diversity problem. But in the world of open source, the problem is even worse.

(La NSA cible “Linux Journal” comme un forum d’“extrémistes” et marquent ses lecteurs comme tel, d’après du code source fuité du radiodiffuseur publique Allemand ARD) The NSA is targeting the Linux Journal as an “extremist forum” and flagging its readers as ’extremists’, according to source code leaked to German public broadcaster, ARD.

(En Europe la clause “en tant que tel” a permis aux brevets logiciels de prendre pied. Aux États-Unis l’attitude dominante est de pouvoir tout breveter s’il “utilise un ordinateur”. Enfin, la cour suprême s’est intéressée au problème) I’ve written a number of times about the curse of the “as such” clause in Article 52 of the European Patent Convention, which has allowed software patents to creep in to Europe by the backdoor.

(Des groupes de promotion des Logiciels Libres en Europe ont obtenu 162 candidats pro logiciels libres, dont 34 ont été élus au parlement Européen) Free software advocacy groups in Europe signed up 162 pro-free software candidates, 34 of whom were elected to the European Parliament.

(Le parlement Français vient juste de décider de mettre en place une commission du numérique) The French parliament has just decided to set up a Commission du numérique (Committee on digital affairs). This could change the course of European internet policy.

(Il y a de très bonnes raisons de craindre que l’arrivée imminente du brevent unitaire va nous apporter exactement les mêmes problèmes [qu’aux US) en Europe, et pourtant il n’y a eu presqu’aucune discussion à leur propros, particulièrement ici au Royaume Uni…

Aurélie Filippetti s’est elle une fois de plus avancée un peu trop? Lors des Rencontres de l’Adami à Metz le 18 avril dernier, la ministre de la Culture et de la Communication avait promis aux créateurs que le brouillon du volet numérique du projet de loi Création (dont nous avions dévoilé les grands axes dans le numéro 5 de Haut Parleur) leur serait envoyé dès la semaine suivante

(l’April a relancé sa campagne pour informer les politiciens du pays sur ce type de solution)) April, France’s free software advocacy group, has relaunched its campaign to make the country’s politicians aware of this type of ICT solution, aiming to gather support statements from candidates for the municipal elections of 23 and 30 March. The group want politicians to defend the rights of developers and users of free software. They also hope to encourage public administrations to use, create and distribute such software.

AT LAST, it seems, something is to be done about the dysfunctional way America’s patent system works. Two encouraging events over the past week suggest the patent reformers are finally being heard.

(D’après un juge fédéral, la décision de la Cour Suprême dans l’affaire Alice pourrait invalider les brevets de haute technologie) Federal judge says high court’s ruling in Alice case could invalidate high-tech patents.

(Pour le Logiciel Libre est plus important maintenant que jamais) GNU just turned 30 years old. But much has changed since the beginning of the free software movement; now there’s SaaS and more. Malware is common in proprietary software products since users don’t have control over them. Why does this control matter? Because freedom means having control over your own life.

France’s higher education institutes must offer their digital services and learning resource materials primarily as free software, the country’s parliament decided Tuesday afternoon. A new law on higher education and research comes with an article giving priority to free software.

Hopes widespread support will follow

(Le Sénat Français veut que ses écoles primaires et secondaires utilisent des solutions logiciel libre pour ses services publics et l’éducation à distance) France’s Senate wants its primary and secondary schools to use free software solutions for its public services and distance education. The Parliament’s upper house is about to accept a policy recommending that “this public service primarily uses free software and open document formats”.

(Une étude commissionnée l’été dernier pour découvrir comment protéger l’exception culturelle Française dans l’ère en-ligne a rendu son verdict - et cela génère déjà une bonne dose de critiques) A study commissioned last summer to find how to protect France’s “exception culturelle” in the online era has delivered its verdict - and it’s generating its fair share of criticism already.

(Les ordinateurs sur la station spatiale internationale sont en train de psser à Windows XP à GNU/Linux) The computers aboard the International Space Station are being switched from Windows XP to GNU/Linux, according to an announcement from the United Space Alliance, the organization that manages the computers in association with NASA.

Un agriculteur américain crée ses propres machines agricoles et partage ses plans librement sur internet.

(Le gouvernement de la région Espagnole “Estrémadure” a démarré le passage en open source de ses 40 000 PC) The government of Spain’s autonomous region of Extremadura has begun the switch to open source of it desktop PCs. The government expects the majority of its 40,000 PCs to be migrated this year, the region’s CIO Theodomir Cayetano announced on 18 April. Extremadura estimates that the move to open source will help save 30 million euro per year.

(Loïc Dachary affirme que l’Upstream University est née de l’idée inhabituelle que la formation à devenir un meilleur contributeur vaut la peine d’être considérée) Loïc Dachary says that the training program called Upstream University was born from the unusual idea that training to become a better contributor is worth considering.

(La politique du gouvernement Français sur le Logiciel Libre est maintenant accessible en Anglais) The French government policy on free software is now available in English. The translation was published earlier today by April, a French advocacy organisation. It is not an official translation. However, experts involved in the creation of the original French text have not found misinterpretations, the advocacy group commented. The group hopes other public administrations will use the guideline to their benefit.

(Le groupe de défense des logiciels libres Aril proteste contre les renégociations par le ministère de la défense du contrat de licence de logiciel propriétaire qui a été signé il y a 4 ans sans marché public. Le groupe demande au ministère de stopper les discussions avec le vendeur et d’organiser une offre de marché public à la place) The French free software advocacy group April is protesting the renegotiation by the Ministry of Defence of a proprietary software licence contract that was signed four years ago without a public procurement.

Les brevets menacent chaque concepteur de logiciel, et les guerres de brevet que nous avons longtemps craintes ont éclaté. Les développeurs et les utilisateurs – soit, dans notre société, la plupart des gens – ont besoin de logiciels libres de tout brevet.

(Le paquet Brevet génère des inquiétudes pour divers secteurs) Patent package gives technology and other sectors cause for concern

(Le parlement Européen vote en faveur d’un système de brevet unifié, mais le mouvement est opposé par l’Italie et l’Espagne) The European Parliament votes in favour of a unified patent scheme, but the move is being opposed by Italy and Spain.

(L’intitut Max Planck a publié une liste de raisons expliquant en quoi le brevet unitaire est inquiétant) The Max Planck Institute for Intellectual Property and Competition Law - the bastion of unbiased legal competence - has published its Top 10 list for why the unitary patent proposals are of concern. Authored by Reto M. Hilty, Thomas Jaeger, Matthias Lamping and Hanns Ullrich - the 12 points are categorized under three main headings - complexity, imbalance and uncertainty.

(le directeur juridique de Google s’exprime sur le système des brevets des U.S. afin de réduire les litiges) Google Inc.’s chief legal officer, David Drummond, said in visit to Seoul Tuesday that the company is walking a fine line as it seeks reforms in the U.S. patent system in an effort to reduce the amount of litigation around mobile computing software and devices.

«Imprimer» chez soi à l’unité toute sorte d’objets, tasse, bijou, figurine, outil, c’est possible. Qu’est-ce que cela change? Est-ce une nouvelle révolution industrielle? Coralie Schaub, journaliste au service EcoFutur, a répondu à vos questions.

(Les agences du gouvernement Français pourraient devenir des participantes plus actives des projets de Logiciels Libres) French government agencies could become more active participants in free software projects, under an action plan sent by Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault in a letter to ministers, while software giants Microsoft and Oracle might lose out as the government pushes free software such as LibreOffice or PostgreSQL in some areas.

(le comité Européen sur le commerce a recommandé le rejet de l’ACTA et a aussi décidé de ne pas repousser le vote au parlement) The European Parliament’s trade committee, INTA, has recommended rejecting the ACTA anti-piracy treaty. It also decided not to postpone the crucial parliamentary vote on the controversial agreement.

Présent sur le marché de l’intégrité logicielle, Coverity estime que code open source et propriétaire sont sur un pied d’égalité en termes de qualité.

Ce texte, censé lutter contre la contrefaçon et contre le téléchargement pirate, est une «menace majeure pour la liberté d’expression», selon ses détracteurs. Sa ratification est dans l’impasse dans plusieurs pays européens.

Comme l’imprimante 3D, la carte électronique Arduino est une petite révolution dans le monde des adeptes du “do it yourself” (“faites-le vous-même”). Avec des choix philosophiques bien marqués : open source, économe, tournée vers les amateurs.

(descend l’office des brevets sur le jugement des simulations de conception de foreuse) Smacks down IPO on drill design sim ruling

(Le bureau du Premier Ministre Français, François Fillon, a annoncé avoir émis une circulaire à tous les membres du gouvernement Français encourageant l’usage des formats ouverts et libres comme part de la nouvelle plate-form gouvernemental data.gouv.fr) The office of the Prime Minister of France, François Fillon, has announced that he has issued a circular to all members of the French government encouraging the use of free and open formats as part of new government platform data.gouv.fr

(Le guide militaire de 68 pages fournit “meilleurs pratiques” et autres ressources pour aider les développeurs à créer des logiciels utilisant des technologies ouvertes) The military’s 68-page guide provides best practices and other resources to to help developers create software using open technologies.

(La réglementation des marchés publics européens devrait être améliorée pour permettre un meilleur accès aux applications logicielles libres et open source) Europe’s rules on public procurement should be improved to allow better access to free and open source software applications, according to advocacy groups and the OSOR project. They responded to a public consultation by the European Commission. The groups want the rules to request free and open source licencing terms.

(l’april poursuit sa campagne contre les appels d’offres discriminatoires avec de nouvelles informations et des ressources de sensibilisation) The French advocacy organisation for free sofware and open standards April continues its campaign against discriminatory calls for tenders with new information and awareness-raising resources.

New procurement policy guidance from the UK government has defined open standards as having “intellectual property made irrevocably available on a royalty free basis”

(Les administrations publiques Françaises et les marchés publics) French public administrations will be educated on how to properly procure IT solutions. April, a French association promoting free and open source software, and the National Council of Free Software (CNLL), a group representing French providers of free and open source software services, last Thursday announced a campaign to raise awareness on illegal IT procurement.

(Un test de dernière minute révèle nombre de problèmes avec un système de vote en ligne, pourtant basé sur du Logiciel Libre) Security remains an obstacle to voting over the Internet. But more states may be tempted to experiment in order to comply with a new law concerning the rights of military and overseas voters.

(Un plan Britannique pour réduire les coûts en passant par les petites entreprises et le logiciel libre) The UK government’s deputy CIO has outlined plans to hand public sector IT contracts over to small businesses (…)

The war against persistent zombie cookies—cookies that never seem to lose your data, even when you delete them—rages on, as users learn more about the technology. While awareness is rising thanks to widespread coverage of Flash cookies and, more recently, HTML5’s storage capabilities, we have a long way to go before Internet users can avoid persistent tracking. Like all zombie wars, this one will take some time to win; and if you thought things were bad now, they’re about to get worse.

(L’activiste Richard Stallman fait une apparition impromptue lors d’une présentation du Bureau des Brevets Européen à Brisbane) Software freedom activist Richard Stallman made an unexpected appearance at a European Patent Office presentation in Brisbane today.

Brett Smith, l’un des piliers de la Free Software Foundation, a posté sur le blog officiel de l’association Open Source un billet pour soutenir Google dans la bataille juridique qui l’oppose à Oracle depuis cet été.

(Victoire majeure dans une cour Américaine) Open sourcers have scored a major victory in a US court over violation of the GPL.

(La majorité des projets hébergés par Google sont sous GPL3) Google’s open source programs manager Chris DiBona (pic left) took the stage at OSCON today and he had some interesting things to say, about licensing.

(L’Europe définirait des règles d’achats des logiciels pour ses états membres) The European Commission is set to lay down software purchasing guidelines for the governments of its 27 member states, the New York Times has reported.

(Malgré les lobbies, les logiciels seront non brevetables en Nouvelle-Zélande) Despite what appears to be a big-budget lobbying effort by the pro-patent fraternity, Hon Simon Power announced today that he wouldn’t be modifying the proposed Patents Bill hence software will be unpatentable once the Bill passes into law.

(Les législateurs Français ont-ils des doutes sur HADOPI ?) Are the French legislators who passed the country’s tough new “three strikes” Internet disconnection law having second thoughts? Le Figaro caught up last week with Jean-François Copé, a leading member of the ruling right-leaning UMP party that wrote and supported the “Création et Internet” law passed last year. Copé helped rally support for the bill after it failed its first vote in the National Assembly because most UMP deputies had actually left the chamber without voting.

(Une des premières décisions suivant l’affaire Bilski, semblant bloquer la brevetabilité des logiciels car étant abstraits) Look at this, will you? The first decision from the Board of Patents Appeals and Interferences post-Bilski to reference that US Supreme Court decision, in In Re Proudler [PDF], a ruling rejecting HP’s application for a software patent, setting forth a rule stating, as I read it, as saying software is not patentable because it’s an abstraction:

(Lettre ouverte à la société de créateurs voulant attaquer le “copyleft”) The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) has launched a campaign to raise money from its members to hire lobbyists to protect them against the dangers of “Copyleft.” Groups such as Creative Commons, Public Knowledge, and the Electronic Frontier Foundation are “mobilizing,” ASCAP describes in a letter to its members, “to promote ‘Copyleft’ in order to undermine our ‘Copyright.’” “[O]ur opponents are influencing Congress against the interests of music creators,” ASCAP warns.

La loi sur le copyright du Brésil interdit l’usage des DRM pour limiter les droits des brésiliens.

(En Corée le gouvernement bloquait de fait les usages de GNU/Linux) Imagine a country that has one of the best Internet infrastructures in the world, and yet its government effectively forbids the use of GNU/Linux through a requirement that everyone employ a decade-old Windows-only technology for many key online transactions. That country is South Korea, where 1 Gbits/second Internet connections are planned for 2012; and that Windows-only technology is ActiveX.

La IEEE prend une position de plus en plus pro logiciel propriétaire via des accords avec Microsoft et d’autres entités monopolistiques.

L’Europe, les USA et le Japon souhaitent des lois fortes sur la “propriété intellectuelle” pour protéger leur économie créative selon des grandes entreprises.

Le lobby des vendeurs de logiciels, la Business Software Alliance (BSA) et le le ministre des finances de la République tchèque, ont annoncé que les ordinateurs vendu sans logiciels seraient surtaxés.

L’auteur détaille pourquoi il est important que le Logiciel Libre rapporte de l’argent et comment le monde de la musique pourrait s’en inspirer.

Il y a deux ans l’ISO approuvait de justesse le format de bureautique ouvert OOXML de Microsoft destiné a concurencer l’ODF. Mais ce format n’est toujours pas utilisé correctement par les produits Microsoft.

Interview d’Eben Moglen, juriste américain et ancien conseillé de la FSF, où il exprime ses craintes face au danger que représente la collecte de données personnelles par les grandes entreprises du Web.

La licence GPL actuelle n’est probablement pas adaptée aux machines de vote.

Microsoft s’est servi du DMCA pour déconnecter le site cryptome, qui qui publié des fuites montrant comment Microsoft facilite l’espionnage des clients.

Un jugement aux USA autour d’une violation de la licence GNU GPL vient d’être obtenu et est très favorable pour les prochains cas de non respect de cette licence.

« So, if you are publishing research articles that use computer programs, if you want to claim that you are engaging in science, the programs are in your possession and you will not release them then I would not regard you as a scientist; I would also regard any papers based on the software as null and void. »

Le Danemark choisit d’utiliser le format OpenDocument pour les échanges de documents au sein et entre les ministère et le gouvernement. Les collectivités locales devraient suivre le mouvent.

En Nouvelle Zelande, une école fonctionne entièrement avec des logiciels libres, malgré l’obligation par le gouvernement d’utiliser le logiciel de Microsoft.

Le devellopeur Samba, Andrew Tridgell, note que la communauté open source ne sait pas bien combattre les attaques via les brevets mais pense qu’un changement de stratégie pourrait améliorer la situation.

Red Hat tire (largement) son épingle du jeu malgré la crise.

Facebook devient un sponsor “Gold” de la fondation Apache, soit un don de plus de 40.000 dollars par an.

En Californie le logiciel libre devient « acceptable», suite aux difficultés budgétaires.

Après des années passées à mépriser les standards, MS annonce qu’il rejoindra le groupe de travaille du W3c sur le SVG. A Noter que Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, Safari et Opera savent déjà gérer le SVG.

La wikipedia allemande atteint le million d’entrées. C’est la seconde langue la plus importante en nombre d’articles après la langue anglaise (plus de trois millions d’articles) et avant la française (moins de 900 000).

Google publie le traitement de texte collaboratif EtherPad sous licence libre pour calmer les inquiétudes des utilisateurs qui craignaient sa disparition. Google has released the source code of EtherPad, a Web-hosted word processor designed for real-time workgroup collaboration, in a move aimed at appeasing users of the product who complained about plans to discontinue it.

Le parlement hongrois impose l’utilisation des standards ouverts dans les échanges entre les administrations et le public.

Une équipe de chercheurs à implémenté un système d’“informatique dite de confiance” dans une version commerciale du système d’exploitation open source Linux.

After years of thrashing out the text of the proposed update to the EU Copyright Directive, we have come to what is almost certainly the final vote, in the European Parliament plenary early next week. You might think at this stage that it would be all over, with nothing new emerging, and most people simply accepting things as they are. Nothing could be further from the truth. The last few weeks have seen some of the most dramatic developments in the already fraught passage of the Directive through the legislative process.