(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.