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.

France’s Senate should start a commission of inquiry into a proprietary licence contract signed by the Ministry of Defence, says senator Joëlle Garriaud-Maylam. This summer, the ministry’s latest four-year framework contract came into force, following a so-called negotiated procedure, bypassing competition. Members of the parliament have criticised this licence agreement for years.

(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.

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.

(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”.

(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.

(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.