France = Foss?

French government agencies could become more active participants in Free Software projects.

This will be done 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. … He also wants them to reinvest between 5 percent and 10 percent of the money they save through not paying for proprietary software licenses, spending it instead on contributing to the development of the free software.

The administration already submits patches and bug fixes for the applications it uses, but Ayrault wants to go beyond that, contributing to or paying for the addition of new functionality to the software.

This news has appeared in http://tech.slashdot.org/.

Open Hardware

LinuxCon Europe Q&A series today with keynote speaker and openMaterials Co-founder Catarina Mota.

In the last few years, open source hardware went from an obscure hobby to a burgeoning movement built on values and practices derived from open source software, hacker culture and craft traditions. This expansion is visible in the exponential growth of the community of developers and users, the increase in the number and revenue of open source hardware businesses, and the emergence of a large number of new DIY gadgets and machinery, from digital fabricators and microcontrollers to soft circuits and tech crafts. What is most interesting is that the accessibility of hardware plans, along with the communities and collaborative practices that surround them, is lowering the barrier to entry and encouraging people of all ages and walks of life to create, hack and repurpose hardware. So these open and collaborative practices, along with the increasing accessibility of manufacturing tools, are leading to a fascinating explosion of creativity and innovation. In my talk I’ll draw a snapshot of the evolution and current state of the open source hardware movement and the impact it’s having on manufacturing, business, education and beyond.

Read the whole interview at http://www.linux.com/news/featured-blogs/185-jennifer-cloer/638143-linuxcon-europe-keynoter-catarina-mota-talks-open-source-hardware