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Jan Vlug

"The German government has launched a new Open Source software project called openDesk, which aims to reduce the country’s dependency on proprietary software vendors and support transparency and interoperability.

openDesk is a collection of software modules that are important for day-to-day work in the public sector, such as text creation, file collaboration, project management, email, calendar and messaging."

opensource.net/governments-ado

OpenSource.net · Governments turn to Open Source for sovereignty - OpenSource.netThe German government is developing a digital workplace platform called openDesk, to reduce dependency on proprietary software vendors and support transparency and interoperability.

@janvlug Can Norway plz do the same instead of relying on M$ and lots of other proprietary services? Please?!

@janvlug @reina
Officieel is het beleid open source, tenzij...
Architecten en inkopers stellen bijna altijd eisen op waaraan de leverantie van open source software niet kan voldoen, aangezien er geen sprake is van een klassieke leverancier - afnemer verhouding.
Er zijn behoorlijk wat initiatieven, maar er zitten teveel bestuurders /strategen en andere lui die er eigenlijk geen verstand van hebben aan tafel.
digitaleoverheid.nl/overzicht-
en commonground.nl/

Digitale OverheidKennisnetwerk Open Source Software (OSS)Het uitgangspunt van het opensourcebeleid is: ‘open tenzij’. Dit wil zeggen dat overheden hun broncode zouden moeten delen tenzij er gegronde redenen zijn om dit niet te doen. Bijvoorbeeld als het niet verenigbaar is met veiligheidsbelangen of indien er een vertrouwelijke werkwijze wordt geschaad.

@Paulinebvr @reina Ik ben al erg lang op zoek naar de aanbesteding met eisen voor de digitale werkplek van onder andere @minbzk. Tot nog toe heb ik die niet kunnen vinden. Als iemand een linkje voor me heeft zou dat heel nice zijn.

Ik ben benieuwd in hoeverre het Duits initiatief voldoet.

@reina @janvlug don't worry. Germany is at least at the same level relying on MS as all the other countries do.

This is more a project of pointing out what could be used instead. But probably no one will ever switch. 😅 (Which is actually very silly)

@feyter @janvlug That's somehow even more worrying xD

@janvlug would be great if #switzerland would join @gov. And if for example @DKFBasel could start using and contributing to an open source society.

@janvlug someone had to be the first, and this is quite exciting, community driven instead of corporation driven!

@chrispaveglio @collabora online is part of the package. is a big contributor to .

@janvlug I am working on the openDesk project and couldn't be happier of my team!

@jaimeconds Great! Can you recommend some more places to read about this? In particular, explanations of why the German government decided to do this and how they are doing it. I hope we can get something like this going in Sweden as well, and I think it can help a lot to show it is already being done in other countries. Do you already collaborate with other EU countries around this?

@janvlug

@jaimeconds Thank you!

> digital sovereignty for German
> and French schools, as students
> data should not be on Google or
> Microsoft clouds.

Very important issue, I think not only regarding the data but also what students learn, students should learn things that are not tied to a certain big tech company's products. The interests of a healthy society is very different from the interests of those huge companies. We need a free society. Free software, free society! 🙂

@janvlug

@janvlug That is especially true of statistical, mathematical,and scientific software. But we have to remember, billionaire tech oligarchs need that new yacht and private island, so they have to keep the proprietary pumping as long as possible.

@janvlug
Partially related: The German Bundestag will be removing fax machines next year.

@janvlug cool, and the best my government could do was give google, apple and microsoft guaranteed monopoly by using them as requirements when interacting with government services.

i'd love it if my tax money wasn't spent on lining the pockets of a foreign hostile state, but i guess it's just me.

@janvlug changing their dependency from proprietary software vendors to a single unpaid furry with an obsolete laptop held together with gaffer tape. Still an improvement.

@janvlug I guess some politicians will soon be invited to a very nice vacation in the carribean by a certain software company and the project then will be stopped 😉

@janvlug This has been going on for some years. The city of Munich ran a large project to shift the city administration's whole IT platform over to FOSS, with limited success.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LiMux

en.wikipedia.orgLiMux - Wikipedia

@hengymrohebwlad @janvlug this. The history paragraph looks exactly how I remember that mess. Guess it was too early for the times.

@janvlug Ironic they are ok with using software to reclaim app sovereignty but not ok to use software to reclaim financial sovereignty. Still glad they are embracing FOSS.

@janvlug

Imagine what all those FLOSS projects suddenly could do if only some of the EU governments put the money they're paying for proprietary licenses into them instead.

@janvlug

OpenDesk (aka the Sovereign Workplace or SouvAP) now has a published architecture concept.

Under Creative Commons CC-BY-4.0.

Parts of the concept can also be transferred to other projects.

The aim is security by design.

gitlab.opencode.de/bmi/opendes

Status is September 2023.

DISCLAIMER: I contributed to the Kubernetes and supply chain security part.

!!! Suggestions for improvement on OpenCode welcome !!!

GitLabBMI / openDesk Architekturkonzept · GitLabhttps://bmi.usercontent.opencode.de/opendesk-architekturkonzept/

@janvlug That's kind of interesting: Neither the Bundesanzeiger, nor the German government, nor the responsible ministry (BMI) have ~any~ information online about a project named #openDesk.

Perhaps one has to send them a fax to get some official information?

#Neuland
(Screenshots: bundesanzeiger.de, bundesregierung.de, bmi.bund.de)

CC @johartig

Hatte München nicht schonmal linux und als es gut lief hat der neue Bürgermeister alles auf Windows zurück gedreht, weil sein Kumpel MS Chef in Deutschland war?
@janvlug

@janvlug Until next change of change of government: Conservatives do not understand the need for digital sovereignty.