Vive la France... Libre !

About 10 years ago, a century in IT terms, we watched France from on high as the country clung to the good ship minitel, incapable of seeing the Internet wave that would rapidly relegate that technology to museum status.  After all, weren't we in Quebec enjoying a world-class role in the digital imaging and video game fields (remember Softimage) ?  Hadn't Quebec Inc managed to produce major IT organizations (CGI, DRM, LGS, etc) in the style of the major engineering firms associated with the construction of the hydroelectric dams?  Hadn't the Quebec government put into place policies designed specifically to provide us with our very own Quebecois Bill Gates? Since that time, while we've been snapping our own suspenders at our good fortune... "96% of the public sector in France is using open source"1 « France, Spain top global index of open source activity »2- Ars Technica Yes - during that 10 year period France jumped head-first into the free software revolution, becoming worldwide Open Source leaders.  In France there are many IT organisations focused on open source software that count more than a thousand members (Smile, Linagora, StarExperts, etc).  From a financial perspective, it's starting to add up: according to a study published by Markess International in 2009 3, the market for software and services associated with open source initiatives hit 2.18 billion euro (around $3.5 billion CAD), or 6% of the total software and service market.  The study also reveals that the market will grow to almost 3 billion euro by 2011 ($4.8 billion CAD). This momentum has made its way in part across the Atlantic, as many open source-focused organisations in Quebec have founders with roots in France.  Examples include Cyrille Béraud of Savoir Faire Linux, Benoît des Ligneris of Révolution Linux and Adrien Laurent of Modulis. Still, in Québec no group of this nature includes more than 100 members. During this entire period, the Quebec government paddled full steam ahead in a frail, ageing boat that was starting to take on water.  By relying on proprietary software (primarily from Microsoft and Oracle), and by obstinately insisting on managing its IT needs on a grand scale that only large firms could possibly assist them with, they took the chance on missing an extraordinary opportunity: becoming the North American leader in open source software use. This isn't to say that Quebec has completely ignored the free software movement. After the Conference on Open Source Software in Public Administration (CLLAP) in 2008, many MP's discussed their experience and use of free software, in particular the Agricultural Territory Protection Commission of Quebec (CPTAQ), which has used this type of software as part of its infrastructure for more than five years, and the Ministry of Public Security which employs it as part of its geomatics application suite (http://geomsp.msp.gouv.qc.ca/ ).  In the opinion of many government workers, there is a strong interest in their departments with regards to open source software, but the political will on the part of elected officials to explore these options does not exist. Also during this period, in the United States, the Obama administration has chosen to embrace open standards, and to a growing degree open source software.  The official White House web site is managed by Drupal, an open source - and free - content management system (CMS). Serge Martel

1. 1. http://www.unixmen.com/news-today/425-almost-entire-public-sector-in-france-is-using-open-source-, a blog written by Zinovsky, Zinoune on 2009-10-07 comments on a study from the Markess research group published September 19, 2009.  Evidently, the 96% figure should be approached with caution, because even though almost every French branch of the public sector uses open source software, this usage can vary considerably from one branch to another.  Still very interesting, though, isn't it?
2. 2. http://arstechnica.com/open-sourceR yan Paul/news/2009/04/red-hat-study-generates-global-index-of-open-source-activity.ars, article by Ryan, Paul, posted 2009-04-22 regarding a study from Georgia Tech commissioned by Red Hat. Here is the list of the top 10 countries along with their index of open source activity:  France (1.35), Spain(1.07), Germany (1.05), Australia (1.04), Finland (1.03), Great Britain (1.00), Norway(0.95), Estonia (0.89), United States (0.89), Denmark (0.79). Canada comes in...34th place. (see http://www.redhat.com/about/where-is-open-source/activity/ ).
3. 3. http://www.lemagit.fr/article/france-markess-marche-open-source/4293/1/l-open-world-forum-2009-veut-convaincre-les-dsi-encore-reticents-face-open-source/