Image: “Keep calm and use open source” (MedithIT/CC by)
Microsoft in Saas, “a sword of Damocles over our sovereignty”
A report on the challenges of cyber defense was tabled on January 17 by the National Defense and Armed Forces Committee of the National Assembly, noted the Opex360.com website. Presented by deputies Anne Le Hénanff (Horizons, the party of Edouard Philippe) and Frédéric Mathieu (LFI), this report focused in particular on the consequences of the use of Microsoft software.
“Regarding […] of Microsoft, its role is limited to providing software. The infrastructures on which [ceux-ci] are state property and configuration and administration tasks are carried out entirely by state personnel or trusted companies of the Defense Industrial and Technological Base. To date, there are no plans to make any major changes to this doctrine,” indicate the rapporteurs. But, underlines Opex360.com, “this practice may not last given that Microsoft plans to market its software “as a service” [« Software as a Service » – SaaS]. Clearly, applications would no longer be stored on a computer’s hard drive but hosted by a remote server.
“This risk is a real sword of Damocles which weighs on the protection of the data of State services but above all on our sovereignty. This is due to the fact that the emerging model consists of the sole purchase of rights to use solutions hosted abroad. Moreover, Microsoft has indicated that by 2030, or even 2027, there will only be software in the form of SaaS,” explained Ms. Le Hénanff, during the examination of the report in committee. “The Ministry of the Armed Forces, given its requirements in terms of security and sovereignty, cannot accept this situation, and today, it is difficult to estimate the extent of the risks…” she continued .”
The report evokes a “Microsoft trap” and pleads to “explore” “the possibilities offered by free software, such as Linux, notes Opex360.com. But, visibly, the Joint Directorate of Infrastructure Networks and Information Systems [DIRISI] is cautious on this subject.
“Contrary to certain preconceived ideas, free does not mean free and the use […] free software has a cost. Reducing dependence on Microsoft would pose compatibility problems, would have an equivalent cost and would be time-consuming in terms of training and maintaining the skills of administrators,” DIRISI explained to the two deputies. “Above all, this would require having a minimum of dedicated and expert internal human resources on a wide range of free software, which seems inaccessible in the short or medium term given the current tensions in terms of human resources in the digital field” , she added.
The Palace of Versailles modeled
“Within a few years, nearly 10,000 drawings, corresponding to 20,000 digital images of the Palace of Versailles (Yvelines) and its grounds, will be made entirely available to the public. The documents include general plans, sections, elevations, drawings of architectural or decorative details,” reports the newspaper Les Echos. “Everything is available as open source and can be used by researchers both for work on Versailles and on broader subjects such as architecture in the 18th century,” continues a project manager.
The Verspera project for “digitalization and modeling of the plans of Versailles under the Ancien Régime”, launched in 2013, “aims to make accessible to all the plans of the Versailles estate under the Ancien Régime and to restore certain spaces thanks to the digitization and 3D modeling.”
It is managed by the Palace of Versailles Research Center, in partnership with the National Archives, the National Library of France and the ETIS laboratory (Information Processing and Systems Teams, UMR8051, CY Cergy Paris University / ENSEA Cergy / CNRS ), with the financial support of the Heritage Sciences Foundation and the Ministry of Culture. The departmental archives of Yvelines and the municipal library of Versailles have just joined them, specifies Les Echos.
Gustave Eiffel, ahead of his time
Gustave Eiffel found universal fame for his metal works, including the tower to which his name was given, then he became passionate about the study of aerodynamics, reports AFP. He created a wind tunnel, the Eiffel aerodynamic laboratory, still in operation more than a century later, which is located in the west of Paris. The installation now belongs to the Scientific and Technical Building Center (CSTB). “After testing single or biplane aircraft until the Second World War, then cars, the wind tunnel is moving towards the study of the bioclimatic design of buildings and the fight against urban heat islands.”
We learn in this dispatch that “Eiffel himself was very attached to what today we would call open source. According to Jean-Marie Franco, operational director of the wind tunnel, “during the tests carried out in the wind tunnel on behalf of manufacturers, he granted free access if he could publish the results to the public.”
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In 2005, the Ministry of Defense was very interested in free software – January 23, 2018
A Wikipedian in residence at the Palace of Versailles – February 15, 2011