Markus Sabadello

Elixir: resolve circularity with the power of laziness! Another brief adventure porting functions from haskell to elixir. https://lnkd.in/egj5dm-y

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Soooo... this is happening! Brussels round-table 24 September on how to build an open, competitive and interoperable digital public infrastructure. The way I see it, Europe - extremely dependent on and vulnerable to US Big Tech platforms to power our entire society, economy and public services - has two choices: 1 - Do the Mario Draghi thing and funnel a tonne of money to a few EU companies like telecoms incumbents to build a Europe-branded version of the US monopolistic tech-stack, or... 2 - Realise we can't out-compete the US and China versions of tech on their own monopolistic, surveillance-based business models, and build a digital public infrastructure that looks like Europe; embracing diversity, modular construction, open innovation, and at least (!) 27 different ways of doing things. One of these options is truly European. . . Come along on 24 September to hear from Cristina Caffarra Francesca Bria Meredith Whittaker Robin Berjon sujith nair Audrey Tang and many more on how to build a Euro-Stack where we all have equal opportunities, rights and freedoms. https://lnkd.in/g8apgydX

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#Switzerland federal government requires releasing its software as #OpenSource The United States remains reluctant to work with open source, but European countries are bolder.  https://bit.ly/4d2Lf97 via ZDNET by Steven Vaughan-Nichols #Regulation #OpenInnovation Switzerland has taken a major step forward with its "Federal Law on the Use of Electronic Means for the Fulfillment of Government Tasks" (EMBAG). This groundbreaking #legislation mandates releasing #OpenSourceSoftware (#OSS) of the Federal government. This new law requires all public bodies to disclose the source code of software developed by or for them unless third-party rights or security concerns prevent it. This "public money, public code" approach aims to enhance government operations' #transparency, security & efficiency. Making this move wasn't easy. It began in 2011 when the Swiss Federal Supreme Court published its court application, Open Justitia, under an OSS license. The proprietary legal software company Weblaw wasn't happy about this. There were heated political & legal fights for >a decade. Finally, the EMBAG was passed in 2023. Professor Dr. Matthias Stürmer, head of the Institute for Public Sector Transformation at the Bern University of Applied Sciences, led the fight for this law. He hailed it as "a great opportunity for government, the IT industry, and society." Stürmer believes everyone will benefit from this regulation, as it reduces vendor lock-in for the public sector, allows companies to expand their digital business solutions, and potentially leads to reduced IT costs & improved services for taxpayers. In addition to mandating OSS, the EMBAG requires the release of non-personal & non-security-sensitive government data as #OpenGovernmentData (OGD). This dual "open by default" approach marks a significant paradigm shift towards greater openness & practical reuse of software & data. Switzerland's EMBAG is expected to serve as a model for other countries, aiming to promote #DigitalSovereignty & encourage #innovation & #collaboration within the public sector. Other countries in Europe have long supported open source. E.g, in 2023, French President Macron stated, "We love open source," and France's Gendarmerie Nationale (similar to FBI in the U.S.) uses Linux on its PCs. The European Union (EU) has long worked on securing OSS via the EU's Free and Open Source Software Auditing (FOSSA) project. But there's some worry that the European Commission will cut funding for the NGI Zero Commons Fund, an important funding source for OSS projects. In the US, there's some support for open source, but not nearly as much as in Europe. E.g: The Federal Source Code Policy requires federal agencies to release ≥20% of new custom-developed code as open-source software. It doesn't, however, mandate the use of open source. While this legislative move positions Switzerland at the forefront of the global open-source movement, more work needs to be done both in Europe & the US.

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