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Comment on "EU-Linux:" Petition calls for the implementation of an EU-Linux operating system in public administrations across all EU countries

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thingsiplay@beehaw.org ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

But then the government is dependent on this private company again. The idea of an own operating system distribution is, to have the control and not being dependent (as far as a company goes). So its not odd at all. In fact, I am shocked that most governments in the world don’t have their own distribution. It just makes sense.

That also means a specific distribution to learn and count on across all governmental institution across all parts. They can integrate any feature, application and configure it for the EU in a government. Is there such a distribution that exists doing exactly that? Probably not. And creating a distribution does not mean they develop everything from scratch, so its not like impossible to workout.

If private companies like Steam can do it, then a government should be able too.

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millie@beehaw.org ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago
It also means the entirety of the EU’s governments would be susceptible to the same vulnerabilities and bugs, and would share the same dependencies. Given recent issues with bad actors taking control of small but essential repos, this seems like a potentially dangerous security flaw.

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- IrritableOcelot@beehaw.org ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago
  I mean yes, but currently they’re all dependent on Windows, so its less of centralizing OSes, and more changing what its centralized on.
  
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  - millie@beehaw.org ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago
    Okay, but when’s the last time someone created a security vulnerability by sneakily taking over a Windows dependency controlled by a single developer after pressuring them into handing the keys over with a bunch of sockpuppets?
    
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    IrritableOcelot@beehaw.org ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago
    Sure the threat model is different, I’m just saying it’s still a single point of failure.
    
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- Appoxo@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago
  They are already interconnect at various points.
  Schools are connected to university networks, university networks to loval government intranets and those are again probably at some point connected to the federal network.
  I don’t wanna guess where else they have connections to like the police or legislative network.
  
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  - millie@beehaw.org ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago
    There’s a world of difference between interconnectedness and an enforced monoculture of dependencies on a wide range of insecure repos maintained by hobbyists.
    
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- webghost0101@sopuli.xyz ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago
  Most people who use anything other then windows for work will still use the best software for the job. Most of the advances made for it may likely also work on other distros.
  
  I imagine this just provides a additional option that can freely be distributed and supported with european standards.
  
  It also has potential to be used in schools moving people away from dependency on Microsoft.
  
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halm@leminal.space ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago
Um, yes. It is odd, and you get some things ass backward:

But then the government is dependent on this private company again

To my knowledge Linux is community driven. I can only assume that’s Murena and /e/OS you’re talking about, then? In which case, that was my point.

I am shocked that most governments in the world don’t have their own distribution. It just makes sense.

Yeah, makes sense to North Korea, too. I’m not sure they’re an example to follow, though.

To be clear, nation states controlling the tools that their employees and, potentially, wider population communicate and access information is a dystopian vision, and I cannot agree with that point at all.

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- p03locke@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago
  
  Yeah, makes sense to North Korea, too. I’m not sure they’re an example to follow, though.
  
  To be clear, nation states controlling the tools that their employees and, potentially, wider population communicate and access information is a dystopian vision, and I cannot agree with that point at all.
  
  Wow, what a way to take the most extreme POV possible on an issue.
  
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  - halm@leminal.space ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago
    
    the most extreme POV possible
    
    Absolutely not. Somebody may still wade into the discussion and Godwin themselves.
    
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- The_Sasswagon@beehaw.org ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago
  To be clear, the EU developing an operating system for EU use is not a dystopian vision without assuming many things about the theoretical future project. The petition is asking for this for transparency and independence from an actual dystopian vision coming to fruition in a ‘forced’ Windows standard. That doesn’t really lead me to imagine a dystopian nightmare where the EU forces everyone to install their distro (A potentially comical vision on its own).
  
  I rather like the idea that governments contribute to open source projects, sounds a lot better than the same contribution going to private institutions. The use of open source software may introduce some vulnerabilities, but those are replacing vulnerabilities that are already there. I would also imagine investment in some open source projects would encourage more development in adjacent areas, much like Valve, Proton, and gaming.
  
  I would be interested to hear what alternative you have to solving the problems that the project in this petition is attempting to solve. It’s easy to shoot down something for not being perfect but it’s pretty challenging to come up with a theoretical proposal that pleases all.
  
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