La Free Software Foundation rclame la mise en open source de Windows 7

Windows 7 must be versed in open source. This is the urgent request that the Free Software Foundation has been addressing to Microsoft in recent days through a petition which has already received several thousand signatures (nearly 8,000 before the weekend). Since January 14, 2020, Microsoft no longer provides support for this version of the operating system, officially discontinued. “The end of the life cycle of Windows 7 gives Microsoft the perfect opportunity to repair past errors and instead give it more value”, points out the FSF in a post where the foundation accuses the publisher of having during ten years poisoned education, invaded privacy and threatened the safety of users.

For the organization defending free software, this is an opportunity or never to give the community the opportunity to look at the operating system to study, modify, improve it and share it. If Microsoft has already poured into open source some parts of its development tools, especially around .Net, it has only done so for minor components of Windows, such as the calculator. Through the petition launched, Microsoft is therefore asked to release Windows 7. The FSF urges the publisher to respect the freedom and privacy of users and not only to force them to switch to the most recent version of Windows. “We want more proof that you genuinely respect users and their freedom and don’t just use these concepts as marketing arguments when it suits you,” the foundation writes.

Big bills for Windows 7 extended support

With the end of official support for Windows 7, the many users forced or wishing to still use the OS on their PC must now turn to paid extended support provided by Microsoft partners and the publisher will therefore continue to withdraw money from using Windows 7 in business. Last week, for example, the German government estimated that it would have to pay 800,000 euros to continue using Windows 7 on more than 30,000 PCs that have not yet migrated to Windows 10. For the Australian government, the bill is even higher with an $ 8.7 million extended support contract signed by two ministries.