5 ms·

FOSS funding vanishes from EU's 2025 Horizon program plans

80 points by openrisk 2y ago

lagt_t 2y ago
Between this and the Cyber Resilience Act sheesh
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
jfinkhaeuser 2y ago
The open letter and sign-on opportunity can be found here: https://www.ow2.org/view/Events/The_European_Union_must_keep_funding_free_software_open_letter https://www.ow2.org/view/Events/The_European_Union_must_keep...
idle_zealot 2y ago
This is the first I've heard of "Web 4.0," and the pairing of the terminology with "virtual worlds" is... interesting. Is the EU funding metaverse development in anticipation that it will be important (lol), or am I misinterpreting "virtual world" here?
- rapnie 2y ago
  The authors of such documents often inhabit virtual worlds, where the language is in different buzzwords than what we are used to in the real world.
devwastaken 2y ago
There are many things yet to be done that don't fit as a product and are best served open source. Short list of things that don't exist: - universal datetime library for all major languages that can parse all formats, timezone aware, and is convenient to use. - universal permissions and paths library. Filesystem, network filepaths, both for windows acls, Linux and Mac's extended perms. How can I know if I have read permission before reading? Or that I can traverse a directory before trying? - memory safe openssl - memory safe small footprint embeddable html/css renderer for universal GUI's and small arm computers. (not webview) - USB c protocols for embedded devices. - improvements to kicad to implement smart trace routing. - any pain point or plumbing that really should be apart of a language/library already.
- nindalf 2y ago
  > memory safe openssl This is closer to done than not done. Rustls is a memory safe TLS library that is compatible with OpenSSL in API and has comparable or better performance [2]. It has also passed security audits [3] But your point stands. Rustls wouldn’t have been possible without open source funding. [1] - https://www.memorysafety.org/initiative/rustls/ https://www.memorysafety.org/initiative/rustls/ [2] - https://www.memorysafety.org/blog/rustls-performance/ https://www.memorysafety.org/blog/rustls-performance/ [3] - https://github.com/rustls/rustls/blob/main/audit/TLS-01-report.pdf https://github.com/rustls/rustls/blob/main/audit/TLS-01-repo...
j-pb 2y ago
Does anyone know any good FOSS projects that were actually funded by this? I feel like the people deciding what (research and technology) to fund in the EU generally have very poor taste in their selections. I assume that they are non-technical as they often seem to choose the projects that make the most ambitious claims about social impact and EU values, but have very little to none technical merit. Stuff like Rust, that could be a real technological advantage for the EU, is not funded, but weird blockchain semantic web foo is https://www.ngi.eu/ https://www.ngi.eu/
- grothoff 2y ago
  NGI funded us to work on the GNU Name System (https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc9498.html https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc9498.html), that includes the Go implementation, updates to the C implementation, and the specification. Plus NGI funds work on https://taler.net/ https://taler.net/. Another example for a project they funded is https://cryptpad.fr/ https://cryptpad.fr/. https://nlnet.nl/project/ https://nlnet.nl/project/ has an extensive list. If you actually care about privacy on the Internet and FLOSS, I'd be surprised if you did not find some project there that you know or use. If you are working on improving privacy on the Internet with FLOSS, you can still apply for funding at https://nlnet.nl/propose https://nlnet.nl/propose.
- lifty 2y ago
  One project that was funded that I can remember is https://stalw.art https://stalw.art. It’s a very nice and compact e-mail server. The EU doesn’t take decisions directly about which projects to fund, but instead delegates it to more knowledgeable organizations. One such org is https://www.nlnetlabs.nl https://www.nlnetlabs.nl
  - izacus 2y ago
    I think the core of the question here is - do those funds bring any kind of return or are they one of thefriends of friends get handouts from government type projects that ultimately don't generate anything outside corruption and paperwork.
  - svara 2y ago
walterbell 2y ago
> .. more than a third of NGI programs involve supporting compliance with the EU's GDPR law and its Cyber Resilience Act, while a further 23 percent are involved with implementation of Digital Services Act and Digital Markets Act rules.. some of it's important for helping the EU implement laws around digital goods and services. Without necessary funding, such implementations could be imperiled. Funding cuts for CRA compliance and DSA/DMA enforcement?
deleted 2y ago
[deleted]

80 points by openrisk 2y ago

lagt_t 2y ago

Between this and the Cyber Resilience Act sheesh

deleted 2y ago
[deleted]

jfinkhaeuser 2y ago

The open letter and sign-on opportunity can be found here: https://www.ow2.org/view/Events/The_European_Union_must_keep_funding_free_software_open_letter https://www.ow2.org/view/Events/The_European_Union_must_keep...

idle_zealot 2y ago

This is the first I've heard of "Web 4.0," and the pairing of the terminology with "virtual worlds" is... interesting. Is the EU funding metaverse development in anticipation that it will be important (lol), or am I misinterpreting "virtual world" here?

rapnie 2y ago
The authors of such documents often inhabit virtual worlds, where the language is in different buzzwords than what we are used to in the real world.

devwastaken 2y ago

There are many things yet to be done that don't fit as a product and are best served open source. Short list of things that don't exist: - universal datetime library for all major languages that can parse all formats, timezone aware, and is convenient to use. - universal permissions and paths library. Filesystem, network filepaths, both for windows acls, Linux and Mac's extended perms. How can I know if I have read permission before reading? Or that I can traverse a directory before trying? - memory safe openssl - memory safe small footprint embeddable html/css renderer for universal GUI's and small arm computers. (not webview) - USB c protocols for embedded devices. - improvements to kicad to implement smart trace routing. - any pain point or plumbing that really should be apart of a language/library already.

nindalf 2y ago
> memory safe openssl This is closer to done than not done. Rustls is a memory safe TLS library that is compatible with OpenSSL in API and has comparable or better performance [2]. It has also passed security audits [3] But your point stands. Rustls wouldn’t have been possible without open source funding. [1] - https://www.memorysafety.org/initiative/rustls/ https://www.memorysafety.org/initiative/rustls/ [2] - https://www.memorysafety.org/blog/rustls-performance/ https://www.memorysafety.org/blog/rustls-performance/ [3] - https://github.com/rustls/rustls/blob/main/audit/TLS-01-report.pdf https://github.com/rustls/rustls/blob/main/audit/TLS-01-repo...

j-pb 2y ago

Does anyone know any good FOSS projects that were actually funded by this? I feel like the people deciding what (research and technology) to fund in the EU generally have very poor taste in their selections. I assume that they are non-technical as they often seem to choose the projects that make the most ambitious claims about social impact and EU values, but have very little to none technical merit. Stuff like Rust, that could be a real technological advantage for the EU, is not funded, but weird blockchain semantic web foo is https://www.ngi.eu/ https://www.ngi.eu/

grothoff 2y ago
NGI funded us to work on the GNU Name System (https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc9498.html https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc9498.html), that includes the Go implementation, updates to the C implementation, and the specification. Plus NGI funds work on https://taler.net/ https://taler.net/. Another example for a project they funded is https://cryptpad.fr/ https://cryptpad.fr/. https://nlnet.nl/project/ https://nlnet.nl/project/ has an extensive list. If you actually care about privacy on the Internet and FLOSS, I'd be surprised if you did not find some project there that you know or use. If you are working on improving privacy on the Internet with FLOSS, you can still apply for funding at https://nlnet.nl/propose https://nlnet.nl/propose.
lifty 2y ago
One project that was funded that I can remember is https://stalw.art https://stalw.art. It’s a very nice and compact e-mail server. The EU doesn’t take decisions directly about which projects to fund, but instead delegates it to more knowledgeable organizations. One such org is https://www.nlnetlabs.nl https://www.nlnetlabs.nl
- izacus 2y ago
  I think the core of the question here is - do those funds bring any kind of return or are they one of thefriends of friends get handouts from government type projects that ultimately don't generate anything outside corruption and paperwork.
- svara 2y ago

walterbell 2y ago

> .. more than a third of NGI programs involve supporting compliance with the EU's GDPR law and its Cyber Resilience Act, while a further 23 percent are involved with implementation of Digital Services Act and Digital Markets Act rules.. some of it's important for helping the EU implement laws around digital goods and services. Without necessary funding, such implementations could be imperiled. Funding cuts for CRA compliance and DSA/DMA enforcement?

deleted 2y ago

[deleted]