Great news today the French government have launched their own Visio video conferencing tool #digitalsovereignty
-
Great news today the French government have launched their own Visio video conferencing tool #digitalsovereignty
But the PR stories, while explaining it is French built, don't mention it is Open Source and based on LiveKit - so any government can reuse what they have done.
@jim @antoinechambertloir Why did they name it after Microsoft's diagramming and flowchart application? I like the power move of just using the name of a piece of Microsoft software unchanged but why not use "Teams" which it can replace instead of "Visio" which it does not replace?
-
@jim Interesting, but a little confusing. They created an open source meeting application that requires the use of a proprietary service (one promoting "AI" agents at that)?
https://livekit.io/contact-sales
It seem they replaced one proprietary solution (Zoom) with another (LiveKit). I'm trying to figure out where LiveKit is based and who owns it.
But it is interesting news...
@cstanhope @jim Livekit is an open source project with Apache license.
-
@cstanhope @jim Livekit is an open source project with Apache license.
-
Why does a Zoom alternative need AI?
if LiveKit has US AI dependencies, that defeats the whole purpose of using it.
-
@jim strange concept of Open Source in France. Why don't they use existing Free Software projects and give some money and help to them to increase the distance from the US? And after them all other EU countries. Moving seriously to Linux using Linux and FreeBSD servers and so on...
@unruhe I would need to check, but I'm pretty sure they are refusing FLOSS building blocks, like they did with Tchap. There are EU- and France-specific legal things pertaining to privacy and security to enforce is what I imagine (the tool was validated by ANSSI the French National Agency for Information Systems Security).
-
Why does a Zoom alternative need AI?
if LiveKit has US AI dependencies, that defeats the whole purpose of using it.
@Phosphenes @cstanhope @jim LiveKit doesn't need AI. AI (ChatGPT) needs LiveKit.
-
@jim Bold choice of them to choose a name that is trademarked by Microsoft for an existing software package that's been around since 1992...
@j0ebaldw1n not the same use case/goal, which, afaik, makes it ok to use.
-
@jim and they publish it on a Microsoft platform. Why not move to Codeberg, Forgejo, or another self-hosted repository?
@ronnylam because when they started their repo, sovereignty was only barely finally making it to the heads of some people, and I'm not even sure codeberg was around, or at least as visible as it is today. Now the movement is picking up pace, so I wouldn't be surprised if they decided to move their code elsewhere in the (more-or-less near) future.
-
@gfkdsgn does Nextcloud's solution scale for thousands of users? Note that last year, despite the announcement, my understanding is that Visio didn't scale that well (but it may have been a matter of correctly provisioning the hardware for the number of users).
-
@ronnylam because when they started their repo, sovereignty was only barely finally making it to the heads of some people, and I'm not even sure codeberg was around, or at least as visible as it is today. Now the movement is picking up pace, so I wouldn't be surprised if they decided to move their code elsewhere in the (more-or-less near) future.
@jenesuispasgoth @jim I will sure encourage them.
-
@jim @antoinechambertloir Why did they name it after Microsoft's diagramming and flowchart application? I like the power move of just using the name of a piece of Microsoft software unchanged but why not use "Teams" which it can replace instead of "Visio" which it does not replace?
@oantolin because in French we use the name visio (short for visioconférence), and less vidéoconférence.
-
@oantolin because in French we use the name visio (short for visioconférence), and less vidéoconférence.
@jenesuispasgoth @jim @antoinechambertloir Oh, that makes sense. I'll still tell every one that they picked the exact name of a well-known Microsoft product in a punk rock act of defiance, though.
-
Great news today the French government have launched their own Visio video conferencing tool #digitalsovereignty
But the PR stories, while explaining it is French built, don't mention it is Open Source and based on LiveKit - so any government can reuse what they have done.
visio is not for public use.
-
Great news today the French government have launched their own Visio video conferencing tool #digitalsovereignty
But the PR stories, while explaining it is French built, don't mention it is Open Source and based on LiveKit - so any government can reuse what they have done.
@jim is this much different from jitsi?
-
Great news today the French government have launched their own Visio video conferencing tool #digitalsovereignty
But the PR stories, while explaining it is French built, don't mention it is Open Source and based on LiveKit - so any government can reuse what they have done.
@jim On their Websites, the government says clearly that it is open source: "Suite #Visio. Simple. Open-source."
Visio website: https://lasuite.numerique.gouv.fr/produits/visio
They have also new products to stop with Google & Co: mail, docs, transfer, chat: https://lasuite.numerique.gouv.fr/ and their Mastodon Channel @lasuite#DINUM responsable for the #transition has an own server here: https://social.numerique.gouv.fr/about Collaborators like the @cnrs are here with several accounts.
-
Great news today the French government have launched their own Visio video conferencing tool #digitalsovereignty
But the PR stories, while explaining it is French built, don't mention it is Open Source and based on LiveKit - so any government can reuse what they have done.
@jim one of the groups behind it is doing a talk at #fosdem this week https://fosdem.org/2026/schedule/event/THRG3E-la_suite_coop_model_for_digital_commons/
-
@gfkdsgn These systems are intranet systems for the state and administration, and also for military. Therefore, they developped a completely independent system. https://www.numerique.gouv.fr/sinformer/espace-presse/souverainete-numerique-etat-visio-solution-visioconference-agents-publics/
-
Why does a Zoom alternative need AI?
if LiveKit has US AI dependencies, that defeats the whole purpose of using it.
@Phosphenes They developped French AI, placed in France, using them for subtitles and transscripts of conferences. If you know the amount of papers in French administration, this can be a help. https://www.numerique.gouv.fr/sinformer/espace-presse/souverainete-numerique-etat-visio-solution-visioconference-agents-publics/
-
@jim strange concept of Open Source in France. Why don't they use existing Free Software projects and give some money and help to them to increase the distance from the US? And after them all other EU countries. Moving seriously to Linux using Linux and FreeBSD servers and so on...
-
@jim Bold choice of them to choose a name that is trademarked by Microsoft for an existing software package that's been around since 1992...
@j0ebaldw1n Visio is a normal word in French, the abbreviation of visioconférence. Normal words can't be trademarked so easily - and they use it only for France.
You can be sure that the state can afford the best solicitors.
