This article was out 2008 April Fool. Our reaction in french is here.
The news is out
31/03/2008 - Ongoing rumors say that the French government is soon going to announce the creation of a major actor in the world of software development that will group together the main French Open-Source companies.
Nicolas Sarkozy will personally announce in a few days the creation of a brand new great public entity that will encapsulates the strength of the French Industry in the field of Open-Source software.
The project - named "Opération Lafayette" - is thought to include Marc Fleury (previously CEO of JBoss) as its brand new CEO. People close to the source believe the initial list of companies will include : XWIKI (collaboration solutions), TALEND (Open Data Solutions), NUXEO (ECM), MANDRIVA (Operating System), EXOPLATFORM (portal & WebOS), EBM WEBSOURCING (enterprise service bus), BEARSTECH (OpenSource hosting services) and BULL (IT services).
The French government is increasingly convinced that a public entity can become a dominant player under public tutelage and believes that public found can be soundly used to work towards the development of these dynamic, fast-growing companies.
Even more ambitious, the new entity is rumored to be preparing an IPO on RED HAT with the help of BOUYGUES, BOLLORÉ, LAGARDÈRE and DASSAULT SYSTÈMES in the context of a public-private partnership that will provide financing up to $5 billion. This initiative will at last give a French company the ability to play a leading role on the enterprise software market. The French government is keen to offer other countries and their people free alternatives to the dominant offerings of convicted monopolists MICROSOFT & ORACLE.
Says a Gartner analyst we contacted to get his views on the story : ?This might make sense, Red Hat has 2 great brands, Red Hat Enterprise Linux & JBoss. Unlocking the potential of the RedHat / JBoss combination could probably benefit from the support of resources from the French government and its European allies.?
More details in French tomorrow...