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French Army Joins Mozilla in War Against MSFT

1:30 PM - December 10, 2009 - By Kevin Parrish - Source : Tom's Guide US

The French military's customized security extensions have been migrated into the latest Thunderbird client.

Reuters reports that the French military is teaming up with Mozilla in a war against Microsoft. Apparently, France determined that Mozilla's Thunderbird email client is far more secure than Microsoft's over-bloated helping, Outlook. However, this collaboration isn't just about a simple case of preference, but rather a battle that has raged on for years.

In November 2007, France's military was directed to seek maximum technological and commercial independence, the culmination of an internal debate that originally sparked back in 2003. The military chose Mozilla's free, open source software because it allowed France to build security extensions; Microsoft allowed no such customizations.

Now, with the release of Thunderbird 3, some of the work released by the French military--called TrustedBird and co-branded with Mozilla--has found its way into the email client. "The primary changes (the military) have made allow them to know for sure when messages have been read, which is critical in a command-and-control organization," said David Ascher, chief executive of Mozilla Messaging.

Strangely enough, the French military was originally wary about using Mozilla's free client, many somewhat reluctant, because it was less assuring than Microsoft's established, renowned software. Now that France and Mozilla are in cahoots, the former plans to take TrustedBird to the next level by transposing the security extensions to larger international companies.

Comments

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cruiseoveride 12/11/2009 3:46 AM
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Viva la France!

eagles453809 12/11/2009 4:04 AM
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yeah to hell with the americans, until the germans are knocking on their back door.

jenova314 12/11/2009 4:14 AM
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Ah yes, the French military: a pinnacle of discipline and quality...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w4-9E7TM-0k

sicpric 12/11/2009 5:19 AM
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I'm sure the French will surrender out of fear as soon as they see Steve Ballmer's looney reaction.

jimmysmitty 12/11/2009 6:43 AM
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jenova314 :
Ah yes, the French military: a pinnacle of discipline and quality...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w4-9E7TM-0k



Too bad its Canadian. But I still love the Google of French War Victories. Wait... I mean defeats.

Not sure I really care. Its the French. They hand out a white flag to every citizen.

mitch074 12/11/2009 10:27 AM
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Yeah, the French... they said that a war in Iraq was a bad idea, and a flash war impossible, the US sure showed them!

Waaaait...

Alright, then. They lost the battle of Dien Bien Phu, so the US had to take over in Vietnam!

Waaaait...

OK, they still use light, cheap wire guided rockets to take down tanks. Operators must get a 90% rating in training to be qualified; how lame is that? On the other hand, the US missile operators celebrated a brand new million dollar radar guided missile that can hit a tank with 75% accuracy in training!

Waaaait...

Standing orders for Marines in a safe zone, when under attack: wait for orders. Even if they take 15 minutes to arrive (after all, it was supposed to be a safe zone, so you have to wake up a general, give him the situation, confirm the situation, then wait for answer). Do nothing else - not even hide, since you were not ordered to.

Standing orders for Legionnaires in a secured zone when under attack: take cover, secure your positions, THEN ask for orders.

Remember, a dead hero stays dead; a hidden soldier stays a soldier.

(about the 'French war victories' website: it is, as written on it, a joke; for example, one problem during the Revolution was that King Louis XVI had many cousins: all kings and emperors of Europe. They all decided that a Republic was not good, and waged war on France, all together, from all sides, and at the same time. And France won. One rule that can be added: when France should lose against astronomical odds, they win. How frustrating).

What are the odds that the French army can resist a convicted monopolist? Odds look very bad, right?

balev 12/11/2009 11:45 AM
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like your style Mitch. What's interesting that in the future, and this will be certainly so, when the american empire falls (as all empires do), they will reminisce about how they were once great, and their neighbours will scoff at their recent failures.

jcknouse 12/11/2009 2:53 PM
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Hey. There's a lot of poking at the French that is done, but you have to give them kudos for not caving into the popularity machine and just going with the Microsoft flow.

Now, that's gonna pay off for us all...no matter where we live.

jellico 12/11/2009 3:14 PM
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Frances has a military?

toastninja17 12/11/2009 3:40 PM
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jellico :
Frances has a military?



AHAHAHAHAHA

Repelsteeltje 12/11/2009 3:51 PM
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eagles453809 :
yeah to hell with the americans, until the germans are knocking on their back door.



Why do you consider a company, army or other organisation staying away from Microsoft products an attack on America? Apart from my personal opinions on the crapiness and insecurity of Microsoft software, to indentify a corporation with your country is a rather fucked up thing to do. I sure as hell hope that our army doesn't rely on Microsoft products too much for critical operations...

Parrdacc 12/11/2009 3:57 PM
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French Army? OH, I'm so scared.

Anyway, I doubt M$ is all that worried.

demonhorde665 12/11/2009 4:22 PM
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you knwo it really says something when one of france's bigest military heros in history was a girl (no offence to you women intended) sure every country has thier female heros even in war relations, but aside from joan the french aint got many internationally known "heros" .. and you know whats sad she wasn't even a winner in the end herself .. the french king sold her out to the brits !!!

matt87_50 12/11/2009 5:06 PM
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oh my god!!! well we all know the French are top notch at defending against attack...

honestly how fucking hard is it for a MILITARY to make their OWN email client/system? after all, that's what they meant when they said independence? surely the best security is a system no one's seen before?

zerapio 12/11/2009 6:40 PM
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I don't get why all the fuss. All they need to do is raise the white flag.

that_aznpride101 12/11/2009 10:33 PM
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sicpric :
I'm sure the French will surrender out of fear as soon as they see Steve Ballmer's looney reaction.



which looney reaction would that be? =)

sailfish 12/12/2009 3:26 AM
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If the French Army felt they needed the ability to integrate their own security features then more power to them using a product that allows them to do it.

To frame this article as a war against MSFT rather than simply choosing a product that better serves their needs seems to be intentional nationalist baiting.

balev 12/12/2009 3:40 AM
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demonhorde665 :
you knwo it really says something when one of france's bigest military heros in history was a girl (no offence to you women intended) sure every country has thier female heros even in war relations, but aside from joan the french aint got many internationally known "heros" .. and you know whats sad she wasn't even a winner in the end herself .. the french king sold her out to the brits !!!



The american heroes are only viewed as heroes because of the media. Not too intelligent people believe everything they see on t.v., read in the newspaper etc. As a result, many believe that america has so many "heroes".

I suggest to go travel a bit. Learn some history.

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