At #MozFest2025, Simona Levi ( @X_net) shares about “de-Googling” schools through open source. She talks about how even when people are given free devices with #OpenSource software… they still go for big tech.
“We need to compete on #UserExperience”
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@X_net #BigTech was on the defensive. As soon as they began the process to assert #DigitalRights in schools, they were accused of trying to extract $ from the schools.
“Everybody knows free software makes you so rich” 😹💀😭
(They are not. They initiated a public tender process, not making any money off of it.)
@X_net Meanwhile, the technology is being selected without a public tender process AT ALL!
A 2014 EU directive requires tenders be made small & individual, not big bundles, trying to make it possible for small firms to compete.
The map shows the distribution 10y later. (Green is not 100%, the highest is 50%)
NO ONE is adhering to the directive. Across the board, tenders are made HUGE and impossible to be fulfilled by local vendors. Only big multinationals can deliver these oversized tenders.
@X_net Something that may be under-utilized in #TechProcurement is that you don’t have to always just do the cheapest. You can have other criteria (gender equity, privacy, etc.)
Writing the tenders FOR the policymakers may be a way to make it easier for them. We can’t let #BigTech (or more accurately #BigAdvertizing) write the rules of the game.
#MakeItEasyToDoTheRightThing
@X_net I got to ask Simona about how most “ #EdTech software” is not actually just software, but it’s SaaS. It’s a subscription with customer support. #OSS, even if we have great #UX (which is still a work in progress), software alone isn’t a full substitute.
Simona talks about how that is a place where we DO need the government to step up. The software can be free and open, it can be maintained by all of us, but the government funds should go toward providing these services.
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