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The European Commission (EC) has opened a 'call for evidence' (via LWN.net) to inform the "European Open Digital Ecosystem Strategy." In other words, it's looking for experts and relevant parties to help it figure out how to push towards open source software.

This has the SteamOS-loving and Linux-pining part of myself getting all excitable on a Friday afternoon, because any movement towards open source software can only mean more publicity and acceptance of, and potentially even funding in, open source projects in general, including Linux and its gaming-related off-shoots like SteamOS, Bazzite, and Nobara.

"A strategic and operational framework to strengthen the use, development and reuse of open digital assets within the Commission, building on the results achieved under the 2020–2023 Commission Open Source Software Strategy."

A handheld gaming PC on a desk running Bazzite, an open source Linux OS, on-screen. (Image credit: Future)

In other words, it wasn't a limited push; the Commission seems to really want to lean into open source as much as it can. Which is fantastic, of course, and helps explain this recent call for evidence. To this end, it established the Open Source Program Office to oversee and help implement the push.

The recent call for evidence, however, seems to focus more specifically on solving the EU's reliance on foreign software: "The EU faces a significant problem of dependence on non-EU countries in the digital sphere. This reduces users’ choice, hampers EU companies’ competitiveness and can raise supply chain security issues as it makes it difficult to control our digital infrastructure (both physical and software components), potentially creating vulnerabilities including in critical sectors."

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You only have to look at the fines the EC dishes out to big tech firms to know where it stands on a lot of that.

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