A French laptop buyer has won a refund from Lenovo after a four-year legal battle over the cost of a Windows license he didn't want. The judgment could open the way for PC buyers elsewhere in Europe to obtain refunds for bundled software they don't want, French campaign group No More Racketware said.

"A new directive in France could see peer-to-peer users cut off if they continue to share files. A memorandum of understanding has been signed by some French ISPs, the recording industry and the French government under which ISPs will hand over data on who is using file sharing networks to a new government agency..."

ICI EN FRANCE, there has been a grande victoire for Vole-hunters, as the French consumer association, UFC-Que Choisir, has won a court case entitling consumers to return their pre-installed copies of Windows XP for a decent discount.

French Directorate General of Public Finance dumps Microsoft software; The French Gendarmerie should remove Mono from Ubuntu

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.*

A decade ago, European countries leapt out of the gate to take the lead in the radical open source movement -- none more so than France -- and left U.S. developers in the proverbial dust. Through policies and high-profile projects, the French Republic for years has been advocating for all open source all the time, in government and education.

By gradually migrating to a complete open source desktop and web applications, Gendarmerie Nationale, the French national police force with 105,000 employees, has saved millions of euros. The move cuts Microsoft out of the equation, helping the French national police force slash its IT costs by 70 percent.

The French national police force has slashed its IT costs by 70 per cent by cutting Microsoft out of the equation.

I am not sure whom the French military is attacking these days. (I am told that relations with British tourists are much improved.)