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TL;DR: French and German governments not too long ago introduced Docs, a collaborative writing and information-sharing service designed to be used on the cloud or offline. Positioned as a possible different to Google Docs, Define, and related instruments, Docs emphasizes “simplicity” and safety for EU professionals seeking to transfer away from US-made merchandise.
The Trump administration has got down to drastically reshape the connection between the US and Europe. In response, Brussels is scrambling to adapt to this new actuality, looking for new alliances with international powers and exploring different know-how options. Nothing seems to be proof against this shift, not even conventional on-line instruments for collaboration and doc modifying.
Whereas its official introduction avoids overt political messaging, the undertaking can definitely be seen as a political assertion from two of Europe’s largest powers.
Docs is a joint initiative by France’s Interministerial Directorate for Digital Affairs and Germany’s Middle for Digital Sovereignty of Public Administration. Each organizations are dedicated to funding digital sovereignty tasks, they usually developed Docs as a collaboration software for European businesses and companies.
As an open-source undertaking, Docs is available on GitHub, permitting anybody to obtain and take a look at its code. The software is constructed utilizing Django Relaxation, Subsequent.js, BlockNotes.js, and different open-source frameworks, and it may be deployed on cloud servers or used offline.
At present in beta, Docs is accessible by means of France’s ProConnect id service, and a test environment is on the market for customers to discover its options utilizing login credentials supplied by the builders on GitHub.
Docs goals to ship an “uncompromising” and intuitive writing expertise, based on its builders, that includes a minimalist interface the place content material takes priority over structure. The platform contains all of the important collaboration options, corresponding to real-time modifying, keyboard shortcuts, offline mode, and media import. It additionally presents granular entry controls, permitting customers to securely share particular info with the correct individuals.
Paperwork and tasks will be exported in three totally different codecs with customizable templates: PDF, Phrase, and OpenDoc. The software additionally features a built-in wiki characteristic to assist groups set up data and collaboration terminology. Upcoming options nonetheless in improvement embrace subpages, a sophisticated search perform, and the power to pin essential paperwork.
Docs is launched beneath the permissive MIT license, permitting each industrial and personal use. Whereas the undertaking is primarily a public-sector initiative led by authorities organizations DINUM and ZenDiS, personal entities are inspired to make use of, contribute to, and even commercialize the open-source code out there on GitHub.
