France's Government Is Ditching Windows For Linux (techcrunch.com)
- Reference: 0181530842
- News link: https://linux.slashdot.org/story/26/04/10/1545234/frances-government-is-ditching-windows-for-linux
- Source link: https://techcrunch.com/2026/04/10/france-to-ditch-windows-for-linux-to-reduce-reliance-on-us-tech/
> In a statement, French minister David Amiel said (translated) that the effort was to "regain control of our digital destiny" by relying less on U.S. tech companies. Amiel said that the French government can no longer accept that it doesn't have control over its data and digital infrastructure. The French government did not provide a specific timeline for the switchover, or which distributions it was considering. Microsoft did not immediately comment on the news.
>
> [...] France's decision to ditch Windows comes months after the government announced it would [3]stop using Microsoft Teams for video conferencing in favor of French-made Visio, a tool based on the open source end-to-end encrypted video meeting tool Jitsi. The French government said it also plans to migrate its health data platform to a new trusted platform by the end of the year.
[1] https://www.numerique.gouv.fr/sinformer/espace-presse/souverainete-numerique-reduction-dependances-extra-europeennes/
[2] https://techcrunch.com/2026/04/10/france-to-ditch-windows-for-linux-to-reduce-reliance-on-us-tech/
[3] https://tech.slashdot.org/story/26/01/27/1737239/france-to-ditch-us-platforms-microsoft-teams-zoom-for-sovereign-platform-amid-security-concerns
We've heard this before (Score:4)
from Munich, i believe?
how did that turn out?
Re:We've heard this before (Score:5, Insightful)
Munich was a bit ahead of its time with their efforts.
In 2026, it doesn't really matter what OS you run- most of what people do is through the browser. The OS as an app platform is no longer consequential.
After 30+ years of relying on Windows, I moved to Ubuntu about 6 months ago. The amount of regret I've had is zero. When I need to work on a Microsoft Office document, the online versions are completely fine. Even Adobe products, which used to be some of the most important 'heavy' apps have tons of online tools.
Linux has gotten to a really good place now and is a completely capable replacement for Windows for users at any level. Even non-technical users could move over without any problems. I think that France is doing this at a time where it really make sense, while Munich was more at the cutting edge.
The time really is finally here.
Re:We've heard this before (Score:4, Interesting)
> Munich was a bit ahead of its time with their efforts.
> In 2026, it doesn't really matter what OS you run- most of what people do is through the browser. The OS as an app platform is no longer consequential.
that's quite true but sadly not for public administrative work which tends to rely heavily on legacy sw, specific document templates and workflows, etc. it's a lot of fine detail with devils in it. today such a transition could probably be easier, but still not straightforward. i would guess the far stronger success factor today would be motivation: munich was ahead of its time and purely based on the ideal of achieving a clean open administration standard which is a good thing per-se, with the concern just being that ms is a private corporation, not as much that it is a private corporation controlled by a rogue or sometimes directly hostile state. anyway, let's see.
Re: (Score:2)
Well, it didn't turn out well.
We'll see how how it'd go in Paris.
Context:
Munich hosts Germany's MS HQ. And merely few visits (no gifts or rebates!) from them to the local govt was enough. ... But MS's main European HQ is located in *drum roll* Paris. Good luck to all participating in the migration.
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Back then it was only a question of money.
This time around the problem is somewhat different.
Re: We've heard this before (Score:2)
The Linux project in Munich got axed when the mayor who initiaded the project retiered. The MS headquarter moved to Munich shortly after that.
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This is not how it was. Microsoft announced the move in 2013 and LiMux was cancelled in 2017, but politically attacked already the years before including by the mayor Dieter Majer who as mayor from 2014 until 2026 and involved already with the Microsoft move in 2013 as head of economic affairs: [1]https://www.sueddeutsche.de/mu... [sueddeutsche.de]
[1] https://www.sueddeutsche.de/muenchen/neue-deutschland-zentrale-microsoft-zieht-nach-muenchen-1.1813100
Re: (Score:2)
What MS announced in 2013 was not that they where to move but that they where willing to move. Reiter wanted to switch back to Windows back in 2014 but there where internal resistance so he could not do it until 2017. Also worth mentioning is that Reiter was a self proclaimed "Microsoft fan"...
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We, uhh... We don't talk about Munich.
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Perfectly until a new Mayor that was sponsored by Microsoft took office and switched everything back with the promise that Microsoft would move their German HQ to Munich. Aka the switch back was not technical, it was political.
Wrong Topic (Score:2, Informative)
ahh these young kids donâ(TM)t remember Digitial Electronic Corporation, makers of legendary DEC Alpha CPU.
Re: (Score:2)
Or the brief period in the 90s when they hosted the most popular web search engine as a demo of the Alpha.
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I was a VAX fan. Running VMS with uptimes in years. After I left the last job that used VAX system I toyed with the hobbyist VMS license on some VAXstations for a while, but alas it's all memories now.
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And neither do you it seam , I presume you're referering to "Digital Equipment Corporation" famous for their PDP range of minicomputers later VAX (not to mention the VT100 which is stil emulated by most linux terminal apps)
Re: (Score:2)
Linus was an American?
Torvalds was naturalized in 2010 (Score:2)
Linus Torvalds is a dual citizen. He was born a citizen of Finland and became a citizen of the United States in 2010. (Source: [1]"Linus Torvalds, already an Oregonian, now a U.S. citizen" by Mike Rogoway [archive.org], citing a [2]post to LKML by Torvalds [archive.org])
It'd be more interesting to count commits by nationality. I'm pretty sure Torvalds no longer has the lion's share of commits.
[1] https://web.archive.org/web/20190118182742/http://blog.oregonlive.com/siliconforest/2010/09/linus_torvalds_already_an_oreg.html
[2] https://web.archive.org/web/20190404044010/https://lwn.net/Articles/404729/
Re: (Score:1)
Linux is only American, in the sense that it's developed primarily by Americans, to serve users (who also happen to usually be American). But it's not "American," in the sense that it isn't designed to serve the American government at the expense of its user.
This is different from using a Microsoft OS, where your computer primarily exists to serve someone else (Microsoft), who in turn may be coerced into having it serve the interests of the American government. Whatever happens, you the user lose .
France doe
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That a lot of patches comes from American companies like Red Hat does not make Linux American since patches comes from all over the world with a huge amount from Europe and Asia.
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I don't think that's France's motivation at all. I think part of it is a political stunt, part is open-source advocates gaining ground, and part is buried in what they actually said - they want to keep their software supply chain domestic for largely nationalistic reasons. I'd argue against the first, because it is stupid, the second, because it hasn't worked out well elsewhere, but can't deny their right to the third. I don't know if it's wise, but they're French, so whatever.
Re: go right ahead and develop your own then. (Score:2, Troll)
It technically comes from Finland. It's where Linus Torvalds worked on the initial kernel.
Re:go right ahead and develop your own then. (Score:4, Funny)
I would suggest that you Finnish your research into this claim.
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*grooooaaaaaan*
Sigh. Good one.
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what logo are you talking about? maybe you haven't the proper filtering tools in place to navigate /. sensibly?
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They mean the icons next to the comment count in the summary's title bar. One is the American flag, the other is the DEC's logo, which is just the word "digital" written on red bars.
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thank you, i had to broaden blocking rules a few days ago after some persistent new ads were being injected.
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The horrible ones on the top and bottom? Yeah, I get it. I blocked them with uBlock, and suddenly my comment feed stopped loading. Now we have a new BS search bar across the top of /., advertising the exact same thing the exact same annoying way, but with a different name?
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Yeah, I thought that it was odd to use a logo from a defunct hardware company that ceased to exist around 1998 for this story as well.
Educated guess (Score:1, Troll)
It's going to take 25 years. 10 years to end long-term agreements with Microsoft, 10 years to transition and another 5 years of pain and suffering while trying to use Linux as a reliable desktop before realising that they need to switch back to Windows.
Re:Educated guess (Score:4, Insightful)
> It's going to take 25 years. 10 years to end long-term agreements with Microsoft, 10 years to transition and another 5 years of pain and suffering while trying to use Linux as a reliable desktop before realising that they need to switch back to Windows.
I don't think you know the meaning of the word reliable.
Windows is proprietary. In my experience Windows is not as reliable as Linux.
Re: (Score:2)
Modded as Troll, but probably right. I won't agree that Linux isn't a reliable desktop, but I wouldn't be surprised if they reverted for some other reason.
I wouldn't be surprised if that other reason was "it's 2028".
lulz (Score:1)
Title: FRANCE DITCHING WINDOWS FOR LINUX!
TFS: France ditching SOME windows computers for Linux
TFA: France is replacing the trash compactor controller in kitchen #2 at the consulate because an RPI running Linux can do it for $50 instead of using a $500 windows machine.
Sounds Good (Score:2)
Sounds good.
Sounds familiar.
Sounds like the article is being misinterpreted by the zealots.
We'll see how it turns out. Someone remind me to check if there is any progress in 2027 or 2028.
Obligatory (Score:2)
"Oh shit, here we go again".
Briefcase Army Leaving Redmond on Corporate Jets (Score:1)
I'm imagining private jets leaving Redmond, with Microsoft employees briefcases handcuffed to their wrists, stuffed with payola and money for hookers. Meanwhile, back at Redmond, nastygrams are being written by lawyers. [Oddly, enough there is a seed of the truth; here in the valley, I once talked to an retired-corporate exec, who used to travel with with a briefcase handcuffed to his wrist.]
Are the MS-MiB still operating (Score:2)
Does anyone remember when the US State of Massachusetts went to switch to OpenOffice and the ODF file formats? The MS-MiBs were all over the place making sure MA senators got trips to One Microsoft Way for a bit of the 'flashy thing'. Then the MS-MiB sent out worldwide to MS-ISVs with checks and scripts in hand to flood the ISO in order to vote MS-OOMXL( MS-Office Open XML ) format as an international standard so the Massachusetts government could vote it as their open standards format for public documents.
N00bs (Score:2)
France has been doing this since the 80s whenever they are negotiating for a better price out of Microsoft. Nothing to see here.
gotta catch 'em all (Score:3, Insightful)
> France says it plans to move some government computers from Windows to Linux as part of a broader push for digital sovereignty and reduced dependence on U.S. technology. TechCrunch reports:
> In a statement, French minister David Amiel said (translated) that the effort was to "regain control of our digital destiny"
He forgot the word "partial"
If they want that control they need to at least divest from ALL use of Microsoft "solutions" and possibly also build their own Linux distribution.
Re:gotta catch 'em all (Score:4, Interesting)
>> France says it plans to move some government computers from Windows to Linux as part of a broader push for digital sovereignty and reduced dependence on U.S. technology. TechCrunch reports:
>> In a statement, French minister David Amiel said (translated) that the effort was to "regain control of our digital destiny"
> He forgot the word "partial"
> If they want that control they need to at least divest from ALL use of Microsoft "solutions" and possibly also build their own Linux distribution.
In 2026, given the current state of Linux software and distributions, I don't see what is so hard about switching the vast majority of common office computers.
Re: (Score:2, Informative)
In a lot of cases, the challenge isn't much beyond just training. For the most part, you get to assume basic Windows competence where you can't do that with even the friendliest Linux distro.Specialized software for fields such as accounting, healthcare, transportation, tend to run only on Windows (and sometimes only on a badly outdated version at that.) Until you can get companies like Siemens and Wolters Kluwer to prioritize Linux support and development, or otherwise develop Linux alternatives there rem
Re:gotta catch 'em all (Score:5, Insightful)
It's true, but, it's a bad reason. If you can honestly tell me that the Windows UX / UI is easier, friendlier, simpler, and more inviting than KDE, or Gnome, why? In my opinion, KDE and Gnome as vastly more usable than the thing Windows uses as a desktop. How long would the training really take? 10-minutes?
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Odd that you never hear these kind of remarks about people switching to MacOS. It's just handwaved away under the assumption "Apple did it, so it's super easy". The fact is, users will very likely figure it out, even the dumber ones. The determination to set your own wallpaper goes a long way.
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That's very true, modern Linux, in the last 5-years, is so polished, and easy to use, it's almost autopilot.
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> That's very true, modern Linux, in the last 5-years, is so polished, and easy to use, it's almost autopilot.
Until you try to set up a network printer on household WiFi, as I found out to my chagrin just recently. Even with access to another very similar computer which DOES work with the printer, I'm still unable to get my newer laptop to print.
Re:gotta catch 'em all (Score:4, Interesting)
I have to be honest, I haven't run into a serious printer issue, that was any worse than Windows, on Linux or Unix in 15 years. I really haven't, and in many cases the Linux / Unix experience is just easy, compared to Windows. For instance, on Windows 11 you can no longer scan, it just tells you that you need a new driver and to pay for a service. On Fedora, it doesn't care, it just scans and scans, and it's great.
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A lot of printers are poop. A lot of printer drivers are poop, including ones for Linux. If I want my printer to "just work" then I need to install packages. Luckily Brother produces them, and they have been doing so for years now. I've done several OS upgrades and always had new drivers available to me for them. But if they didn't do that, it would still work, I just wouldn't be able to use it via USB. My Laser PSC supports both printing and scanning via standard protocols. The only thing that wouldn't wor
Re: (Score:2)
> network printer on household WiFi
Well that was your first mistake...../s
Out of curiosity which printer? Most consumer printers these days use IPP and autoconf (Bonjour for Apple users), so not only is it automagical in most cases it's also woefully insecure and should just work regardless of OS. Hell, CUPS is actively trying to ditch all printer drivers and only handle IPP queues because of that fact.
CUPS rant:
Which makes CUPS irrelevant as IPP by design has it's own queue management, and most won't want to configure authentication an
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Thanks for that! Comments that manage to be both insightful and funny are rare.
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Windows isn't easier, but it costs about $2000 per seat to train people to use an new operating system. Once you are past that expense, Linux is cheaper because it doesn't require retraining every time Microsoft obsoletes it's old UI. Google Docs does a fairly good job of handling Microsoft Office file formats now, so document backwards compatibility is no longer an issue.
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This is an issue of national importance to France, Costs don't matter.
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I have no idea if that number is right or wrong, but I'll assume it's accurate. If it's takes $2000 to learn a generic workflow, the generic workflow is bad. I could understand specialty software, that is very complicated taking major investment for training, but your operating system, that should be fairly easy.
Re:gotta catch 'em all (Score:4, Insightful)
Easier, friendlier, simpler, and more inviting than KDE, or Gnome? No.
But more familiar, certainly. And that matters at lot when you have people with little or not technical aptitude trying to get their job done so they won't get fired. Most users rely on motor memory, with little to no conscious awareness of what they're doing in terms of interacting with the user interface.
If you worked in tech support, you'd know that.
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I support users ranging from paste eaters, through to fairly competent IT professionals. I'm on KDE right now, if you tell me that you didn't know the little blue folder went to your drive, that's on you, Windows has that folder in yellow. The settings are clear and clean, the menus are clear and clean, applications don't change if you use the same platforms, so I don't buy it.
I used to build test platforms for products that came off the assembly line, test fixtures. We'd get emails from the testers be
Re: (Score:2)
> When people are too stupid to figure out something with some effort, basic effort, I don't care. I gave up years ago, either your trying to be an incompetent idiot, or, you're special needs.
Which makes you like the IT guy supporting a store we bought a few years back. Everyone in the store wanted to light him on fire. The first visit, I could have literally punched an employee in the face and the would have liked me more than they liked him.
Which is to say, he doesn't work for us any more.
Welcome to grown up land, where "I don't care" means "I'd rather collect unemployment."
Re: (Score:2)
Than Plasma? Maybe not. Than classic KDE, lxqt, Mate, or Gnome... absolutely. I found them to be unpleasant, harder to use, and just a bit wrong in a way that makes me ill.
And while plasma is generally decent, it suffers from the same awful system controls as the rest. Not better than the new Windows settings, far worse than the classic Control Panel. I suspect that is because the design ethos is still has, at its heart, "well, just open a terminal and type nano /etc/...". Or, maybe it's because li
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Not used KDE. GNOME... possibly. Every time I try to sit down with GNOME and see if I can work with it, I end up giving up in disgust and switching back to MATE.
Honestly, GNOME is the major failure in the GNU/Linux ecosystem. I don't in any way criticize them for trying, I think it was a good idea to try out new things, but they threw the baby out with the bathwater.
The differences between Windows 7 and Windows 10/11 are such that I think they can graft a windows-like UI over a standard desktop API and it'l
Re: (Score:2, Informative)
What is the state of Linux enterprise software these days? For most personal desktop activities, there are solid Linux options. But are there good options for ERP, Mail/ Calendar, Learning Management Systems, (video)conferencing, Knowledge Management? These days a lot of that kind of software runs in the browser on the client machine, but the server is still Windows.
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Umm...
Pretty much every single web-based enterprise software as a service is already running in Linux isn't it?
The entirety of Gmail and all it's tools as the primary example.
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> What is the state of Linux enterprise software these days? ....
a LOT of stuff is now "cloud" / web interface anyway.
what I still don't know is what the state is of the equivalent of "group policy" and automated remote management and monitoring.
Doing it for dev servers with like 20 accounts total in Google cloud platform was "so so"... and a lot of power user things still required sudo or were a bit insecure (i.e. of they were in the docker group. and yes that non privileged docker is a thing but was still finicky even a year ago)
So idk how you'd manage 1k or 10k accou
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> what I still don't know is what the state is of the equivalent of "group policy" and automated remote management and monitoring.
There are many solutions for managing group policies and remote management tools nowadays. There's a few open source solutions like foreman and such, and many many many commercial solutions like ninja.
Honestly, any commercial 3rd party system will have Linux support because it's so mainstream it's expected.
Re: (Score:2)
Louis: "Ah, we have zunk ze last of ze cursed Windows machine in the depths of the Siene, Capitaine!"
Jacques: "Very well. What do you use to look after our mighty fleet of Manchot?"
Louis: "Why, Intune, of course."
Jacques: "Sacre bleu!"
Re: (Score:3)
The French state have sponsored a project to replace all of those applicaitions with their own in house developed open source solutions: [1]https://github.com/suitenumerique/ [github.com]
[1] https://github.com/suitenumerique/
Re: gotta catch 'em all (Score:2)
The challenge is special purpose administrative systems integrated hard with MS office. And all the MS minions in the IT departments.
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Basically turnkey with Debian. But that's also the point with Debian.
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Okay, take a windows computer loaded with sensitive information that must be retained, and install Linux on it without losing anything. Takes some time and effort for one, and they'll have thousands. It's doable, but it won't be cheap or fast.
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> Okay, take a windows computer loaded with sensitive information that must be retained, and install Linux on it without losing anything. Takes some time and effort for one, and they'll have thousands. It's doable, but it won't be cheap or fast.
Isn't everything managed on servers for a long time already, even with 'personal folders', and ACL's are a thing too. Again, in 2026, any motivated organization should be able to overcome whatever obstacles that might lay in their path, even given their previous investments in microsoft.
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> I don't see what is so hard about switching the vast majority of common office computers.
From personal experience with customers, many have this immediate adverse reaction to even seeing an alternative product, especially when they have no experience of that product. In almost any size workplace I'd expect it to be an uphill struggle purely due to prejudicial attitudes. The only time I wouldn't expect an uphill struggle would be if the almost unanimous mood was against the current software, which to be frank with regard to Microsoft products, it isn't. They annoy the hell out of me, especial
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Bingo. The true impediment is psychological factors.
I've been thru the cycle several times. You show client the alternative. They say they could NEVER use it. The big red button isn't there. They use visual memory to do things, without understanding anything. Enter data in field x, find the big red button, press it. Job well done. Even software updates, where they change the colour of the button, or move it from the right to the middle, or change the text from "ok" to "update" will confuse most ...lets call
Re: (Score:2)
> Bingo. The true impediment is psychological factors.
> I've been thru the cycle several times. You show client the alternative. They say they could NEVER use it. The big red button isn't there. They use visual memory to do things, without understanding anything. Enter data in field x, find the big red button, press it. Job well done. Even software updates, where they change the colour of the button, or move it from the right to the middle, or change the text from "ok" to "update" will confuse most ...lets call them "information workers".
> After you train them on the new software, they LOVE it. Then a few years later some update comes in, the colour scheme is tweaked, the buttons and text change a little bit and they go ballistic! OMG I can't do my job, the big red button has moved (2 cm to the left). Any change to the software triggers massive FEAR and causes Joe to suddenly look and feel incompetent. Que another training session. After learning that, now they LOVE the software again. If you stick around long enough, some new system comes along to replace the system they originally HATED, then LOVED once they knew how to use it, and you show that to them and the cycle starts again: I could NEVER use that.
True. So true! Oh how much I hate that damn ribbon! Thank goodness I have other options.
Re: (Score:2)
> In 2026, given the current state of Linux software and distributions, I don't see what is so hard about switching the vast majority of common office computers.
Long time Linux user here: that's a silly question.
It's not just about deploying a different OS to tens of thousands of machines. Which in itself is hardly a trivial exercise.
It's not just about having them use LibreOffice instead of MS Office.
It's about a coherent ecosystem. Not perfect, not shiny: coherent. Flawed it might be, but it scales - not brilliantly, but reliably enough across tens of thousands of endpoints, thousands of servers, with existing data bases, custom software, established processe
Re: gotta catch 'em all (Score:3)
Frinux
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Frogbuntu.
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France says it plans to move some government computers from Windows to Linux as part of a broader push for digital sovereignty and reduced dependence on U.S. technology.
The French are very good at expressing support without committing. This is not a commitment.