Frances switchted to Linux on 2.5 million PCs
France for whatever reason tends not to export much tech, so I think many people don’t realize how tech-savvy they have historically always been.
2.5 Million government PCs seems like a lot
I hope they do the more users there are the faster improvements will happen and the more support for things in general.
If only the muppets in my homeland were half as competent as the bloody French.
i never understood why my Government in Australia doesn’t have a tech division a Linux version to use, Libre Office software etc a messenger service, an email and a Mastodon instance. Doesn’t mean you have to use them by the Governments should and be available to all including our Oceania brothers if they wish including funding them.
Giving up digital sovereignty is beyond my understanding, let alone hosting Government. and financial services on foreign owned cloud services.
Yeah not having a government issued email is completely bonkers in this day and age. They should never have allowed Google to fill that gap.
Linux? I think we still using windows 10
Boy I sure do remember a lot of people in the last ten years tell me its completely impossible to run any kind of modern enterprise set up without Windows.
Wow!
They were all fucking wrong!
Who could have guessed!
10 years ago, a significant number of enterprise software was written as windows native apps. What’s changed is now everything is a webapp and linux runs firefox/chrome/chromium/edge/etc just fine.
Also, already 10 years ago, corporate backends were pretty much already all running on Linux.
In big companies the stuff running in Windows has long been just been the Views in a multi-tiered Model-View-Controller systems architecture, whilst the data and logic sat in servers.
From my own experience, on the technical side it’s mainly the sunk cost into making the custom frontends in Windows and certain apps used to fill the gaps not covered by corporate systems (for example Excel and Outlook) that have held Windows in place.
On the management side, it’s probably a question of support contracts and friendly rather than professional relationships with specific Windows-only 3rd party vendors.
Not at all denying your point (which I totally agree with), just pointing out that in big enough companies to have their own software developers and proprietary systems, the movement away from Windows has been going on longer than that, just less visible to most people because what was being moved over was back and middle tier stuff.
Whilst people kept dreaming about the Year Of Linux On The Desktop, Linux had, since the 90s, quietly and steadilly been eating away at the responsabilities of software running on the Desktop.
I’m in the lucky position that I get to run Linux on my work machines in an otherwise Windows environment (helps that I’m in the IT dept). Enterprise apps are actually a lot better about supporting Linux these days. Zoom, WebEx, TigerConnect (healthcare focused HIPAA compliant messenger) all have native Linux versions. Also, the CrowdStrike EDR agent supports Linux too, which was helpful to get approval to run Linux. Support is good in IT specific tools too. VMWare remote console and
VMWareOmnissa Horizon client also support Linux natively, so I use Horizon to connect to a VM when I actually do need Windows. Most of the Cisco management tools that aren’t web based work too, e.g. CUCM RTMT, but they are in Java so not too surprising. The only stickler really is Microsoft products. I use Teams, Sharepoint and Outlook as PWA though, which is good enough for me (do all my actual document editing in LibreOffice though). Typically the only thing I actually need to log into actual Windows VM for is Windows Server Management Tools to manage AD, DHCP, DNS etc
That article is trash. Ministries have only been asked to come up with a plan of what’s possible to do to switch but I highly doubt most will switch. The education ministry recently renewed it’s Microsoft contract and I don’t think there is anything enforcing a switch, it’s only a “please look at what could be possible” thing. The only thing switching for sure is the DINUM, about 250 people, a lot of them already using Linux. But this is the start of an experiment where they are building some NixOS configurations that could be used if a larger switch was to happen. Believe it or not, they NixOS configs are names Sécurix and Bureautix.
The source article from ZDNet they got the information from has been updated to correct the mistake.
Correction on April 16, 2026: An earlier version of this article stated that France was planning to replace 2.5 million Windows desktops with Linux. In fact, the Interministerial Directorate for Digital Affairs is initially migrating only its own internal workstations (about 350) and will coordinate a broader effort. Individual ministries have been instructed to develop their own migration plans by fall 2026. The article has been updated to reflect this clarification.
From 2.5 million to 350, that’s sad
It’s overselling it, but the move towards digital sovereignty isn’t a passing fad.
The various revelations over the years about the US spying on allies and Microsoft famously telling the EU(?) that they could not guarantee that their data would not be turned over to the US government has all but ensured that this is going to happen as a matter of national security.
They can’t have their government dependent on systems that could be disabled at any time for political reasons, like the sanctions applied to the ICC judge on the genocide case against Israel.
It was one thing when the US was an ally, but now we are not a dependable ally and these countries are reorganizing their security posture in recognition of that fact.
Linux is the only viable operating system that is not vulnerable to US government sponsored supply chain attacks. While it may not be deployed everywhere immediately, the directive to agencies to start planning for the transition is the first step in the process and critical services will transition much sooner.
This will happen regardless of what happens in the election, Trump has exposed the weaknesses in our system of government and the attitude of US elites towards other countries. No sane country would trust US tech given the direction of things.
Honestly if I had one wish is that government would be banned for saying any rental agreement was an investment.
It’s so frustrating, and brings me hope to see it change, that RnD and infrastructure investment funds got put into software rental agreement for windows and VMware and more recently into proprietary Cloud ecosystems.
Like you own nothing from that. That money is gone from the public good. It’s not an investment. I didn’t invest in an apartment, I rented, I don’t have any value left from that agreement I had my wants and needs temporally satisfied.
That is just the constant issue these people put in the public trust are learning but have to held to task to.
That is just the constant issue these people put in the public trust are learning but have to held to task to.
I think the people who’ve gained a career in politics understand the rent seeking game and it is the people who have forgotten what the stakes are.
I don’t buy for a minute that these highly educated people with degrees from prestigious universities don’t understand the historical context that they’re living through. The amount of corruption on public display is shocking to anyone who is paying attention.
We’ve just become complacent and have, collectively, forgotten what the stakes are.
You’re right, the people who are able to make decisions are able to make objectively bad long term decision and the amount of people who want to hold them to task is so massively diluted by a bunch of people who’ve grown complacent due to being born in and living through a period of time that has, historically, been largely positive.
(( Huge asterisks there, obviously. I mean there’s no world wars, widespread slavery or feudalism. Totalitarianism is limited to corners of the world where we’re largely discouraged from thinking about. North Korea is, objectively, an ongoing crime against humanity but most people living in western democracies have no context to understand that reality so it’s feels like a fantasy setting in a movie or TV Show. ))
There are still functioning democracies that haven’t gone off the cliff despite everything and the Internet has given us an organizational tool that has never existed in human history. We’re living through Interesting Times, but there’s still hope.
Free software activists in Europe have been saying for decades that it’s a matter of sovereignty and the investments may be painful at first but will end up saving untold amounts of money.
The Marshall plan goodwill has run out now.
I’m a USian and also have worked in tech for decades. I hope Europe succeeds, there needs to be competition.
The US is in a similar position when it comes to manufacturing. The various business interests have sold our country’s capabilities in exchange for short-term profits.
Offshoring was wildly profitable for decades, why pay people domestically to do a thing when you can pay less to people in another country to do the same thing. Thanks to this, we now import the vast majority of things from overseas because we have little to no domestic manufacturing capability. The massive industrial manufacturing base that carried the US economy after WWII was deconstructed in a few decades
Most of the money that was being poured into US tech companies from all around the world was funneled back out into foreign manufacturing centers who now control the market for electronics hardware. Apple has spent hundreds of BILLIONS investing in SE Asia’s electronic hardware manufacturing industry because it was cheaper. This helped create an entire industry that renders any attempt to create domestic production unprofitable.
The US made a lot of billionaires and not much else. Today our tech sector is largely just software running on hardware that was manufactured elsewhere and imported. (It would be a shame if someone invented a thing which could create software at scale)
The only reason that the US remains dominant in these fields is because we’ve strong armed every other country into accepting our Intellectual Property laws which subordinates your laws and regulations into a system for enforcing our monopoly.
Once that link is broken, and the EU imports their own hardware and writes their own software irregardless of US IP laws then the US tech sector will collapse.
Here’s Cory Doctorow explaining what that would look like: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=39jsstmmUUs
I hope you’re right but I can assure you our government is very good at making grand announces not followed by anything, or even by the opposite. Also our far right, which might very well win the next election, is very much pro-Trump.
Our education ministry keeps signing huge Microsoft contracts, our health data is stored by Microsoft, our intelligence agency use Palantir, our government is mostly on X… I’m forgetting a lot of other things. They are also pushing hard for regulations against privacy, weakening encryption, chat-control…
There are some small nice things here and there like our Gendarmerie using Ubuntu, the DINUM making a lot of open-source tools… But it’s really a drop in the water.
Not much better in Estonia.
“Let’s investigate technical independence from the US”
But let’s keep everyone on Teams (including pushing contractor companies to use Teams to communicate with government employees) and let’s make sure everyone’s using Windows.
Our elites and politicians share a similar playbook when it comes to doing exactly what they want while pretending to struggle to do anything else.
Technology is important for making the government run more efficiently and the US tech sector has historically provided the tools for making that process more efficient. It was easier to use the tools available from a close ally than it was to devote the resources towards building up a domestic technology sector.
We’re in a different world now, both politically and technologically. The US government has been using this dependency to gain advantage in other areas by spying on our allies. The trend towards right-wing nationalism also creates a real danger that this could escalate into even more coercive tactics.
Now, the cost of cultivating a domestic tech sector is now much lower than the cost of having all of your government functions held ransom by a foreign power. Especially when everyone can see how rapidly the US’s posture towards allies has changed.
That being said, it takes time to build a tech industry and swap to domestic production. The US’s tech sector growth was subsidized by the entire world and built over decades. It will take time to replicate that in the EU (and even longer if there isn’t a unified initiative).
Until then, your governments cannot help but be dependent on Microsoft and other US technology companies who are using emerging technology to enable new capabilities (i.e. Palantir).
As one commoner to another, I hope your country is shocked by the turmoil that we’re going through and can build something better.
Linux is the only viable operating system that is not vulnerable to US government sponsored supply chain attacks
Well I certainly don’t agree with that, and in many cases (at least with specific Linux distros) I would even argue it IS vulnerable already. Maybe we have different definitions of “viable” or something. The Linux kernel itself has also been forced to make political decisions at the demand of the United States, such as removing support for Russian CPUs (but somehow Chinese ones are A-OK).
It’s viable because all of the important components are open source. That’s the entire genius of open source, if you’re capable enough then you’re immune to future changes. You can fork a project and take over development. It only costs developers and that’s well within the budget of a modern western country.
Any country who is going to undertake the effort to move away from Windows will have the resources to support distros which align with their country’s interest or create their own. Even North Korea has their own distro of Linux, I’m sure the EU countries can find the talent required to ensure their software meets their needs.
As an individual, you’re right. You’re largely at the whims of the people who volunteer their time to the kernel, the software ecosystem and the individual distributions. If you have infinite money then those problems become a line item in your budget.
You seem to assume our president and its government act with intelligence and in the interest of our country. You could not be any further from the truth.
I certainly don’t assume that.
I expect your elites to operate with the same selfish motivations as ours. That includes wanting to exploit the situation in order to utilize public funds to grow a private tech sector where they stand to profit immensely.
They will also want to protect themselves personally from continuing to be predated on by their elite counterparts in the US who utilize this technological dependency for spying and coercive tactics.
Using NixOS as an imaging tool by distributing a config is pretty neat and I would love to see it happen. I’m surprised they were competent enough to see that route; I wonder who’s behind this initiative?
That’s the Interministerial Digital Directorate, they are very competent.
Whoa neat, thanks!
I wonder how much money the government is saving on Windows licences alone
I just checked Microsoft’s website. They’re trying to make windows enterprise a subscription model. The current cost for what they’re calling “windows 365” is $99/yr per user. They’re saving nearly $250 million a year, or €211 Million
Probably also saving 100 to 200 million euros more in servicing fees. Licenses are but one component of cost models these days for companies. Sure, they will still have to find a vendor to service their Linux systems, but there should be a lot more cost flexibility in that space.
That might be the MSRP, but it’s not what they were paying.
They’re going to have at minimum three different types of “discounts” applied to their price:
- Volume discount
- Government discount
- Tenure discount
If I had to guess, it would knock anywhere from 30% to 60% off MSRP.
Windows 365 is the “cloud PC” that Microsoft is hosting as a VM in Azure. So you have a thin client that only connects to the VM over the internet. It’s very niche and pretty expensive. Regular windows licenses, especially with their volume of licensing will be a lot less. But they still save millions on licenses, especially for the M365 office licenses that they now no longer need.
License costs for Windows alone for one single Bundesland in Germany are 15 Mio EUR a year, I read, and that doesn’t include other costs. France is probably paying Microsoft in the hundreds of millions currently. You can do a lot on your own with that kind of money, especially when using everything open source has to offer, as basis.
I’m seems pretty reasonable for a cloud PC.
I just ran the costs through the Azure calculator, and a D2asV6 system with a 100GB drive and licenseing running 16hrs a day, 30 days a month would cost approximately 1200 dollars annually, so 99 bucks a year seems like a steal.
And a D2asV6 is not a lot of compute power. 2 cores, 8Gb ram.
In summary, Azure is fucking expensive if you are keeping VMs online all the time.
Wouldn’t you have to include user CALs as well? Im long out of windows land thankfully but I do recall needing those.
The current cost for what they’re calling “windows 365” is $99/yr per user.
Windows 365 Enterprise basic starts $31 per user per month and goes up from there.
I suspect you are confusing Windows 365 with Microsoft 365. The former includes a virtual (Cloud) PC and licensing for Windows and Office, the latter only provides Office licensing. Additionally the price point you quoted makes me think you are looking at Personal / Home pricing because Commercial & Government Office 365 pricing is calculated per user / per month and will vary wildly in price from $10 pu/pm to $50+ pu/pm.
I hate MS product names I hate MS product names I hate MS product names
I’m surprised one of those hasn’t been rebranded to copilot 365 yet
Microsoft 365 Copilot - Sign in - https://m365.cloud.microsoft/
🙃
Let’s be honest: If you’re buying 2,5 million licenses, you are not paying the price listed on the website
And if they put something like 10% of those savings back into developing more open source tech it would be a huge boost to the global community.
I’ve always wondered if the money saved from licenses would cover the cost of new full time employees to pick up support, it probably depends on the org size.
It’s not like they don’t need staff to support windows.
I read it as “pick up support for the FOSS projects” as opposed to user IT support.
So, contributing to the FOSS.
Even sponsorship would be awesome, in a “we can’t do the tech stuff, but here is 10% of what we saved” kinda way
Not only that, but also on not upgrading/replacing computers that don’t meet the requirements. Windows 11 runs perfectly fine on higher-end mobile Kaby Lake, but without unsupported workarounds one cannot install it…never mind that you can virtualize Windows 11 on Skylake and older without any issues.
What is saved, gets spent into operational costs now. Many cities tried the switch, had higher expenses and lower productivity, and switched back to Windows. Let’s hope France hired the right professionals for this migration
Fantastic, it’s amazing what you can do when you don’t have billionaires on the stage patting each other on the back and laughing with each election.
And they will be better served with this solution.
The most important benefit is that a fascist dictatorship can’t brick all your governments computers because an incontinent pedophile got his feefees hurt.
If you think that’s far fetched, you have no idea how mentally-ill and psychopathic fascists are.
So lucky. I hate W11 so much but dumb software developers keep me walled in
You could try running your windows-locked programs via Wine, Proton, or a VM-based solution for the worst offenders on a Linux distro (unless your employer requires you to run windows on bare metal, and I give you my condolences).
Now for funzies, we need to get them to install the steam client.
Nice, France
No, I think it’s everywhere.
Hon Hon hon.
lmfao
🤣
Title makes it sound like a done deal but so far there’s a promise that there will be a plan in a few months.
The shift to Linux is happening and every French government ministry is required to put its migration plan in place by the fall of 2026, including considering complementary software such as antivirus, collaborative tools, and so on.
The shift to Linux is happening
Sounds like the shift to Linux is happening. I’m guessing by law. So, the first step is prep and planning, they aren’t going to back out of it, it just takes time to move an entire government over to a new OS.
Nah, the article is trash. There is no law, ministries have been asked to come up with a plan of what’s possible to do to switch but I highly doubt most will switch. The education ministry recently renewed it’s Microsoft contract and I don’t think there is anything enforcing a switch, it’s only a “please look at what could be possible” thing. The only thing switching for sure is the DINUM, about 250 people, a lot of them already using Linux. But this is the start of an experiment where they are building some NixOS configurations that could be used if a larger switch was to happen.
@misk What could maybe work: it should be made law, that 1% (or 10%) of all license cost paid by governmental organizations, must go into open source development, or services. The organization could freely choice, into what, and what it wants to get back.
@misk @not_IO Normally it silently fails on the wall of stupidity, and on the silent, cooperative undermining of the local microsoft activists in all departments. You can be sure, they do not want to learn “yet another system”, they want to retire as a windows sysadm. And they work as a workplace mafia.
Sadly I can not see any good in this direction. Hope I see it badly!
