France recently announced its plans to transition over 2.5 million government desktop computers to Linux.
The aim of the move is to reduce France’s reliance on non-European entities and increase the nation’s digital sovereignty.
Prior to the change, the vast majority of French government workstations ran Windows, meaning the government was dependent on US-based tech giant Microsoft for its computers.
France’s digital sovereignty move
The Inter-Ministerial Directorate of Digital Affairs plans to transition all French civil servant workstations from Microsoft Windows to Linux, with ministries required to submit a plan later in the year.
That’s an estimated 2.5 million workstations across all French government ministries.
French parliamentarians and the Gendarmerie Nationale already use Linux for workstation computers.
The announcement comes as part of a wider French initiative that has seen the adoption of LaSuite Numérique, a set of open source tools that meet the needs of French public sector employees.
LaSuite is a direct replacement for Microsoft 365 for French public sector employees. France’s national health insurance is already in the process of migrating its 80,000 employees to the platform.
Another domino for widespread Linux adoption
Linux has long been seen as the black sheep of mainstream operating systems, as the vast majority of user-facing workstations worldwide are running Microsoft Windows.
Apple’s popularity in consumer machines also outstrips Linux.
However, there’s a growing trend in both the public sector and general population that sees governments and individuals ditching Microsoft products to regain digital independence.
For private individuals migrating away from Windows 10, ChromeOS Flex is becoming a popular option.
France follows other European entities like German state Schleswig-Holstein that moved off Microsoft to Linux and Denmark’s Ministry of Digitisation removing Microsoft Office 365 in favour of LibreOffice.
However, the sheer size of France’s announcement makes this a major stepping stone for more widespread Linux adoption.
Like with LaSuite Numérique, France may invest resources into further improvements throughout its Linux deployment, improving compatibility and performance.
Institutional development for Linux often improves the platform significantly. Valve’s adoption of Linux for its Steam Deck console drove massive improvements to gaming compatibility, alleviating a major hurdle for many users.
That’s why this move could trigger the next big increase in the Linux install base.
What about Australia?
Australia doesn’t use Linux on most public sector workstations, though the idea has been explored before.
In the early 2000’s, Centrelink investigated Linux as a potential desktop replacement for workstations but did not follow through.
With growing concerns around resource independence, it only makes sense that governments would seek to increase their digital independence as well.
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