What did they do?
this post was submitted on 11 Apr 2026
1 points (100.0% liked)
Linux
5223 readers
2 users here now
Shit, just linux.
Use this community for anything related to linux for now, if it gets too huge maybe there will be some sort of meme/gaming/shitpost spinoff. Currently though… go nuts
founded 3 years ago
MODERATORS
https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/france-just-kicked-microsoft-off-161724952.html
2.5 million gov devices will switch to linux
“Please allow ads on our site”
No, no I don’t think I will.
Lol I click no so fast, I didnt read that
Made a bunch of noise about switching from American software to American software.
Open Source obviously belongs to everyone or no-one. But if you want to be pedantic about it, then Linux is from Finland.
Finlux!
Gotta love when people can't even fathom a life beyond bending the knee to the American capitalist machine lol
Believe it or not, most non-Americans actually have options.
You kinda don't.
Windows is American, via Microsoft. MacOS is American, via Apple. Android and ChromeOS are American, via Google. BSD is American, via UC Berkley. Linux is at least partially American, via the Linux Foundation.
Western Europe has essentially nothing to show for itself in terms of processor architecture, instruction sets and operating systems. Globally, that's pretty much all been done by the Americans and the British. They get to claim ARM.
Congratulations on going open source though, we'll see if you stick with it longer than the krauts did.
I am soo curious which ditro, DE will they use
https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/france-just-kicked-microsoft-off-161724952.html
2.5 million gov devices will switch to linux
Possibly something similar to NixOS: https://www.frandroid.com/os/gnu-linux/3062047_adieu-windows-securix-et-bureautix-le-linux-de-letat-aux-noms-dirreductibles-gaulois
from an IT perspective NixOS would be VERY easy for them to setup. pretty much clone the same configuration across all computers and you're good to go. PLUS if they installed comma with it would make the user experience easy. just have to teach people to open a terminal and type ", firefox" and you're good to go. keeps things clean. don't have to worry about people installing stuff that could potentially break their system as you would just lock down the nix configuration.
No standard, no custom government specific distro designed for the use case and ensuring stability and consistency... every department can choose their own.
So similar fragmentation that underpins the issues Linux has with consumer confusion when trying to switch. There are too many options all with weird quirks that isn't an issue for technical people, but is impossible for the average person to wade through to find good options for them.
Maybe they'll specify more in the future, but at the moment it looking more like expecting each large government department to make fundamental decisions on their core IT infrastructure on their own, as opposed to a dedicated and specialized team with experience.
I'll bet money they'll either chose Fedora, Ubuntu, or some custom distro.
Fedora makes the most sense to me. But I can see how a cautious bunch might go for the perceived safety of Ubuntu.
Fedora being IBM, a US company, would make it a weird choice for "we need to be less dependant on US"...
Linux, being the Linux Foundation, a US company, would make it a weird choice for "we need to be less dependent on the US" but, Western Europe being a load rather than a prime mover is nothing new.
I thought the Linux foundation was not a company... My bad, in the us , everything is business, isn't it ?
Per Wikipedia:
A company is a legal entity representing an association of legal persons with a shared objective, such as generating profit or benefiting society.
"Company" is a vague almost meaningless term, like "animal."
The Linux Foundation is a 501(c)6 non-profit corporation. Americans are more likely to be familiar with 501(c)3, which covers charity organizations, such as the American Red Cross and St. Judes Children's Research Hospital. 501(c)6 covers trade associations, like the American Medical Association, the American Bar Association, the National Association of Realtors and the US Chamber of Commerce.
As a trade association, the Linux Foundation is not itself a for-profit business, but they have a lot to do with for-profit businesses. Maintaining the world's most popular kernel is chief among them.
Would a government choose Fedora rather than Red Hat?
Or SUSE Enterprise, considering it's based in Luxembourg.
This makes total sense, since not ever department has the same needs.
Also these are work computers, there is no "consumer confusion"- you get what everyone uses, that's also one of the reasons windows is everywhere.
Lastly, if rolling out different distros is a core decision in your IT you lack Linux experience in my opinion.
From what I remember reading; different ones, they've set no standard and let every department pursue their own needs.
Didn't Germany do that a while back? Didn't end well IIRC...
French "gendarmerie" has a long and quite successful experience with Linux... Something like 70000 PC, with a customized Ubuntu distro, since 2008.
It would need to support SELinux at the very least.
Didn't a government entity in Belgium try to do the same thing until a bunch of Microsoft suits swooped in and "encouraged" them to stay with them instead? Hope France doesn't do the same.
@sigmaklimgrindset @yodeljunkmanenvy
Didn’t a government entity in Belgium try to do the same thing until a bunch of Microsoft suits swooped in and “encouraged” them to stay with them instead? Hope France doesn’t do the same.
Large cardboard boxes full of money were found in offices at that time.
In Germany microsoft made a deal to move its head office to München if LiMux was killed. There were probably other "incentives" as münchen ist in Amigo Land = corruption is rife.
i'ts the year of the linux desktop !
C'est l'année du bureau Linux!
Yeah we have fascism with macron, but....under linux 🤡
Learn more about macron's politics before be happy for us
i don't understand why any school or government would use proprietary software, even 20 years ago. sad that this is something we even feel the need to celebrate.
I gave a grapheneos phone (sadly Google got a registration) with sand boxed google store that I rarely use, Linux mint desktop, Linux mint laptop.
My home has no natural light because no windows!