French government says it is ditching Windows for Linux, here’s why

The French government has officially announced it is abandoning Microsoft Windows in favour of the open-source Linux operating system as the country works to reclaim control over its data and reduce dependency on US software. The decision, spearheaded by France’s Interministerial Directorate for Digital Affairs (DINUM), aims at ‘breaking free’ from foreign tech giants to ensure its digital destiny remains in its own hands.According to an official communication, French officials say that the move is about national security and independence, a concept they call "digital sovereignty”. “We can no longer accept that our data, our infrastructure, and our strategic decisions depend on solutions whose rules, pricing, and risks we do not control,” stated David Amiel, a Minister of Public Action and Accounts. He specifically signaled a need to reduce reliance on American tools.Anne Le Hénanff, the Minister Delegate for Artificial Intelligence and Digital Technology, echoed this, calling digital sovereignty a “strategic necessity” rather than an optional choice.The switch to Linux is the latest part of a three-step plan to reduce France’s dependency on non-European technology. The government is currently auditing its entire digital infrastructure, including antivirus software, databases, network equipment, and even artificial intelligence, to find sovereign alternatives, as per a report by Tom’s Hardware.What the official announcement said (translated):In line with recent directives communicated by the Prime Minister, in particular the circulars relating to digital public procurement and the generalization of the "Visio" video conferencing tool, the seminar made it possible to set a clear objective: to reduce the State's extra-European digital dependencies.Several concrete initial steps already illustrate this ambition:Regarding the evolution of the workstation, DINUM announces its exit from Windows in favor of workstations running on the Linux operating system.Regarding the migration to sovereign solutions, the National Health Insurance Fund announced a few days ago the migration of its 80,000 agents to tools from the interministerial digital platform (Tchap, Visio and FranceTransfert for the transfer of documents).Last month, the Government announced the migration of the health data platform to a trusted solution by the end of 2026 .“La Suite”: These commercial platforms have been replaced by French-made open-source tools called Tchap (for messaging), Visio (for video calls), and FranceTransfert (for file sharing). The government has also committed to migrating its entire health data platform to a “trusted” domestic solution by the end of 2026.