France is to begin replacing Microsoft Windows on the desktop with Linux, the French Digital Ministry has announced.
This change is part of a broader initiative to reduce reliance on non-European digital technologies. Each ministry will be required requires each ministry, to develop a plan by autumn 2026 addressing desktop systems, collaboration tools, antivirus software, AI, databases, virtualisation, and network equipment.
In addition to government departments migrating from Windows to Linux, the National Health Insurance Fund announced a few days ago it was moving its 80,000 employees to France’s own interministerial digital platform’s tools (Tchap secure messaging, Visio and FranceTransfert for the document sharing).
Announcing the initiative, Public Accounts Minister David Amiel remarked as follows:
The State can no longer simply acknowledge its dependence; it must break free. We must become less reliant on American tools and regain control of our digital destiny. We can no longer accept that our data, our infrastructure and our strategic decisions depend on solutions whose rules, pricing, change and risks we do not control. The transition is underway: our ministries, our operators and our industrial partners are now embarking on an unprecedented initiative to map our dependencies and strengthen our digital sovereignty. Digital sovereignty is not an option.