France is transitioning government desktops to Linux, with each ministry required to formalize its implementation plan by autumn 2026.
linuxiac.com/france-launches-g…
⇧
France is transitioning government desktops to Linux, with each ministry required to formalize its implementation plan by autumn 2026.
linuxiac.com/france-launches-g…
El Duvelle
in reply to Linuxiac • • •As great as this sounds, I think this transition is just for this specific group "direction interministérielle du numérique (DINUM)" and not for the entire government..
Your source says
which means "The DINUM announces its exit from Windows towards workstations using Linux"
It doesn't say that all governmental agencies will do this transition.. (unfortunately, and hopefully this will come later)
Kevin Russell
in reply to El Duvelle • • •El Duvelle
in reply to Kevin Russell • • •@kevinrns
do you have a quote where this is specifically and explicitly mentioned?
@linuxiac
Kevin Russell
in reply to El Duvelle • • •@elduvelle
"As the announcement comes directly from DINUM, 👉 which oversees digital strategy across ministries, 👈 it holds greater significance than a local pilot or isolated administrative project."
"... each ministry required to formalize its implementation plan by autumn 2026"
Each ministry, in 3 to 6 months.
"Its a formal declaration ... explicitly designating Linux as the replacement for Windows workstations as part of a broader interministerial strategy."
Interministerial
El Duvelle
in reply to Kevin Russell • • •@kevinrns
Hmm.. your first quote doesn't explicitly say that there will be a transition.
the second one only mentions an "implementation plan" but it doesn't say what will be implemented.
the last one might be more convincing, unless it's once again just about the DINUM, and that's not clear from the quote.
Where do all these quotes come from? I don't see them in this link numerique.gouv.fr/sinformer/es…
numerique.gouv.fr
www.numerique.gouv.frKevin Russell
in reply to El Duvelle • • •@elduvelle
gadgetreview.com/france-just-k…
France Just Kicked Microsoft Off 2.5 Million Government Devices - Here’s Why - Gadget Review
Alex Barrientos (Gadget Review)El Duvelle
in reply to Kevin Russell • • •thanks, but this is just linking back to the original article in French as its source (numerique.gouv.fr/sinformer/es…) which still doesn't claim that all government computers will move to Linux..
but this is an interesting case study so let's try to figure out where they get their info from. so the link you sent has this subtitle:
... Show more...now, what is the source for that? None given in the title, but later on the article says:
thanks, but this is just linking back to the original article in French as its source (numerique.gouv.fr/sinformer/es…) which still doesn't claim that all government computers will move to Linux..
but this is an interesting case study so let's try to figure out where they get their info from. so the link you sent has this subtitle:
now, what is the source for that? None given in the title, but later on the article says:
The rest of the article is about other stuff irrelevant to our question. So, let's check the sources. There'a two links in the paragraph above, the first one is just a list of the different French government bodies (irrelevant), the 2nd one is another blog article which only has 1 relevant source: the article from the French government that we were already discussing! I have now read this very short article at least 15 times. it makes no mention of 2.5 million devices moving from Windows to Linux!
It just says that this department called DINUM "announced that it is leaving windows for Linux" and, later on, it says that other governmental agencies have been asked to "prepare a plan of action to reduce extra-european dependencies" by autumn 2026.
It does not say that they will all have moved to Linux by autumn 2026! For all we know the plan of some of these agencies might end up concluding that it would be too much effort to ditch Windows and that there's nothing they can do about it.
So, it seems the article you sent it basically inventing some "facts" from thin air..
now, there is one interesting bit left in your article:
so... that might explain why some "alternative facts" got in there. We shouldn't trust AI-generated stuff!
France Just Kicked Microsoft Off 2.5 Million Government Devices - Here’s Why - Gadget Review
Alex Barrientos (Gadget Review)Kevin Russell
in reply to El Duvelle • • •thedefensenews.com/news-detail…
#linux #france
France Launches Government-Wide Transition from Microsoft Windows to Linux to Strengthen Digital Sovereignty
The Defense NewsEl Duvelle
in reply to Kevin Russell • • •thanks.. this blog post seems even worse than the other one:
this 2.5 million number is coming back but it is unclear where it is coming from.. maybe this article is a spin off of your other, AI-generated article?
... Show more...yeah.. 250 people is not the same as 2.5 million. Only those 250 people will actually migrate to Linux. The part about "broader deployment" seems unsubstantiated..
thanks.. this blog post seems even worse than the other one:
this 2.5 million number is coming back but it is unclear where it is coming from.. maybe this article is a spin off of your other, AI-generated article?
yeah.. 250 people is not the same as 2.5 million. Only those 250 people will actually migrate to Linux. The part about "broader deployment" seems unsubstantiated..
that sounds a bit closer to the truth which seems to be that the migration plans that all other agencies have to prepare may not involve migrating immediately, that they don't know what they're migrating to, and probably that they might not migrate at all.
Anything else?
derptron
in reply to Kevin Russell • • •@kevinrns @elduvelle That seems like a LOT of work to get done in a pretty short time. "Rushed" even. I don't know if that much planning can take place in that amount of time and be sufficiently well done that there's a high chance of success. Are they expecting AI to be some massive speed multiplier here?
These are huge plans with massive amounts of documents and massive amounts of meetings and approvals and ...
Is this one of those "good" uses of AI?
El Duvelle
in reply to derptron • • •@crazyeddie
definitely not a good use of genAI! So many privacy issues in a high-risk setting, if anything it would be the opposite of a good use of "AI".
Remember, Copilot should only be used for "entertainment" purposes (techcrunch.com/2026/04/05/copi…)
Copilot is ‘for entertainment purposes only,’ according to Microsoft’s terms of use | TechCrunch
Anthony Ha (TechCrunch)M. Grégoire
in reply to El Duvelle • • •@elduvelle
Sure, but if a group with overall responsibility for government computers switches the OS it uses successfully, they may subsequently push the rest of the government in that direction.
@linuxiac
El Duvelle
in reply to M. Grégoire • • •they may! but the French admin has a lot of inertia... I'll keep my fingers crossed but I'd wait for a clear and unambiguous statement on that to believe it!
Thomas Depierre
in reply to Linuxiac • • •El Duvelle
in reply to Thomas Depierre • • •my thoughts exactly!
Kevin Russell
in reply to Thomas Depierre • • •@Di4na
No. Its very clear.
"The press release also requires each ministry, including public operators, to develop a plan by autumn 2026 addressing desktop systems, collaboration tools, antivirus software, AI, databases, virtualization, and network equipment."
"Each ministry."👈
Very clear.
"As the announcement comes directly from DINUM, which oversees digital strategy across ministries,👉 it holds greater significance than a local pilot or isolated administrative project."👈
Greg Price
in reply to Kevin Russell • • •@kevinrns @Di4na Unfortunately that's not what the original source says (which they helpfully link to):
numerique.gouv.fr/sinformer/es…
The move off Windows to Linux is specifically for the DINUM itself. The mandate for all ministries is much looser: a plan for "reduction of extra-European dependencies".
That can mean a lot of things. The DINUM Linux migration is one of three examples they give; the other two are about various SaaS services.
numerique.gouv.fr
www.numerique.gouv.fr