The municipality of #Groningen in The Netherlands is investigating a switch from Microsoft to Linux ๐Ÿ‡ณ๐Ÿ‡ฑ๐Ÿ”ฅ

" It is unknown which Linux operating system the municipality will use. This is part of measures to become less dependent on big tech."

https://tweakers.net/nieuws/249114/gemeente-groningen-onderzoekt-overstap-van-windows-naar-linux.html

#digitalsovereignty #TheNetherlands #opensource #bigtech #eupolicy

Gemeente Groningen onderzoekt overstap van Windows naar Linux

De gemeente Groningen onderzoekt of ze de werkplekken kan overzetten van Windows naar Linux. Het is onbekend welk Linux-besturingssysteem de gemeente gaat gebruiken. Dit maakt deel uit van maatregelen om minder afhankelijk te worden van big tech.

Tweakers
@Gina in the Swiss Government our PoC is done for some time now and result document will soon be out https://www.bk.admin.ch/en/boss-poc-feasibility-study
I really hope that we'll do more in this direction, although I always feel like too many people want and "all or nothing big bang approach", that just won't work well with such a deeply integrated system like Windows and other MS products.
BOSS PoC feasibility study

The BOSS feasibility study was launched to strengthen digital sovereignty in office automation through the use of open source software. The Federal Administration is currently conducting a proof of concept (PoC) to evaluate how to implement emergency office automation and the secure processing of sensitive information.

@Gina Mageia Linux is a good choice, because if I remember correct is not under a big company and the base of the distro is on France.
@Gina There have been a few studies now that suggest if you want to migrate, you should slowly transition the users over to the replacement applications first, but keep them running on Windows. Only later do you get them to change the operating system. Switching the OS forces a big bang transition of everything at once that's bound to have issues which may be unfairly attributed to the OS swap.
@Gina This is exactly the kind of move Iโ€™d love to see happening more across Europe! ๐Ÿคฉ
@Gina because it is about interoperability (as you said), I hope more than one GNU/Linux operating system, e.g. a mix of Ubuntu and Debian GNU/Linux

@Gina

> "It is unknown which Linux operating system the municipality will use. "

And so the Great Linux War began ...

@Gina Hope they don't choose a systemd distro, age verification could be hard when you're 1000 years old :)

@Gina

Hopefully they will go with #Debian

@Gina #Netherlands, I wish you the best in this. If you need any help, please consider hiring me, as this sort of thing is my specialty. I've been using #Linux since 1998, and I have a degree in Computer Science, as well as 5 years experience as a Linux Systems Administrator/devops.
@Gina How great would it be if public entities would conduct this type of investigation in an open and transparant manner. It would save having to reinvent the wheel time after time.