France's national digital directorate, DINUM, is switching its workstations from Windows to Linux as part of a push for digital sovereignty. The move follows an interministerial seminar on April 8 and requires all ministries to draft plans reducing reliance on non-European software by autumn 2026. Other agencies are adopting homegrown tools for messaging, video calls, and file transfers.
France's Direction interministérielle du numérique (DINUM) announced it is migrating its government desktops from Windows to Linux. The decision emerged from an interministerial seminar on April 8, organized by the Directorate General for Enterprise (DGE), the National Agency for Information Systems Security (ANSSI), and the State Procurement Directorate (DAE). This step aims to reduce dependence on U.S. technology and enhance digital sovereignty, as stated by officials including Minister David Amiel and Minister Delegate for Artificial Intelligence and Digital Affairs Anne Le Hénanff, who emphasized regaining control over digital tools (translated from French statements). DINUM will lead a coordinated effort involving ministries, public operators, and private sector partners, focusing on interoperability standards like Open Interop and Open Buro. Every French ministry must submit a reduction plan for non-European software by autumn 2026, targeting areas such as workstations, collaboration tools, antivirus, AI, databases, virtualization, and network equipment. Initial Industrial Digital Meetings are set for June 2026 to formalize public-private coalitions. The national health insurance body, CNAM, is migrating 80,000 agents to French alternatives: Tchap for messaging, Visio for video calls, and France transfert for file sharing. The national health data platform will shift to a sovereign solution by the end of 2026. This builds on a prior mandate for government departments to adopt Visio, tested with 40,000 users, by 2027.
