France moves gov't PCs to Linux

France is moving state desktops off Windows and onto Linux as part of a wider push to cut reliance on non-European software. (numerique.gouv.fr) The French government’s digital directorate, Direction interministérielle du numérique, said this week it will shift the government “workstation” to Linux. The announcement came in a broader plan to reduce what officials called “extra-European” digital dependencies. (numerique.gouv.fr) France also said its national health insurance system, Caisse nationale de l’Assurance Maladie, will move 80,000 agents onto state-backed collaboration tools. The tools named by the government are Tchap for messaging, Visio for video meetings, and FranceTransfert for file sharing. (numerique.gouv.fr; numerique.gouv.fr) French officials are framing the shift around “digital sovereignty,” meaning the state wants more control over the software, data handling, pricing, and technical road map behind its own systems. In the government’s April 2026 statement, officials said the state can no longer accept dependence on tools whose rules, prices, and evolution it does not control. (numerique.gouv.fr) The move builds on software France already runs inside government. La Suite, the state’s open-source workplace platform, says it is used each month by more than 500,000 public employees across 15 ministries and other agencies. (lasuite.numerique.gouv.fr) Tchap, the government’s secure chat service, says it is already used by more than 600,000 public employees. France has also renewed an interministerial support contract for free and open-source software, with the Finance Ministry calling open source a strategic tool for security, technological independence, and continuity of public services. (tchap.numerique.gouv.fr; economie.gouv.fr) The collaboration stack is designed as a government-run alternative to commercial office suites. A public-sector training page describes La Suite as interoperable, open-source software tied together with single sign-on through ProConnect, so agencies can use state tools while still exchanging with people on proprietary platforms. (lesbases.anct.gouv.fr; campus.numerique.gouv.fr) France has been pushing this direction for years, not days. The government’s free software unit says it helps agencies adopt and contribute to free and open-source software, while the latest announcements turn that long-running policy into a more explicit break from Microsoft Windows on the desktop. (code.gouv.fr; numerique.gouv.fr) The government has not yet published, in the material reviewed here, a full migration timetable, budget, or the specific Linux distribution it plans to deploy across state desktops. What it has published is the direction: replace Windows on government workstations and expand state-controlled tools across large public agencies. (numerique.gouv.fr; numerique.gouv.fr)