'The Year of the EU Linux Desktop May Finally Arrive' (theregister.com) 27
Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols writes in an opinion piece for The Register: Microsoft, tactically admitting it has failed at talking all the Windows 10 PC users into moving to Windows 11 after all, is -- sort of, kind of -- extending Windows 10 support for another year. For most users, that means they'll need to subscribe to Microsoft 365. This, in turn, means their data and meta-information will be kept in a US-based datacenter. That isn't sitting so well with many European Union (EU) organizations and companies. It doesn't sit that well with me or a lot of other people either.
A few years back, I wrote in these very pages that Microsoft didn't want you so much to buy Windows as subscribe to its cloud services and keep your data on its servers. If you wanted a real desktop operating system, Linux would be almost your only choice. Nothing has changed since then, except that folks are getting a wee bit more concerned about their privacy now that President Donald Trump is in charge of the US. You may have noticed that he and his regime love getting their hands on other people's data.
Privacy isn't the only issue. Can you trust Microsoft to deliver on its service promises under American political pressure? Ask the EU-based International Criminal Court (ICC) which after it issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for war crimes, Trump imposed sanctions on the ICC. Soon afterward, ICC's chief prosecutor, Karim Khan, was reportedly locked out of his Microsoft email accounts. Coincidence? Some think not. Microsoft denies they had anything to do with this.
Peter Ganten, chairman of the German-based Open-Source Business Alliance (OSBA), opined that these sanctions ordered by the US which he alleged had been implemented by Microsoft "must be a wake-up call for all those responsible for the secure availability of state and private IT and communication infrastructures." Microsoft chairman and general counsel, Brad Smith, had promised that it would stand behind its EU customers against political pressure. In the aftermath of the ICC reports, Smith declared Microsoft had not been "in any way [involved in] the cessation of services to the ICC." In the meantime, if you want to reach Khan, you'll find him on the privacy-first Swiss email provider, ProtonMail.
In short, besides all the other good reasons for people switching to the Linux desktop - security, Linux is now easy to use, and, thanks to Steam, you can do serious gaming on Linux - privacy has become much more critical. That's why several EU governments have decided that moving to the Linux desktop makes a lot of sense... Besides, all these governments know that switching from Windows 10 to 11 isn't cheap. While finances also play a role, and I always believe in "following the money" when it comes to such software decisions, there's no question that Europe is worried about just how trustworthy America and its companies are these days. Do you blame them? I don't. The shift to the Linux desktop is "nothing new," as Vaughan-Nichols notes. Munich launched its LiMux project back in 2004 and, despite ending it in 2017, reignited its open-source commitment by establishing a dedicated program office in 2024. In France, the gendarmerie now operates over 100,000 computers on a custom Ubuntu-based OS (GendBuntu), while the city of Lyon is transitioning to Linux and PostgreSQL.
More recently, Denmark announced it is dropping Windows and Office in favor of Linux and LibreOffice, citing digital sovereignty. The German state of Schleswig-Holstein is following suit, also moving away from Microsoft software. Meanwhile, a pan-European Linux OS (EU OS) based on Fedora Kinoite is being explored, with Linux Mint and openSUSE among the alternatives under consideration.
A few years back, I wrote in these very pages that Microsoft didn't want you so much to buy Windows as subscribe to its cloud services and keep your data on its servers. If you wanted a real desktop operating system, Linux would be almost your only choice. Nothing has changed since then, except that folks are getting a wee bit more concerned about their privacy now that President Donald Trump is in charge of the US. You may have noticed that he and his regime love getting their hands on other people's data.
Privacy isn't the only issue. Can you trust Microsoft to deliver on its service promises under American political pressure? Ask the EU-based International Criminal Court (ICC) which after it issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for war crimes, Trump imposed sanctions on the ICC. Soon afterward, ICC's chief prosecutor, Karim Khan, was reportedly locked out of his Microsoft email accounts. Coincidence? Some think not. Microsoft denies they had anything to do with this.
Peter Ganten, chairman of the German-based Open-Source Business Alliance (OSBA), opined that these sanctions ordered by the US which he alleged had been implemented by Microsoft "must be a wake-up call for all those responsible for the secure availability of state and private IT and communication infrastructures." Microsoft chairman and general counsel, Brad Smith, had promised that it would stand behind its EU customers against political pressure. In the aftermath of the ICC reports, Smith declared Microsoft had not been "in any way [involved in] the cessation of services to the ICC." In the meantime, if you want to reach Khan, you'll find him on the privacy-first Swiss email provider, ProtonMail.
In short, besides all the other good reasons for people switching to the Linux desktop - security, Linux is now easy to use, and, thanks to Steam, you can do serious gaming on Linux - privacy has become much more critical. That's why several EU governments have decided that moving to the Linux desktop makes a lot of sense... Besides, all these governments know that switching from Windows 10 to 11 isn't cheap. While finances also play a role, and I always believe in "following the money" when it comes to such software decisions, there's no question that Europe is worried about just how trustworthy America and its companies are these days. Do you blame them? I don't. The shift to the Linux desktop is "nothing new," as Vaughan-Nichols notes. Munich launched its LiMux project back in 2004 and, despite ending it in 2017, reignited its open-source commitment by establishing a dedicated program office in 2024. In France, the gendarmerie now operates over 100,000 computers on a custom Ubuntu-based OS (GendBuntu), while the city of Lyon is transitioning to Linux and PostgreSQL.
More recently, Denmark announced it is dropping Windows and Office in favor of Linux and LibreOffice, citing digital sovereignty. The German state of Schleswig-Holstein is following suit, also moving away from Microsoft software. Meanwhile, a pan-European Linux OS (EU OS) based on Fedora Kinoite is being explored, with Linux Mint and openSUSE among the alternatives under consideration.
Don't hold your breath (Score:2)
Seriously, never underestimate how low MSFT may go to keep its installed base.
Since they have O365 now there's really really no reason not to adopt Linux.
Re: (Score:2)
O365 is a hot pile of garbage. Online Word does not replace Word. But since Word is also a hot pile of garbage, things now get interesting.
IF M$ is losing market share because it has ... (Score:2)
... it's servers in the US (and therefore, rooted by the NSA), then why haven't they moved the EU branch of their services to local servers?
The obvious inference is that the NSA won't let them - or will require them to root such servers for NSA surveillance. And the obvious next step would be that the NSA then gives this data to US corporations that bribe the Executive appropriately.
god damn (Score:2, Insightful)
Re: (Score:1)
says the guy who flies his TDS flag with every post.
Maybe EU countries don't want their data owned by a government controlled by a known child molester and convicted rapist.
no (Score:2)
No, it won't be anything of the sort. Because bureaucracy never dies and that goes for all of Europe, too.
IPv6 (Score:3)
Is SJVN getting forgetful? (Score:1)
A few years back, I wrote in these very pages that Microsoft didn't want you so much to buy Windows as subscribe to its cloud services and keep your data on its servers. If you wanted a real desktop operating system, Linux would be almost your only choice.
Almost. Like, there's only one "real desktop operating system" that's not Windows, is Unix-based, focused on the desktop and userspace, and has about 15% of worldwide desktop OS market share, compared to 6% for Linux.
But pay no attention to that, this is
Re: (Score:2)
I have been exposed to MacOS when it needed PowerPC CPUs, when it needed Intel CPUs and when it needed the M1 CPU. Not one of the iterations were appreciated by me. Even iOS on iPhone and iPad. That is even worse than MacOS.
Commodore 64 with Geos cartridge was my very first introduction to a GUI, then the GUI from Windows 3.1 and Amiga 1000 , Windows 95/98 and Amiga 2000, Windows Server NT 4.0 and Windows 2000 and beOS and Amiga 1200, Windows XP till Windows 11 and Windows Server 2003 till Windows Server 2
Re: (Score:2)
The other operating system is not in the same category. It's limited to a very small range of hardware exclusively from one company. And the hardware they sell is often intentionally limited in ways that hamper serviceability.
Hey Satya (Score:3)
Hey Satya, great job on turning Windows into a steaming pile of shit. No, I really mean that. It's high time the world starts looking for alternatives to your spyware disguised as an "OS". If it wasn't for Windows 8 and then 10 and now the diabolical 11 I would have never made the switch to Linux. I absolutely loved Windows 7 and would have been a customer for life if not for the hate you have for your user base. Sincerely, thank you for setting me free.
The Devil We Know (Score:2)
Windows is a pile of shit, but it's the devil we know, to be honest. I've learned hundreds of Windows work-around the long hard way over the years. Linux might be a cleaner OS, but still has a learning curve for certain "edge case" things.
Call me lazy, but I'm a creature of familiarity and habit these days. Go ahead and take away my Slashdot Card, but Satya can stay on my lawn for now.
If you want Linux on the desktop (Score:1)
And if you want that, then you need to make political trade-offs. You are going to have to give something up if antitrust is important to you. At least if you are a typical slashdot reader.
It's unlikely that folks are going to give that up so we're not going to see antitrust law enforcement or Linux on the desktop.
Because every single time Linux on the desktop is a threat Microsoft will take some office money and use it to give Windows away f
For this to happen, it needs tighter focus (Score:1)
The beauty of Linux, the fact that it is endlessly customizable and can be altered to fit an advanced power user's needs perhaps also remains its Achille's heel as most people out there who just want to turn the box on and for it to work, with simple, widely-accepted solu
Re: (Score:2)
If a laptop bought from a shop didn't come with an OS pre-installed, Linux already wins.
Insert USB, turn on computer, click OK a few times. Boom, a desktop, office suite, web browser, ready to go. No need to have a "Microsoft account," or to give it an email address or any of that shit. Though if you give it internet access it will automagically update the OS for you.
But yeah. as long as the computer you buy at the store already has windows installed, then that's what the average user will stick with.
Re: (Score:2)
France sort of did something like this 30 years ago with their 'Minitel' which was a small form-factor dumb terminal computer that made using the phone system pretty amazing back then.
Preparations for Minitel/Télétel started in 1978, it launched in 1980 - a lot earlier than 30 years ago.
Azure regions (Score:2)
For most users, that means they'll need to subscribe to Microsoft 365. This, in turn, means their data and meta-information will be kept in a US-based datacenter
Is that really how it works? Don't they have multiple regions and special arrangements for US Gov+military and for China? I certainly have noticed in product docs that some services are not available or arrive late if your tenant is in one of these "special clouds".
Perpetual (Score:2)
If that happens, a fork will be made to keep the original identity alive. Let's call it lunix. The next headline would become "Is this the year that the lunix desktop may finally arrive?"
And US? (Score:2)
Linux is "somehow" controlled by the Linux Foundation which in turn is controlled by the US government and by the PotUSA.
Same goes for a number of linux-related projects.
Can we Europeans really think about a "EU Linux Desktop"?
"talking into"? (Score:2)