French government says it's ditching Windows for Linux — country accelerates plans to ditch US-based software in digital sovereignty push
... Moving to Linux is described as one of three “concrete initial steps” that have recently been committed to, to reduce France’s extra-European digital dependencies. The plan is expected to be formalized in the fall. ...
We know why – but why?
French Ministers are very keen on reducing reliance on technologies that depend on or are controlled by outside interests. “We must become less reliant on American tools and regain control of our digital destiny,” wrote David Amiel, a Minister of Public Action and Accounts, in a statement pinned to the above-linked PR. “We can no longer accept that our data, our infrastructure, and our strategic decisions depend on solutions whose rules, pricing, evolution, and risks we do not control.” It is interesting to see Amiel single out the U.S. for his statement about how the French state “must break free.” ....
One wonders whether the growing cultural rift between the U.S. and its traditional European allies has added momentum to the digital sovereignty movement in France.
The implications for software and services businesses across the Atlantic don’t look great. .... Moreover, if the move to Linux is seen as a success, it could also influence other government departments, and organizations that work closely with the government, and so on, all the way down to individual users.
The U.S. and the Trump administration have only themselves to blame for countries wanting to distance themselves from U.S.-based products.
I can see moving to Linux working for governments (that can basically print money to pay for the transition), but it will be a tough sell for companies, that most likely rely on Windows-based software to run their businesses.
You can use Docker under Linux to run Windows programs, but the process is inherently a hack, and doesn't work well in software that relies on hardware interfaces.
My experience with running a Linux program under Docker was not a pleasant one, and I eventually just installed Linux on an old iMac that a relative had given to me, and ran the software there (my SDR Server). Emulation and virtual machines just cause problems.