A couple of weeks ago, we learned that Denmark is ditching Windows and Microsoft"s Office suite in favor of Linux and LibreOffice. This isn"t entirely surprising, as we also heard of German plans to do something similar back in 2021 - that effort aims to migrate 30,000 government PCs by 2027. Now, the French city of Lyon has decided to go in this direction too.
As spotted by The Register, the local government of Lyon has decided to ditch Windows, Microsoft"s Office applications, and Microsoft SQL, and adopt alternatives like Linux, OnlyOffice, and PostgreSQL. It is interesting to see that the authorities have opted for OnlyOffice, a software available under the GNU Affero General Public License, rather than the more popular alternative, LibreOffice.
In a similar vein, it will also rely on a suite called "Territoire Numerique Ouvert" (Open Digital Territory) for online communication and other tasks related to office automation. A French agency that promotes industrial development in local municipalities also awarded a €2 million grant to enhance the suite and get it operational in data centers. According to reports, thousands of individuals are already leveraging Territoire Numerique Ouvert.
This is an important turning point for the French city. Lyon is the third-largest city in France, serving over a million people through 10,000 government employees. Thousands of enterprise customers suddenly switching to Linux and similar free and open source software (FOSS) certainly can"t be good news for Microsoft, which is likely reeling already from the Danish shock.
Just like Denmark, Lyon"s primary rationale behind the move is to reduce dependency on software originating from the United States. Another reason is also the desire to extend the life of its hardware, thereby reducing the environmental impact of e-waste.
It will be interesting to see if Lyon can stick true to its plans. As some of you may remember, back in 2017, the German city of Munich returned to Windows after spending a decade on Linux.