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Re: French government to move to Linux

On Thu, May 7, 2026, at 8:50 AM, Jean-Francois Messier via linux wrote:
> Not sure about this specific detail, but I would assume that it would. 
> Two of their biggest challenges will be the document migration and the 
> end-users training. If they properly prepare[d] themselves for a smooth 
> and reliable transition, they can make it happen. Hopefully, their 
> politicians will not be as influenced by the big GAFAM of this world as 
> we can be. Lobbies are different here from Europe. And if France can do 
> it with their population and government size, then so can the Canadian 
> Government. Will there ever be the political power to distance from the 
> American companies remains to be seen. On the Linux front, which is 
> getting more and more used within GoC, the main distribution is Redhat, 
> an American company that is now owned by IBM.
>

On the PC/desktop side Ubuntu is ruling by a margin. Virtually no RHEL these days - especially on mobile (still some on desktop/workstation, where they're using it in almost a server like deployment). Red Hat are now deploying Fedora on their systems internally for staff. (RHEL still makes sense on servers though - but I don't believe that's what the French move is about)

The French Gendarmarie are already using a Ubuntu based distro, and my guess is this is what is likely going to be extended (but I'm guessing a lot - I don't have special insight there).

If anybody knows folk in the Canadian government who want to talk about deploying Linux on Linux supported HW then let me know ;) (sorry for shilling a bit...but my intentions are good)

Mark

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