France has declared it is transitioning 2.5 million government workstations from Microsoft Windows to Linux, which many have labeled an act of digital resistance.
"We can’t accept that our data, infrastructure, and strategic choices rely on solutions with rules, pricing, and risks beyond our control," stated French budget minister David Amiel.
India garnered attention for a comparable action last year. In late 2025, union minister Amit Shah announced on X that he is transitioning to Zoho Mail, the productivity suite created by the local software firm Zoho. IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw declared he would be transitioning to Zoho's document suite.
The education ministry took similar action, releasing a directive requiring the utilization of the Zoho Office Suite for all official documents within its departments. More than 1.2 million email accounts belonging to central government employees were transferred to Zoho, with information kept in India.
Also Read: Germany’s Merz Calls for Looser EU Rules on Industrial AI
For Zoho, a privately owned firm worth around $12 billion that derives the majority of its revenue from international customers, this represented a significant validation of its corporate services and its position as a credible local alternative to Microsoft and Google.
In France as well, the motivation for the decision was geopolitical. European lawmakers and government officials are becoming increasingly aware of their dependence on American technology.
Also Read: US-Iran Conflict Creates Headwinds for Global Aviation Sector
A report states that in 2025, India invested Rs 1,200 crore on software licenses from abroad. These payments happen regularly, primarily to American firms for permission to utilize their software. As trade tensions with the US escalated in 2025 and the DPDP Act emerged, the necessity for a local software solution became apparent.
In February, French civil servants replaced Zoom and Teams with a locally developed video conference platform. In Austria, soldiers are utilizing open source office applications to compose reports after the military discontinued Microsoft Office.
The German region of Schleswig-Holstein transitioned 44,000 staff inboxes from Microsoft to an open-source email system last year.
Also Read: Mercedes and Samsung SDI Ink first EV Battery Supply Deal
It also transitioned from Microsoft's SharePoint file-sharing system to Nextcloud, an open-source solution, and is even contemplating replacing Windows with Linux and phone and video conferencing systems with open-source options.