Uh. Is this a known #ubuntu thing? Or is this a quirk of #Wayland?
Sometimes when I bring a window from the background it stays like this, text and icons all garbled. Sometimes if I resize or jiggle it, it sorts itself out, sometimes I have to kill it. #linux
It is also on a very ancient laptop that hasn't been rebooted in months.
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THE PROVEN TRACK RECORD:
France isn't experimenting—they've been doing this successfully for 20 years. The French Gendarmerie (national police, 100,000+ employees) pioneered this approach:
TIMELINE:
• 2005: Migrated from MS Office to OpenOffice
• 2008: Started Ubuntu desktop deployment (GendBuntu)
• 2014: Majority migration complete
• 2024: 97% of workstations running Linux (103,164 computers!)
FINANCIAL IMPACT:
• €2 million/year in licensing cost savings
• Additional savings from eliminating 4,500 servers
• Total 2004-2008: ~€50 million saved
STRATEGIC INVESTMENT:
In October 2025, France became the FIRST national government to officially partner with the Matrix Foundation—not just using it, but funding its development and participating in strategic decisions. This ensures the protocol evolves to meet European government needs.
So when we say France is "building bundles," they're really packaging, hardening, and supporting mature upstream FOSS (Linux, PostgreSQL, Matrix, etc.) with French hosting, governance, and integration—not reinventing everything from scratch.
GendBuntu: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GendBuntu
Gendarmerie case study: https://canonical.com/blog/la-gendarmerie-nationale-upgrades-85000-pcs-to-ubuntu-desktop-edition
#Matrix
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HOW EASY IS IT TO MOVE FROM MICROSOFT?
TECHNICALLY: Very feasible. Strong FOSS alternatives exist for everything:
Windows → Linux (Ubuntu, Debian, Fedora)
Office → OnlyOffice, LibreOffice
Exchange/Teams → Matrix/Element, Nextcloud
SQL Server → PostgreSQL, MariaDB
Benefits: No per-seat licenses, data sovereignty, transparent security, longer hardware life, no forced obsolescence.
THE REAL CHALLENGE: Organizational, not technical
Legacy Windows-only apps & VBA macros (need rewriting or VMs)
User retraining & change management (people lose muscle memory)
Political will & leadership commitment (critical!)
External partner expectations (.docx, Outlook, Teams)
SUCCESS FACTORS (proven by Lyon & Gendarmerie):
• Strong political backing at highest levels
• Adequate budget & realistic timeline
• Comprehensive training programs
• Willingness to maintain hybrid systems during transition
• Local/regional procurement (Lyon: 100% French contractors)
CURRENT MOMENTUM:
Denmark, Germany (Schleswig-Holstein), Netherlands, Italy, and Slovenia are all pursuing similar digital sovereignty initiatives through FOSS
Bottom line: #France proves that digital sovereignty through open source works at massive scale (103K+ workstations). They're not reinventing wheels—they're making smart use of mature, proven technology with European hosting and governance.
Lyon Register article: https://www.theregister.com/2025/06/26/lyon_leaving_microsoft/
#OpenSource #DigitalSovereignty #Linux #FOSS #France #Lyon #PublicSector #Ubuntu #Matrix #GendBuntu #Europe #Microsoft
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