- Netherlands announces the Digital Autonomous Work Environment for Government Scheme
- Windows operating system could end up being replaced by NixOS
- Other software stacks are also being considered
The Dutch government has become the latest European ruler to announce plans to invest more heavily in sovereign software in a bid to reduce its reliance on foreign tech vendors, including Microsoft, following an earlier April 2026 pilot.
The DAWO (Digitaal Autonome Werkomgeving Overheid), which translates loosely as the Digital Autonomous Work Environment for Government scheme, covers a broad spectrum of software changes.
Besides just ditching Windows in favor of an open-source alternative, the Netherlands wants to explore cloud infrastructure, productivity software and more.
Dutch government announces plans to ditch Microsoft
Though the migration is still in its early stages, small-scale trials are reportedly taking place across the country’s public bodies, with eight municipalities allegedly preparing trials.
Naturally, the long-term migration is likely to take years and include multiple bids, but the country expects the first migrations to have happened by the end of next year, per Tom’s Hardware.
The biggest migration will likely involve Microsoft’s Windows operating system. Windows currently accounts for around 63% of global desktops across all users, per Statcounter data – a proportion that’s dropping as macOS and other operating systems rise in popularity.
NixOS is set to be the replacement, developed by Dutch develop Eelco Dolstra with the NixOS Foundation based in the Netherlands itself. openSUSE and Fedora were also reportedly trialled before reaching the decision to go for NixOS.
The Netherlands is also said to be working with other European tech vendors, like France’s La Suite and Germany’s openDesk, in a broader pro-European push.
Ultimately, what the Netherlands is doing is a move we’re seeing reflected across the bloc, with government agencies and other public bodies seeking to support sovereign and homegrown tech amid complex geopolitical happenings, set against a backdrop of concerns, namely potential US government access to American software users’ data.
And the Netherlands is just one of a growing list of countries making similar moves – Germany’s Schleswig-Holstein state already revealed plans to migrate a long time ago, together with Estonia, the French city of Lyon and more.
