Linux is right there, no need to reinvent the wheel.
Libre Office to replace most of Microsoft 365 suite.
Pick a distro and help develop it to make it more robust.
Again what I’ve been saying for years, just use Linux, people.
But nooooo, Canadian healthcare prefers tonstore their patient data in the USA on servers of Microsoft, even though MS already testified that the US government can access that data whenever they want, so yay!
Why self host everything and be responsible if you can simply pay a dictatorship?
BeaverOS
with the Maple Desktop Environment.
Or, wait, use another already existing one?!!
Or, wait, use another already existing one?!!
Which is exactly what an increasing number of EU countries are doing.
The article is suggesting to make a debian-based distro
Our lord and saviour Linux 😌🙂↕️☺️
This is good news that more countries are starting to think of tech independence. It was bound to evolve that way over time but the questionable tech bros crowd caused it to happen way more quickly because, just like the railroad barons of the past, they’ll lie, cheat, steal and threaten for more money and power and people eventually get tired of being under someone’s thumb (holy shit I just had spellcheck tell me that thumb has a “b”. I, and probably many others, did not know that).
also our own pickup trucks and suvs
Even better, our on small fuel efficient cars. Most people don’t need a massive gas guzzler.
Why do people keep buying them then? The advertising works to make them ‘think’ they need it
hOSer
I said this exact thing to multiple Australian universities and government heads.
Not only would it save money, it would develop local industry and expertise.
No reply of course. No one’s interested if it doesn’t help make them rich!
Author of the article missed the Netherlands going to NixOS by a week.
And Canada already has a homegrown operating system that’s just waiting for someone to read the handbook thoroughly, read the manual, install it themselves, and see what’s up. Canada has already played host to a free operating system with OpenBSD thanks to crypto being a munition back in the 90s and there’s no reason to not look at both Nix and OpenBSD if they’re going to head down that road.
I’ll go ahead and write the international treaty:
Canada and the Netherlands agree to go halfsies on a trusted NixOS and OpenBSD repo.Wasn’t Arch made by a Canadian?
Yeah, Judd Vinet. He’s no longer involved with the project, though.
Yes. I wasn’t trying to exclude any projects, but I wanted to point out that another nation-state is looking to do the same project and for the same reasons (Netherlands with NixOS), and that there’s already an even older project (OpenBSD) that already meets some of the same goals Canada would be trying to achieve.
Whoops, sorry if I sounded accusatory. It was just a question because I wanted to make conversation about some old info I wasn’t so certain about.
I didn’t take it as accusatory. :-)
It’s just that all of a sudden there are a lot of moving parts in this space and we could finally get the year of the Linux Desktop. I’d like to see BSD right there alongside it.
The author does discuss that actually
Here is the study it is referring to, which the author put out last week
(although I don’t have the full text right now): https://www.emerald.com/dprg/article-abstract/doi/10.1108/DPRG-06-2026-0347/1400436/Open-source-digital-sovereignty-the-case-for-a?redirectedFrom=fulltextEDIT: Full paper here: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=7585538
Design/methodology/approach
This paper develops a comparative policy analysis of six state-sponsored Linux distributions (China, Russia, India, France, Germany and South Korea) using a dual total cost of ownership (TCO) + strategic autonomy analytical framework, benchmarked against Canada’s procurement landscape, laws and trade obligations.
Originality/value
This paper proposes a Canadian Free and Open Systems Foundation (Crown not-for-profit modeled on Germany’s Zentrum für Digitale Souveränität) alongside a three-phase implementation roadmap and five institutionally targeted policy recommendations. The proposal offers a generalizable middle-power template for reconciling digital sovereignty with open multilateralism, applicable to Australia, Japan, South Korea and Nordic states facing parallel dependencies.
So while the author mentions Debian, that is just an example. The actual recommendation is setting up a foundation to make those decisions after confirming it will meet the requirements + working with other countries on this
The actual recommendation is setting up a foundation to make those decisions after confirming it will meet the requirements + working with other countries on this
I also don’t have the full text. Is there anything in it about having this foundation lead from the front by using “strategically autonomous” software internally and experiencing the teething issues? Just dumping MS Office alone will be difficult. Did the full text go into the final thoughts on scale?
I added a link to the full PDF, it does seem to focus more on the rollout side
It doesn’t have the foundation try it internally, but it does call for a strategic rollout. The way I read it, the organization is only supposed to manage the transition and rollout, while people who are actually using computers for work will be the ones to test it. It will start with those who are less likely to be affected by any teething issues.
Pilot deployment targets risk-graduated workloads sharing four properties: web-first application stacks, low Microsoft 365 dependency, high political tolerance for transition friction, and existing institutional FOSS familiarity. The recommended pilot footprint comprises federal developer workstations (low compatibility risk, high FOSS familiarity), public-facing kiosks (single-application footprint), education ministries (existing FOSS deployments at the K-12 layer), and public library networks (Koha and Evergreen already deployed extensively).
This is also a part of the first phase, which IMO is more important:
A mandatory FOSS-first evaluation clause should be added to the Treasury Board Directive on the Management of Procurement for desktop and server refresh cycles. It should be framed as a technical-specification requirement rather than a nationality preference, replicating the EU’s GPA-compatible FOSS procurement architecture documented by Shaikh & Levina (2019).
He does also talk about MS Office & M365
the biggest user hurdle is rarely the operating system itself, which most users are unaware of, but the applications. Public servants are deeply entrenched in the Microsoft ecosystem and replacing MS Word and Excel with open-source alternatives like LibreOffice can be challenging for some users. Although LibreOffice has overall good functionality, minor changes may be needed, for example in formatting, use of macros or assuring the fonts users want are available
Application incompatibility is rated High likelihood, as Microsoft 365 lock-in is the primary operational constraint. Empirical FOSS migration research demonstrates that web-first sequencing combined with compatibility layers resolves the majority of incompatibilities at the application layer rather than requiring wholesale rewrites (Ven & Verelst, 2011). To minimize this primary risk the following migration sequence can be used (Hauge, et al., 2010):
- Inventory applications by dependency class.
- Prioritize browser-based and cross-platform applications.
- Containerize or virtualize legacy Windows applications.
- Replace Active Directory dependencies with open identity standards where feasible.
- Maintain Windows virtual desktops for exception cases during the transition
Netherlands going to NixOS? I mean ok I hate Nix but it is slightly better the MS.
Yes. I found out about the effort about their DAWO effort through lemmy. It’s only recently been in the news, and the barrier to entry should be much lower than joining the GCAP program with observer status.
If you missed it, it’s a developing story: https://lemmy.world/post/53135123
What are your arguments to hate Nix? Must have a lot to be almost as bad as Microsoft.
I think the same reason people don’t like NixOS is why it might be good for enterprise / government.
For personal use, it can be a pain to learn and configure everything the way that you want it. There is not as much value in having it be reproducible if you’re the only person using it
For enterprise use, the IT team can set it up and have it work the same way across every machine.
We could save even more by crowdsourcing much of it with partners around the world with the same goals.
When Microsoft said they would operate in our country, but not obey our laws, it was the begining of the end.
Yes and nobody seems to acknowledge that. They think data sovereignty is all that matters. But Microsoft has stated no they have to listen to the US no matter what any other countrys laws say. I thought countries would have been more upset about that but nope.
One more way to say fuck the US by not using Microsoft
On top of OpenBSD, I really don’t see why Canada needs a Windows replacement when open source replacements already exist? And we can already run NextCloud-AIO with EuroOffice on top.
The only things missing are AI and surveillance— and there’s a perfectly functional open source agentic tool that can run open models. And nobody really wants the surveillance.
Time for someone to pick up TempleOS or maybe Plan 9.
I’d use CANos
Missed opportunity for CanaDOS
Will have to go back to disks, but I dig it
MaplOS?
CanoOS — I haven’t figured out what the second O is for yet, but it has to be there.
Yes but also what is important is establishing meaningful, stringent, enforceable, independent security auditing of the tools that Canada chooses to use, they must be open in this sense if not fully open source. There is the obvious but quite unfortunately likely possibility Canada could throw out Microslop only to recreate the worst parts of it domestically. Canada must keep their eyes on two balls in this sense, getting rid of Microslop AND doing better at the entire framing of how these tools are built and maintained otherwise all the effort to get rid of Microslop will become a slap in the face when you end up in almost the same place… which none of this is meant to bash Canada at all, this is just how these things tend to want to go given the forces at work…
