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I wanted to spotlight a quietly massive success story in European digital sovereignty: GendBuntu — France’s custom Ubuntu distribution used by the National Gendarmerie.

The GendBuntu project derives from Microsoft's decision to end the development of Windows XP Back in 2005, France’s Gendarmerie began switching from Microsoft products to open-source software — starting with OpenOffice. Fast forward to 2024, and GendBuntu(Linux) is now running on 97% of their workstations (over 103,000 computers!).

France has shown what’s possible when a government actually backs open-source, in-house, and EU-grown solutions.
More countries should follow suit.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GendBuntu

cross-posted from: https://rss.ponder.cat/post/205936

For years, Big Tech has been tightening its grip on public institutions across the world, quietly slotting themselves into critical infrastructure that powers the daily running of governments.

Their allergy to privacy and bowing to their overlords (read: the country they're based in) has long been a thing of concern. There have been numerous cases where surveillance laws forced these companies to hand over user data without consulting, or even notifying, the governments of those affected.

For governments, this isn't just a privacy issue, but a sovereignty issue. And in Denmark, the Ministry of Digital Affairs has decided it’s time to push back.

Denmark's Open Source Move

Speaking with Politiken (paywalled), Denmark's Minister for Digital Affairs, Caroline Stage Olsen, revealed that the Ministry is moving away from Microsoft services, replacing Windows with Linux and Office 365 with LibreOffice.

This is set to happen in a staggered manner, where half of the staff will be switched to Linux and LibreOffice by summer (June-August), with full adoption expected by autumn (September-November) this year.

The move is said to be driven primarily by Denmark’s goal to strengthen digital sovereignty, ensuring that control over critical government data and systems remains within national borders.

This approach aligns with broader European efforts to promote open standards and safeguard public digital infrastructure from external influence. Take, for instance, the German state of Schleswig-Holstein, which is undertaking a similar transition, moving 30,000 government computers from Microsoft software to Linux and LibreOffice.

Speaking about the move on LinkedIn, the minister emphasized that:

It is not about isolation or digital nationalism. We should not turn our backs completely on global technology companies; many of them provide solutions that we benefit from. This applies both today and in the future.

But we must never make ourselves so dependent on so few that we can no longer act freely. Too much public digital infrastructure is currently tied up with very few foreign suppliers. This makes us vulnerable. Also, financially.

📋The above quote was translated from Danish.

Suggested Read 📖

Wow! German State Ditches Microsoft for Open-Source SoftwareThe end of dominance for Microsoft in this German state, replacing Windows with Linux, and Office with Libreoffice.It's FOSS NewsSourav Rudra

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cross-posted from: https://rss.ponder.cat/post/210914

Murena, the company behind Linux-powered smartphones and one of the key driving forces behind /e/OS, has introduced a new search engine in partnership with Qwant, the privacy-focused search provider known for its focus on protecting user data and delivering unbiased search results.

Can it join the ranks of the best privacy-oriented search engines? Let’s find out!

Murena Find: What to Expect?

Operating in “no tracking” mode by default, Murena Find is meant to deliver relevant search results without monitoring users’ online activity. It now serves as the default search engine on Murena smartphones running /e/OS 3.0, with a planned rollout on Murena Workspace in the near future.

Of course, Murena Find isn’t limited to Murena devices. I took it for a quick spin myself and was mostly content with the experience. I started with a basic text search of the term "It's FOSS", and it provided me with relevant results like our main page and the news page.

Murena Find All and News search pages.

Next, I searched for the term "Denmark replaces Microsoft" under the News tab. The first result was incorrect, but the following entries were relevant, featuring articles from well-known publications like ZDNet and TechRadar. (My own article didn’t show up, but that’s okay.)

The Shopping tab works as expected, with handy filters on the left and relevant product suggestions in the center of the page. The Settings menu, accessible via the gear icon in the top-right corner, is surprisingly handy.

It includes options to change the interface language, set the search region, filter adult content, switch between light and dark modes, show or hide news on the homepage, and choose whether outgoing links open in a new tab.

Images and Videos search on Murena Find.

📋Evil Larry’s got plans… and they’re not good. 😨

Searching for images and videos is good too. I looked up pics of Evil Larry, and sure enough, there he was, staring right into my soul. The image viewing interface is familiar, with options to visit the source website, share the image, view it fullscreen, or report it to Qwant for removal.

For videos, I searched for the 2025 Honda CBR650R, and I got relevant results, although they were all from YouTube. I then tried "Arch Linux", and the results were similar. It would be nice if Murena or Qwant could include PeerTube results in the mix.

Murena Find vs. Google on uBlock Origin.

To see how it stacks up against Google in terms of trackers, I used uBlock Origin on Firefox to compare the number of trackers detected on each site. As expected, Murena Find was the clear winner, with 9 trackers blocked, while Google had 30, with the count steadily increasing.

During the launch, Gaël Duval, CEO of Murena, had a few words to add:

We created Murena Find to give users a truly private and ethical alternative for web search with better results. By joining forces with Qwant, we’re combining advanced search capabilities with a firm commitment to data protection.

You can read the announcement blog to learn more.

Suggested Read 📖

10 Best Privacy Oriented Search Engines To Google in 2025In this age of the internet, you can never be too careful with your privacy. Use these alternative search engines that do not track you.It's FOSSAnkush Das

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