France is rolling out Visio, a homegrown secure videoconferencing platform, to all government employees by 2027.

[i47i@hachyderm.io]

2/3

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
(2/3)

[i47i@hachyderm.io]

3/3

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

(3/3)

[iamdtms@mas.to]

@i47i + Linux Mint

[yoshi@toot.community]

@i47i Technically, it's very possible but, in reality, most people don't have the intestinal fortitude to figure things out on their own without hand-holding. I've been on Linux Mint for about 3 years and still have some things on Win10 because trying to learn even minor programming is a PITA at this point in my life. Even when tools are available, eg GIMP for Affinity Photo or LibreOffice instead of MSO. converting existing systems, documents and files is often challenging.

[androcat@toot.cat]

@Yoshi @i47i

Valid.

And the answer is to have helpdesk trained in hand-holding, and writing little "did you know" PSAs to publish in whatever timeline is being used from time to time.

People don't have the attention span to take in all the little tips and tricks at one.

Focus on big things, then add the polish in controlled increments.

[gordonbp@fosstodon.org]

@i47i And how soon will Microsoft jump in with bribes just like they did in Munich?

[i47i@hachyderm.io]

@androcat @Yoshi

1/2

@Yoshi @androcat

Excellent points about hand-holding and support! Here's the reality: the cost of support staff is actually LESS than Microsoft licensing fees —and creates local employment.

THE NUMBERS:
Microsoft E3 (1,000 employees):
• licensing: $432,000/year
• Software Assurance: +$125,000/year
• Hidden costs (license management, sprawl): +$40,000-90,000/year
• TOTAL: $597,000 - $647,000/year

FOSS + Support Staff Alternative:
• Licensing: $0
• Support staff (3-5 FTE @ $66K-90K): $200,000-350,000/year
• Training (one-time): $50,000-100,000
• Infrastructure: $20,000-50,000/year
• TOTAL: $270,000-500,000/year

*NET SAVINGS: $97,000 - $377,000/year

Plus you get:
- 3-5 skilled local jobs created
- Institutional knowledge (not vendor-dependent)
- No license audits or compliance penalties
- Data sovereignty
- Protection from forced upgrades

PROVEN AT SCALE:
French Gendarmerie (103,000+ workstations):
• €2M/year savings in licensing alone
• 20-year migration (2005-2024)
• 97% migrated to open source
• Local expertise built over time

The "hand-holding" cost is actually an investment in self-sufficiency that pays for itself while creating employment.

(1/2)

[i47i@hachyderm.io]

@androcat @Yoshi

And here's the game-changer: modern FOSS AI chatbots can automate 60-80% of Tier 1 support queries right now.

FOSS LLM CHATBOT SOLUTIONS (Available Today):

1. AnythingLLM (MIT license, fully open)
• Runs ANY local LLM (no cloud/API needed)
• Built-in RAG for documentation
• Desktop + server deployment
• Works on CPU or GPU
• Cost: $0 + hardware

2. LobeChat (Open source)
• Multi-agent design
• Voice interaction (TTS/STT)
• Self-hosted, full privacy
• Multi-device sync

3. Open WebUI
• Lightweight, fast
• Ollama integration
• Perfect for quick helpdesk queries

BACKEND LLMs (Self-Hosted):
• Mistral 7B / MiMo-V2-Flash: Run on consumer hardware
• DeepSeek-V3.2: GPT-level reasoning, fully open (MIT)
• LLaMA 4: Fine-tune on your org's support tickets

THE MAGIC: These can be trained on:
• Linux documentation
• LibreOffice guides
• Your organization's procedures
• Historical support tickets

RESULT:
24/7 instant responses
Context-aware (knows user's history)
Handles common queries automatically
Escalates complex issues to humans
Zero per-query API costs
Complete privacy (no data sent to vendors)

REAL-WORLD EXAMPLE:
Manufacturing company case study showed chatbot deflected 70% of password reset/basic config tickets, freeing support staff for strategic work.

IMPLEMENTATION:
• Phase 1 (3 months): Deploy pilot with AnythingLLM + Mistral 7B
• Phase 2 (12 months): Scale to 60-80% Tier 1 automation
• ROI breakeven: 6-12 months

@androcat You're absolutely right—incremental "did you know" PSAs work. But imagine those delivered 24/7 by a chatbot that learns your patterns and proactively helps. That's available NOW with FOSS tools.

The technology exists. The economics work. Europe's proving it at government scale. The question is: do organizations have the will to invest in long-term self-sufficiency over short-term convenience?

[juliangonggrijp@ieji.de]

@i47i @barbarakathmann

[oceane@gotosocial.social]

@i47i I’ve just read a conversation between several Matrix users who agreed not to recommend it to non-technical users…

[phoenix@chaos.social]

@i47i Microsoft SQL server hits me every time.

Such a unnecessary piece of technology. Why would anyone want to pay a license for THAT?!?

[i47i@hachyderm.io]

@oceane

Yes. That's where local organisations we trust can setup ones like the one I'm using. #Matrix

[elettrona@poliversity.it]

@i47i @matrix There are alternatives for ALMOST everything. What about screen readers for blind users?
Windows has an open source screen reader called NVDA, which can be an alternative to the closed JAWS. But the Linux one, Orca, has still a lot of issues. And blind users have very few references about pros and cons.

[johnjburnsiii@kzoo.to]

@i47i

#Hmmm

They are using a Microsoft "diagramming/drawing" tool - as videoconferencing?

Guessing they just named it the same. But that will certainly result in confusion.

[i47i@hachyderm.io]

@JohnJBurnsIII

Microsoft Visio = diagramming/flowchart software (desktop application for creating technical drawings, org charts, floor plans, etc.)

France's "Visio" = videoconferencing platform (their sovereign alternative to Zoom/Teams)
This is definitely going to cause confusion, especially in international contexts. The name likely comes from:

[androcat@toot.cat]

@i47i @Yoshi

And users will hate using those AI chatbots exactly as much as they already hate the MS-based chatbots.

Value for money.

[elasticsoul@mastodon.social]

@i47i

Hey #Canada (and everyone non-US), the French police did this. What are our plans

"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!)"

#Canada #cdnpoli #libreoffice #Linux #Ubuntu #ElbowsUp

[yoshi@toot.community]

@i47i I should have known there are AI chatbots for these sorts of "lookup" tasks. A system that can assist from simple newbie questions to more advanced users would be very helpful. The Linux world needs to better market these AI support systems. For example Linux Mint could "push" regular tips to users. I spent nearly 40 years in high tech from Radio Shack TRS-80 to huge VAX 11/780 systems but the current tech baffles me in many ways. Thanks to you and androcat for the tips.

@androcat

[yoshi@toot.community]

@androcat The "hate" could be a strong aversion to not knowing how and where their data are used. At least, that's why I look askance at anything MS or any other multi-billion dollar companies.

@i47i

[androcat@toot.cat]

@Yoshi @i47i

The trick really is to make it as transparent as possible.

Check if the question fits with a FAQ entry.
If yes: Link to FAQ and check if that resolves.
If any no: Go to ticket creation process (or live human chat if available)

People absolutely hate being given the "well-meaning runaround" that LLMs excel at. It's a waste of time and everyone knows it innately.

(And yes, the steps involved could just be a script, that's the general pattern for all things LLM - if they are good at it, it could be a script instead).