US sanctions force The Netherlands off Microsoft and toward alternative NixOS-based software ecosystem — trial programs running now, first release expected at end of 2027
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The U.S. imposed sanctions on the International Criminal Court, preventing it from using ubiquitous U.S.-based software.

When the U.S. government imposed sanctions on the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague, Netherlands, it also meant that its chief prosecutor lost access to Microsoft services, including email. It was then that the Dutch government decided that it was time to make plans that would reduce its reliance on software and services that were made or based in the United States. The result of that decision was DAWO, or Digitaal Autonome Werkomgeving Overheid (Digital Autonomous Work Environment for Government in English). And work is underway to bring it to fruition.

From a technical point of view, the use of NixOS was a key one. Its use of the Nix package manager means that each package is installed in its own directory with immutable and signed contents. That alone means that the setup is incredibly easy to reproduce across multiple machines, something that is an obvious benefit when dealing with different facets of a government. It’s been suggested that up to 90% of a configuration can be carried over from one deployment to another. And as a bonus, NixOS can also run on computers that Windows 11 would usually balk at.

While the switch from Microsoft software and services to brand-new alternatives is a long and complicated process, steps are very much being made in the right direction. Eight municipalities are running trial programs right now, with the first stable version of the platform expected to be ready by the end of 2027.

  • chgxvjh [comrade/them, he/him]@hexbear.netEnglish
    11·
    2 days ago

    I know I’m huffing hopium but maybe these EU government deals based on desire for sovereignty from the US can get the NixOS to realize that being tight with Anduril is liability not a benefit.

  • quarrk [he/him]@hexbear.netEnglish
    9·
    2 days ago

    So-called digital sovereignty is a significant political issue in the Netherlands at the moment. I am skeptical that they can fully move all government services off Microsoft, but at least they can reduce reliance.

    It is certain however, that no government can break free of US tech as long as they require cloud infrastructure. This only increases over time. If you want scalable digital offerings with minimal downtime, you need the cloud, and that is dominated by Azure and AWS. If I were the EU I would be devising initiatives to build a common EU-based cloud infrastructure rather than relying on US tech. This would be costly compared with just using AWS and would require political courage and intelligence to navigate.

    Related, https://code.overheid.nl/ is the NL government’s initial step toward an in-house, GitHub-like version control system. Besides digital sovereignty, a major benefit of this is the ease of sharing code libraries and components between agencies. There is not normally that much sharing happening between agencies in most governments, causing a lot of redundant effort or reliance on COTS (commercial off-the-shelf) products from firms like Microsoft.

    • chgxvjh [comrade/them, he/him]@hexbear.netEnglish
      2·
      2 days ago

      I were the EU I would be devising initiatives to build a common EU-based cloud infrastructure rather than relying on US tech.

      I do think it’s rather illusionary that starting a project on EU cooperation will lead to cheaper results. This just leads to super complex tenders and every country insists that their companies get part of the action then you have a bunch of companies building parts of the system without talking to each other and eventually you get some piece of crap that sucks to use and barely works.

      I have more hope in multiple national agencies building/commissioning their own project based on existing open source and open sourcing their solutions and maybe eventually we get some convergence and other countries can also copy those approaches or use some neighboring countries system.

      • quarrk [he/him]@hexbear.netEnglish
        2·
        1 day ago

        It might be cheaper but that’s not why they should do it. The problem is that reliance on US technology for core government services is a vulnerability, practically as severe as relying on another country for your power generation or your military infrastructure (don’t look at the NATO countries lol). They run the risk of being shut out of their own core operations because of US sanctions.

        Bickering over contracts I don’t think is serious barrier to building independent cloud infrastructure. The EU already does collaborate on common software implementations, being integrated economically.

        The EU Commission do seem to be interested in open-sourcing. All of this may be a pipe dream depending on politics, like I said before — it depends on the political courage to see it through. Some countries like NL may be very interested in digital sovereignty, but it might be hard to convince the other member states who have gone all-in on US dependence.