Which countries are switching from Windows to Linux?
A general picture of which governments are moving from Windows to Linux, and how far along they are. It is not a statistical census: each country page cites its sources and notes what is still unclear. Last updated Oct 6, 2026.
Moving away from Windows
France
- Announced
- Pilot
- Rolling out
- Widely deployed
The state has ordered ministries to plan a move from Windows to Linux, building on the Gendarmerie’s long-running Ubuntu deployment.
Read the France pageGermany
- Announced
- Pilot
- Rolling out
- Widely deployed
The state of Schleswig-Holstein has moved email and office software off Microsoft and is now moving desktops to Linux.
Read the Germany pageDenmark
- Announced
- Pilot
- Rolling out
- Widely deployed
Denmark’s digitalisation ministry is replacing Microsoft Office with LibreOffice; the Linux part of the plan was walked back.
Read the Denmark pageChina
- Announced
- Pilot
- Rolling out
- Widely deployed
Chinese government bodies are being steered to domestic Linux-based systems such as openKylin, Kylin and UOS.
Read the China pageIndia
- Announced
- Pilot
- Rolling out
- Widely deployed
India’s Ministry of Defence began replacing Windows with Maya OS, an Ubuntu-based system, on internet-connected computers.
Read the India pageSouth Korea
- Announced
- Pilot
- Rolling out
- Widely deployed
South Korea has tested Linux-based government desktops, including the Debian-based Gooroom, to reduce reliance on Windows.
Read the South Korea pageRussia
- Announced
- Pilot
- Rolling out
- Widely deployed
Sanctions and a presidential decree on domestic software pushed Russian state bodies toward Astra Linux, a Debian-based system.
Read the Russia pageTurkey
- Announced
- Pilot
- Rolling out
- Widely deployed
Turkey builds its own Debian-based Linux, Pardus, and public bodies such as the Ministry of Health are migrating to it.
Read the Turkey pageSwitzerland
- Announced
- Pilot
- Rolling out
- Widely deployed
Switzerland is piloting open-source software in place of Microsoft 365 on about 3,000 federal workstations, targeting the end of 2027.
Read the Switzerland pageNetherlands
- Announced
- Pilot
- Rolling out
- Widely deployed
The Dutch government is building a sovereign work environment, DAWO, with a pilot reported to use a NixOS-based system.
Read the Netherlands pageAustria
- Announced
- Pilot
- Rolling out
- Widely deployed
The Austrian Armed Forces moved about 16,000 workstations from Microsoft Office to LibreOffice for digital sovereignty.
Read the Austria pageItaly
- Announced
- Pilot
- Rolling out
- Widely deployed
Italy’s Ministry of Defence moved about 120,000 PCs to LibreOffice, but there is no known national Linux desktop plan.
Read the Italy pageNot yet, but worth watching
Major economies with no confirmed government move to Linux. Each page covers what they use today and what could change.
Spain
Spain had an early regional Linux experiment, LinEx in Extremadura, but no national move away from Windows is known today.
Read the Spain pageBrazil
Brazil is building a sovereign cloud, but we found no confirmed federal move from Windows to Linux desktops.
Read the Brazil pageUnited States
US federal agencies are mostly moving from Windows 10 to Windows 11, though Linux already runs much of their server infrastructure.
Read the United States pageUnited Kingdom
Campaigners urged the UK to follow France, Germany and Denmark, but no government move to Linux has been announced.
Read the United Kingdom pageCanada
Canada is building a sovereign cloud and debating Microsoft dependence, but has not announced a move to Linux.
Read the Canada pageAustralia
Australia signed a new five-year Microsoft agreement in 2026, moving the other way from Europe.
Read the Australia pageJapan
Japan studied open-source systems in the early 2000s, but we found no current move from Windows to Linux.
Read the Japan pageMexico
Mexico City adopted Linux in 2001 and a federal ministry planned to, but we found no recent national move.
Read the Mexico pageHow to read this tracker
Stages run from Announced (a plan or policy), to Pilot (a ministry or team has tried it), Rolling out (migration is under way) and Widely deployed. A country sits at its furthest confirmed stage, for the scope named on its page, which is usually government, not the whole country.
Thinking of switching yourself? See our Windows 10 to Linux guide or the distro rankings.
Frequently asked questions
Which countries are switching from Windows to Linux?
Government bodies in France, Germany (Schleswig-Holstein), Russia, China, Turkey, India, South Korea, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Denmark, Austria and Italy have announced, piloted or begun moves away from Microsoft. They differ widely: Russia, China and Turkey push domestic Linux systems, while Denmark, Austria and Switzerland mostly replace office software. Countries such as the US, UK, Canada, Australia and Japan have no confirmed move.
Which countries might switch to Linux in the future?
Countries debating digital sovereignty, such as the UK, Canada and Brazil, are the ones to watch. Each “Not yet” page lists the signals that would show a change, for example a procurement rule favouring open source or a ministry pilot.
Has any country fully replaced Windows with Linux?
No country has fully replaced Windows. The moves cover government or parts of it, and consumers and most businesses still use Windows.
How accurate is this tracker?
It is a general picture, not a statistical measurement. Each entry reflects what the linked sources reported on the date shown, and we note where claims were unclear or retracted.
Why are governments leaving Windows?
The reasons given include digital sovereignty, security, licence costs and avoiding dependence on a single foreign vendor.