NixOS instead of Microsoft: How the Netherlands makes its government IT independent of the USA

The Netherlands is developing its own government desktop based on free software. The project is called Dawo, short for "Digitaal Autonome Werkomgeving Overheid" – i.e. "digitally autonomous working environment of the government".

As an operating system, the state has opted for the Linux distribution NixOS. Eight municipalities in the country are already testing the system in practice, organised by the VNG municipal association.

Dawo is not a finished product, but rather a kind of blueprint: it describes a complete working environment consisting of interchangeable modules for the operating system, cloud infrastructure, communication, AI and collaborative work on documents, which is always about sovereignty.

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